Dr John Cooper Clarke

Dr John Cooper Clarke takes the stage at Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, on 23 October 2026. Born in Salford in 1949, he broke through alongside the late‑70s British punk scene with a lean, fast, and biting form of spoken verse. Tied to performance poetry and punk poetry, his work runs on precise rhythm, black humor and a clear eye for social detail. On record he has flirted with post‑punk and new wave backdrops; live, he often goes a cappella, letting the cadence carry the punchlines and the portraits.

After the 1977 EP Innocents came a run of albums through the late 70s and early 80s, including Disguise in Love, Snap, Crackle & Bop and Zip Style Method, while sharing stages with Buzzcocks, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Fall. He returned to the studio with Hugh Cornwell for This Time It’s Personal in 2016, and his writing has travelled well beyond poetry circles, with I Wanna Be Yours finding a new audience via Arctic Monkeys in 2013. On this date, expect rapid‑fire delivery, dry wit and social satire from a poet whose timing and language have shaped generations of listeners.