If you have never experienced punk poet John Cooper Clarke, here is your chance! Clarke shot to fame in the era of The Sex Pistols, The Fall, Joy Division etc. More recently, his poems have inspired The Arctic Monkeys.
Three years of negotiations have finally brought UK stand-up poet John Cooper Clarke to Nelson. Clarke first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he gigged with The Sex Pistols, The Fall, Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Elvis Costello, New Order and Linton Kwesi Johnson. Clarke’s recent gigs in Europe have had rave reviews - Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys revealed earlier this year that he takes inspiration for some of his song lyrics from Clarke’s poems. Clarke’s performances are characterised by lively, rapid-fire renditions of his poems, usually performed a cappella and often very funny. Known as the "Bard of Salford", he usually refers to himself on stage as "Johnny Clarke, the name behind the hairstyle”.