LOCKDOWN gave maverick musician John Otway a taste of what life would be like if he was forced to give up gigging.
“It was horrid. I don’t want to stop this – it’s too much fun,” he says.
In early April, a gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire will be number 5,000 since he first headed out on tour in 1972.
The intervening 50 years have been something of a rollercoaster.
He was catapulted to fame in the late 70s thanks to an appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test which resulted in his first hit, Really Free, which peaked at number 27.
He then had to wait until his 50th birthday in 2002 for a second hit – Bunsen Burner – which was a present to him from his fans, who launched a campaign to get him back into the charts.
When he was 60, he turned filmmaker to produce Otway the Movie, Rock and Roll’s Greatest Failure and then in 2016, when he wanted to record a new album, a successful Kickstarter campaign saw him take his band to a studio in Montserrat.
But it is gigging where he is most at home and although he turns 70 in October, there are no plans to hang up the guitar.
“All my adult life has consisted of at least two nights a week people telling me what a good bloke I am and buying me drinks,” he said.
“Suddenly, when lockdown hit, that stopped and I really missed it but now I am back to my normal schedule of about 100 gigs a year.”
During lockdown, he took to Facebook to perform live, attracting up to 10,000 views a week – or the equivalent of filling the Royal Albert Hall more than twice over, as he puts it.
A successful campaign to book and then fill the Royal Albert Hall is among the more memorable gigs from the past half century.
“I also remember when Really Free was a hit, they closed off the town centre and 20,000 people came to see me play – local boy makes good,” he recalls.
The London Palladium was the scene of another memorable celebration for his second, and so far last, hit single.
Before he reaches London and gig 5,000, there is the small matter of gig number 4,994 – at The Witham, in Barnard Castle, on Saturday, March 19.
It’s a full band show and tickets are £15 in advance or £18 on the door.
Go to www.thewitham.org.uk for details and booking.
