Wilko Johnson to play Stafford Gatehouse Theatre

Following his recent TV appearance on BBC 2 Television's Later With Jools Holland, former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson will be appearing at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre with special guests Virgil and the Accelerators.

Johnson will play the Gatehouse on Saturday, April 28, 2012. Tickets, on sale now, cost £17.50.

The guitarist and singer will be accompanied by Norman Watt-Roy on bass and Dylan Howe on drums.

Wilko first made his name when he formed Dr Feelgood, a British pub rock band from Canvey Island, Essex, in1971.

Known for their high energy live performances, their first two studio albums, Down by the Jetty (1974) and Malpractice (1975), proved immensely popular.

Their 1976 breakthrough live album, Stupidity reached No.1 in the official UK album chart.

By the time Dr Feelgood released their fourth album, Sneakin' Suspicion (1977), Johnson left the group to pursue a solo career. By 1980, Johnson joined Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

Recently he featured in Julien Temple's Oil City Confidential, a full-length feature film documentary about Dr Feelgood, and has also of late been seen starring opposite Sean Bean as Royal Executioner Ser Illyn Payne in HBO's fantasy series Game of Thrones.

To tie in with the tour, Wilko will be releasing what he calls his "fractured autobiography", Looking Back At Me, written in association with Zoe Howe.

Fender will issue a Wilko Johnson signature Fender Telecaster based on his customised 1962 model and EMI will release a boxed set of three CDs and DVD. The CDs will include a mix of the first four Dr Feelgood albums, and previously unreleased material.

There's even talk of a new Wilko Johnson studio album in the pipeline.

Support is from Virgil and The Accelerators, the three-piece power trio fronted by Virgil MacMahon from Bromsgrove, who will be playing tracks from their critically acclaimed debut album The radium.