The John Otway Band

The Rolling Stones have clocked up just over 2,000 gigs and The Beatles a paltry 990. In his 80th year Bob Dylan’s Neverending Tour rolls on but still totals under 4,500 while those voracious roadhounds The Grateful Dead managed only around 2,300.

Otway played his first gig in Aylesbury in 1972. In the intervening 50 years he has built a sizeable cult following of amazingly loyal and adoring fans through his ceaseless touring, surreal sense of humour and a self-deprecating underdog persona.

He first achieved micro-stardom with a memorable (and very painful – ask him) 1977 appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test leading to his first hit record ‘Cor Baby That’s Really Free’. In 2002, a mere 25 years later, he had another hit when ‘Bunsen Burner’ entered the Top Ten.

As well as his brace of hits, the man who happily calls himself ‘Rock n’ Roll’s Greatest Failure’…