The months that Wilko Johnson thought would be his last are the subject of a documentary movie.
Made by Julien Temple – who also created Dr Feelgood film Oil City Confidential – The Ecstasy Of Wilko Johnson follows the guitarist through his “farewell tour” to the unexpected surgery that saved his life.
He’d refused chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and thought he was going to be killed by the tumour in his pancreas. But a pioneering procedure resulted in the all-clear being given last October.
Speaking soon after his diagnosis, Johnson said: “I began to feel almost euphoric and the feeling hasn’t worn off. I realise that all the things I usually worry about don’t matter.”
Temple says the movie “confronts our worst nightmares of impending death, confounding expectations and turning them upside down.”
Release information will be available in due course. Johnson launches his first post-recovery tour later this month:
Mar 18: Manchester Ritz
Mar 20: Glasgow O2 ABC
Mar 26: London Royal Albert Hall – with The Who
Apr 26: London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
May 02: Cheltenham Jazz Festival
May 29: Dublin O2 Academy
May 31: Roryfest, Ballyshannon
Jun 06: Lunar Festival, Tamworth-in-Arden
Jul 30: Cambridge Folk Festival
