Wilko story is more than rock and roll

Dr Feelgood co-founder and iconic guitarist Wilko Johnson faced a terminal diagnosis in 2012, and expected to live for no more than a year.

Declining medical intervention, he chose to dedicate his remaining time to a meaningful farewell tour of the people and places that defined his life... only for an unexpected miracle to change the narrative entirely.

Now, touring show Wilko: Love and Death and Rock 'n' Roll, a play with music celebrating the late rock and roll legend, comes to York Theatre Royal (September 10-12); Gala Theatre in Durham (September 15-16), and Salford's Lowry (November 13-15).

The play traces a career that started with rhythm and blues band Dr Feelgood, which he co-founded in 1971 and which became a musical link between the trippy music of the late Sixties and punk in the mid-1970s, giving Feelgood a sort of "missing-link" status often noted by punk bands as their starting point.

After Feelgood he moved on to Ian Dury and the Blockheads and other solo work, taking an occasional turn into acting - he was in Game of Thrones, among others.

Georgina Fairbanks as Wilko's wife Irene - who also died of cancer, in 2004 - and Johnson Willis as Wilko in 'Wilko'. Pic: Nick Haeffner

He died aged 75 in 2022 - surgeons had managed to excise his tumour and he lived and worked for a decade beyond his initial diagnosis.

The production integrates live music and storytelling with Johnson's own words, serving as an example in living life to the full. On the York opening night there will be a special post-show discussion with the play's writer, Jonathan Maitland, Wilko’s son Simon, and Wilko’s long time musical collaborator, Norman Watt-Roy (formerly of Ian Dury and the Blockheads and the Wilko Johnson Band). Simon and Norman will also perform with the band at the curtain call of that opening performance.

Jonathan Maitland said, “Wilko's story is one of the greatest ever told in rock ‘n’ roll and his songs are some of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll ever recorded.

"Even so, when I first read the play to him at his home in Southend five years ago, none of us could have imagined how much his story would go on to connect with audiences. My only regret is that he’s not around to see this tour happen; but I know, for sure, that he would have been absolutely thrilled.”

More info and tickets here