![]() ![]() But I had to choose between painting and rock'n'roll. Some of his paintings appear in his autobiography. , and he once considered being a painter. You’re not dying.’ So what is there to say? There’s nothing to say.” I mean, there’s no help anyone can bring to me. What oft is thought but ne’er so well express’d. “I’ve got a lot of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton in my head that I can recite to myself at any time.” Does he find any comfort in it? “Not comfort, no. Wilko studied medieval literature at university and briefly taught English. So it’s still there – but you can’t walk around with a soppy grin on your face all the time.” “On the way here today I was in a kind of rapture looking out at this beautiful winter’s day, thinking I’m alive, I’m alive when I’m supposed to have been dead. Wilko says a euphoria overcame him when he got his diagnosis, and it’s a feeling that has stayed with him. “There’s no point in stopping, because if you stop what you do is sit at home and start dwelling on it.” It was a little bit nerve-racking, doing a gig like that, a one-off thing that we just got together,” he says. Onstage, they laughed as Daltrey held his microphone to Wilko’s stomach. They performed together at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, in west London, last month, to rave reviews. He and Daltrey recorded the album over eight days in November. I just don’t know how long I’m going to live.” And in fact the first thing that I’ve done with my extra time is I’ve made the album with Roger Daltrey. I was supposed to have been dead in October. “I did think this year would be a tapering-down, but the plan is to just keep going until it hits me. Man in black: Wilko Johnson with Dr Feelgood in 1975. Because it's BC, he is working on an updated version. Now, at the age of 66, Wilko defines the entire period before his diagnosis as BC – before cancer – when he lived his life on different terms. , that is already a bestseller on Amazon, even though it has been available only to preorder. In November Wilko recorded an album with Roger Daltrey, Going Back Home His drummer and manager sit on a sofa, discussing tour dates that reach as far into the future as August. In the small dressing room backstage, Wilko is sitting on a stool with his back to the mirror, dressed in his customary black suit, black shirt and black boots. I meet him just before he plays a concert in England. The months passed, and he found he had no reason to slow down. Told he had less than a year to live, the renowned guitarist, a founding member of Dr Feelgood, immediately embarked on a farewell tour. ![]() I could have watched and listened all night and it would have been an absolute pleasure.Wilko Johnson was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in January last year. He is not the world's strongest vocalist of course, but he more than did justice to the songs, and given that he wrote many of them, who can rightfully complain? The high tempo set included 'All Through The City', 'If You Want Me, You've Got Me, 'The More I Give', 'Dr Dupree', 'Going Back Home', and 'Roxette'.ĭownside? You bet, it was over too quickly. #WILKO JOHNSON FAREWELL TOUR FULL#Wilko was full of his trademark moves - jerking away from the mic during vocal breaks and skittering across the stage with that open-mouthed look of astonishment on his face, machine gunning the crowd with a smile on his face, or punching out the riffs from his trademark black and red telecaster. The by comparison, boyish, Howe drove the evening along with his no-nonsense drumming. So too did the svelte 64-year-old Watt-Roy cutting a dash and throwing some remarkable shapes and faces as he wrestled his bass around the stage. In Lincoln, Wilko looked fit and well especially considering his recent trials and tribulations. Wilko has recently been playing dates as a trio alongside former two former Blockheads bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Dylan Howe (son of Steve, Yes guitarist). One week in late 2013 he and Roger Daltrey recorded a remarkably joyful album album given the circumstances entitled 'Going Back Home' which turned out to be one of the finer releases of last year. Happily, unbelievably even, Wilko has made the most remarkable of recoveries and this new lease of life has seen him back on the road again doing what he loves. Sunday 17 May found Wilko Johnson headlining the Lincoln Blues Festival, almost a year to the day after cancelling his planned 2014 headline performance there on doctor's advice after undergoing a major operation to treat him for terminal pancreatic cancer. ![]()
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