Spoken word night by Dr John Cooper Clarke, the 'Godfather of Punk Poetry', with special guests Mike Garry, Toria Garbutt and Joseph Roberts.
Dr John Cooper Clarke is at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Wednesday 28 October, part of his Have It tour. He's a spoken word act, so it's a reading rather than a gig, and he's not on his own: Mike Garry, Toria Garbutt and Joseph Roberts are all on the bill as special guests.
If you're not familiar with him, Clarke is a bit of a British cult figure, often called the 'Godfather of Punk Poetry' and the original people's poet. He first made his mark in the 1970s playing working men's clubs and cabaret venues in Salford and Manchester, headlining nights supported by bands that would become huge — Joy Division, New Order and Duran Duran — and appearing as a special guest with the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and The Clash. His poem 'I Wanna Be Yours' became one of the world's most popular wedding poems and was later reimagined by the Arctic Monkeys, and 'Evidently Chickentown' plays out in the penultimate episode of The Sopranos.
There's a long list of books and records behind him, too. His album Snap, Crackle and Bop set his poems to music by Martin Hannett, and his collection 10 Years in an Open Necked Shirt became one of the best-selling poetry anthologies ever in the UK, Canada and Australia. More recently, his 2020 memoir I Wanna Be Yours and 2024's Sunday Times bestseller WHAT have kept him in the conversation, and his poetry is now part of the UK national curriculum.
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It's a mid-week one, so if you're heading in from outside the city centre, keep that in mind. The night starts at 7:00 PM at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, with Clarke headlining and Garry, Garbutt and Roberts opening the bill.
