John Otway – self-billed as “Rock And Roll’s Greatest Failure” - has played 5,260 gigs in 53 years, a record possibly only beaten by BB King. There are more this autumn of course. He simply can’t stop. “People buying me drinks and telling me what a good bloke I am? Why would you stop?” We talk to him here about the art of shambling stagecraft and a life lived almost permanently on the road, which involves …
... a burning desire to perform from the age of nine.
… “Don’t think before opening your mouth!”
… the rhythm of life when you play two gigs a week for five decades. And the value of ‘Micro-stardom’ - “I’m at the bar when they walk in”.
… seeing the Move, Free and Mott the Hoople in Aylesbury.
… how people always noticed him – not least because “I was idiot-dancing by the bass speakers”.
... his first performance, a massively overwrought version of Peter Sarstedt’s Where Do You Go To My Lovely.
… best-selling Otway merch - “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better! It’s Nearly Rock And Roll But I Like It!” etc.
… “You have to capture an audience in the first 20 seconds.”
... why playing the same size venues every night doesn’t challenge you.
… a recent three-month ‘trial retirement’.
… when he estimates he’ll play his 6,000th gig.
… and his planned and bank-breaking 2026 World Tour.
John Otway tour dates here: https://www.johnotway.com/gigs.html
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