Ten years later, I see John Cooper Clarke again. With no disrespect to the man, I remember in 2014 assuming that I should see him then because who knows if it might be the last time. Fair play to him, he’s still doing it!
It’s an interesting proposition, a John Cooper Clarke show. It’s not quite variety show, but it’s also not just “here’s some poems”. It’s not interspersed with anecdotes, but it’s also not without discursions. There’s even some jokes (and a new topper to one of my favourites of his classics). Sometimes it does feel a bit like filler, but it’s often just amiable.
The new poems are good fun, having not read the new collection just yet, but even then there’s ones he’s reading from handwritten notebooks. Love to see continuing productivity.
But of course it’s the classics we’re here for, and he understands that. He ends the main set with Evidently Chickentown and the encore with I Wanna Be Yours and honestly it’s just a delight to hear them again, losing nothing of their power.
Luke Wright - also supporting JCC that night 10 years ago - is here again supporting, and I’m thrilled. I’m a big fan of Wright, who is able to balance earnestness and cynicism with a feather touch