While I was working in Barrow in Furness at the North West Evening Mail I got the chance to photograph John Otway at two memorable gigs. Basically his schtick was that he had the hit in the 1970s called (Cor Baby That’s) Really Free but I had to admire his perseverance and it was quite an entertaining show on both occasions.

The first gig was in July 1993 at a club in Barrow and I was quite surprised when, during the track Headbutts, he would slam his head against the microphone for added effect. I have to give credit to my colleague Rob Gardner for the review. And the fact that the show was completely bonkers means it has to be applauded – I mean he even slammed his forehead into a well battered microphone during the song Headbutts. And the slow flash/blur shots were quite pleasing.

Otway treads fine line at Eddysons ‘asylum’

John Otway, Eddysons, Saturday, July 31, 1993:

THE lunatics took over the asylum this weekend as Otway did his best to harm himself in front of a rowdy audience for an hour.

He rattled through his hit Cor Baby, That’s Really Free and hurled himself around all four corners of the stage.

You can’t keep a good man down and Otway tried to keep his feet off the floor for as long as possible leaping off speakers, stacks of beer crates, performing cartwheels and somersaults while singing and strumming his guitar.

VERSIONS

He moves like he’s on the verge of an epileptic seizure and he’s the definition of hyperactive.

But the crowd loved him and his spoken versions of Blockbuster and You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet were brilliant.

There’s a fine line between genius and insanity and Otway wobbles on it very tenuously.

Anyone who tries to sing while they’ve got a microphone jammed in their mouth either needs professional psychiatric treatment or an excellent manager.

Rolf Harris managed a hit with Stairway to Heaven earlier this year and Otway hasn’t had a hit for 15 years so he’s released Two Little Boys.

During his fifth encore he announced that his dad was born in Ulverston and murdered David Bowie’s Space Oddity with an Ulverston accent and he performed the near legendary-Headbutts, slamming his head into the battered microphone a dozen times.

If you wern’t there then you really missed out. One of these days he’s going to do himself some serious harm and his “career” will come to a sticky end. He’s promised to come back next year so make sure you see him.

Words by Rob Gardner in the North West Evening Mail in August 1993.

The next year the was true to his word when he returned to Barrow for a second show and again I must credit Rob for the review.

It’s the upside down headbanger show

John Otway, Sub Zero, Barrow, Friday, March 4, 1994:

IF there was any justice in the world this man would be packing them in at Wembley Stadium every summer.

Thin as a rake and daft as a brush, John Otway takes his antics to the limits and beyond.

Whether standing on his hands or kicking and throwing equipment across the stage, there was never a dull moment in this spectacular show.

At one point, as he did a hand stand in front of the audience, he was leaving his footprints on the low ceiling above the stage.

Before he goes on he looks like an eccentric primary school teacher.

But once he gets in front of the audience he’s like a performing seal on self-destruct.

Quite how he didn’t injure himself last night, I’ll never know.

He lurched around like a disabled giraffe and was determined to somersault off the highest thing in the building, including stacked beer crates.

He’s a shameless self-publicist and during the gig he was only too pleased to contort himself into a dozen bizarre positions for the benefit of the Evening Mail cameras.

Words by Rob Gardner in the North West Evening Mail on Saturday, March 5, 1994.