Negotiations with acts for Marchfest are in their final stages.
Currently provisionally booked are UK punk poet John Cooper Clarke,
Watussi from Australia, The Julia Deans Band, Auckland's Drab Doo Riffs and
Nelson's The Immigrants.

John Cooper Clarke is an English performance poet who first became
famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known
as a "punk poet". He released several albums in the late 1970s and early
1980s, and continues to perform regularly. Alex Turner of UK band Arctic
Monkeys recently revealed he takes inspiration for some of his song
lyrics from Clarke’s poems. The poem "Out of Control Fairground" was
printed inside Arctic Monkeys' 2007 single "Fluorescent Adolescent" CD.

In the 70s and 80s, Clarke gigged with The Sex Pistols, The Fall, Joy
Division, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Elvis Costello, New
Order and Linton Kwesi Johnson. His set is characterized by lively,
rapid-fire renditions of his poems, usually performed a cappella. Often
referred to as "the bard of Salford", he usually refers to himself on
stage as "Johnny Clarke, the name behind the hai