Wilko Johnson – Guildford G Live – 6^th February 2014

View: balcony

In January 2013 Wilko Johnson announced that he had terminal pancreatic cancer and that he had been told he only had ten months to live. He arranged a farewell tour and quipped that it would be “a bit embarrassing” if he was still around “this time next year”.

Well, luckily for us he is still around and on astonishingly good form! He takes the stage with his band consisting of Norman Watt-Roy on bass and Dylan Howe on drums, and immediately rips into Dr Feelgood’s All Through The City, skittering across the stage as if it’s 1975.

It’s often forgotten that Wilko composed the bulk of Dr Feelgood’s material on their first three albums and we get nine of those gems tonight. Roxette, Back In The Night and She Does It Right predictably tear the place apart. Particularly poignant is Paradise, which name-checks Wilko’s late wife Irene. The line “I love two girls I ain’t ashamed” in the original is replaced by “My tears are falling, I ain’t ashamed”.

Although there is a band touring as Dr Feelgood, it contains no original members, so seeing Wilko is probably the closest one can get to the ‘genuine’ Dr Feelgood experience. It’s not all about Dr Feelgood though. We get a smattering of blues standards together with a truly astonishing Norman Watt-Roy bass solo, featuring Wilko with his hands on his hips darting jokey ‘I’m the star’ looks at Norman.

After about an hour an hour Wilko leaves the stage very briefly before returning for an encore of Chuck Berry’s Bye Bye Johnny. As always, seeing Wilko play live is a life-affirming experience. See him while you can.