Artist · Tour Dates & Tickets
John Cooper Clarke
Upcoming dates
- Bournemouth, United KingdomLighthouseView details
- Bristol, United KingdomBristol BeaconView details
- Brighton, United KingdomTheatre Royal - BrightonView details
- London, United KingdomThe London PalladiumView details
- Stoke On Trent, United KingdomVictoria HallView details
- Birmingham, United KingdomTown Hall BirminghamView details
- Liverpool, United KingdomLiverpool Philharmonic HallView details
- Leeds, United KingdomCity Varieties Music HallView details
- Leeds, United KingdomCity Varieties Music HallView details
- Newcastle Upon Tyne, United KingdomPlayhouse, Whitley BayView details
- York, United KingdomGrand Opera House, YorkView details
- Blackpool, United KingdomBlackpool Opera HouseView details
- Leicester, United KingdomDe Montfort HallView details
- Edinburgh, United KingdomThe Queen's HallView details
Dates Wanderistan tracks for John Cooper Clarke, from ticketing and venue listings — upcoming: 14, past: 2. John Cooper Clarke may play other dates that are not listed here yet, so check the official tour page for the full schedule.
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Past shows
2 past shows
- Southend On Sea, United KingdomPalace Theatre, SouthendView details
- Budapest, HungaryPerformers: The Incredible String Band, Seth Lakeman, Jacqui McShee's Pentangle, TunngView details
About John Cooper Clarke
John Cooper Clarke, born 25 January 1949 in Salford, Lancashire, is an English performance poet and comedian known as "the Bard of Salford." He rose to...
John Cooper Clarke, born 25 January 1949 in Salford, Lancashire, is an English performance poet and comedian known as "the Bard of Salford." He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as a "punk poet," performing rapid-fire, satirical verse alongside punk and post-punk bands.
After leaving school at 15 and working as a mechanic, window cleaner, and compositor, Clarke was encouraged by Buzzcocks singer Howard Devoto to begin performing on the punk circuit, and his 1977 EP Innocents established him within the scene. He shared stages with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Buzzcocks, Joy Division, New Order, and Duran Duran, and reached the UK Top 40 in 1979 with "Gimmix! (Play Loud)." His albums include Disguise in Love (1978), Snap, Crackle & Bop (1980), and Zip Style Method (1982); his best-known poems include "Evidently Chickentown" and "Beasley Street." His poem "I Wanna Be Yours" was adapted by Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner as the closing track of the band's 2013 album AM.
Clarke's career declined during the 1980s amid heroin addiction, before a resurgence in the 1990s and 2000s restored him to wider prominence as a live performer, broadcaster, and published author of poetry collections including Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt (1983) and The Luckiest Guy Alive (2018), as well as the 2020 memoir I Wanna Be Yours.
He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Salford in 2013, was named Q magazine's first poet laureate that year, and was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Salford in 2023. He has continued to perform and publish into his seventies, releasing the poetry collection What in 2024 and receiving the main prize at the Northern Music Awards in 2025.