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John Robb with Andy Cairns of Therapy?

“Do you believe in the power of Rock n Roll?”


Norwich Arts Centre, Wednesday 24th April 2024

 

Grab your tickets from Norwich Arts Centre for John Robb’s spoken word gig “Do you believe in the power of rock n roll?” on Wednesday 24th April.  Now is the time to put any scepticism or cynicism after a long fourteen years of government mis-rule behind you and be inspired. 

John Robb, founding member and bass player of The Membranes, lead singer in Gold Blade, journalist, fashion model and vegan torch carrier, exudes fierce enthusiasm for life.  He challenges us to keep believing that with the power of music we will keep connecting and acting in ways that can make this land and our planet a better place.


John Robb is touring Britain to promote his new book Do You Believe In The Power of Rock n Roll. The book is a collection of Robb’s excellent writing about a life immersed in punk music.  Robb has made friendships, built alliances and connected ideas, living his life with the ideals that first sparked him to be a punk and which sustain him still. He arrives in Norwich, once itself known for radical thinking and active rebellion, to help us stay tuned into music’s life-affirming energy.


This seated, spoken word show is in two parts scheduled across 90 minutes, but plan to stay for longer as the discussion and John’s stories, ideas and conversation develop in the audience question and answer session that conclude the event.  

 

The first part of the show covers how John’s life in Blackpool was transformed by the arrival of the punk aesthetic which led people like him to form their own bands, design their own clothing, wear what they wanted, write their own magazines and to brush off the kicks and punches confronting them for just trying to look, sound, say or do something out of the ordinary.


We didn’t know how to tune a guitar, so we just lined up the machine heads and played.


Where the Glam Rock of Bowie, Bolan and The Sweet was revamped music hall entertainment from another planet, punk rock kick-started the practise of the garage band, he explained to me on a reception-fizzy telephone signal.  The evening's entertaining talkshow at Norwich Arts Centre will be filled with music industry anecdotes and insights, starting from when punk rock entered John's consciousness.

 

Guest interviewee, Andy Cairns from Therapy?

 

The second part of the show features John interviewing Andy Cairns, who knew Robb prior to forming the band Therapy?.  Cairns is from Northern Ireland’s coastal town of Larne, so growing up, he shared a mirrored-view of the Irish Sea to that experienced by his contemporary in Blackpool.  John will be asking Andy about his life in music, that started during Northern Ireland’s most difficult times, a period when punks famously got on with making something of their lives despite the political turmoil about them. 


The third and final part of the show is devoted to audience questions, after which John will be signing copies of his latest book Do You Believe In The Power of Rock n Roll? 

 

Norwich Arts Centre, Wednesday, 24th April, 2024. 

 

The point of this article is to get you down to Norwich Arts Centre to listen to John Robb's lively  conversation and to experience some of the life-affirming energy that has driven him on through life since punk rock first burst on the music scene.  

 

Tickets for this seated show are available here.  Doors open at 19:00h show starts at 20:00h.

 

The approximate running times at Norwich Arts Centre on 24th April, 2024 are:

John Robb 8pm – 9pm 
Interval
Interview with Andy Cairns 9:20 – 9:50pm
Q&A/Discussion 9:50 – 10:20pm


Other venues on this tour are:


Colchester Arts Centre                 23rd April, 2024

Chester, Storyhouse                      26th April, 2024

Liverpool, Philharmonic Halls     27th April 2024

Brighton, Komedia                        2nd May 2024

London, Woolwich Works            3rd May 2024

London, 21 Soho                            4th May 2024

Edinburgh, The Voodoo Rooms    9th May2024

Nottingham, Djanogly Theatre    11th May 2024


A further article with a full interview with John will appear on this website very soon. 

 

Spencer Ide

 

Norwich

22nd April 2024

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