Wilko Johnson headlining Llangollen Fringe Festival,
Five years ago guitar legend and Game of Thrones star Wilko Johnson was told he had terminal pancreatic cancer.
Next month he will be strutting his stuff at the 20th anniversary Llangollen Fringe Festival, having defied the medics and having had life-saving surgery.
It is a return to the festival for Wilko Johnson who will be headlining the 2017 event when he appears at the Llangollen Pavilion on July 19.
The festival, which includes music, film and comedy is held in venues ranging from the Town Hall to a narrowboat and a train complete with a dance carriage. It will run from July 13 to 23.
Wilko Johnson was the R&B guitarist with Dr Feelgood who went on to gig across the world.
He emerged as a film star in 2009 in Oil City Confidential and then in the TV phenomenon Game of Thrones when he played the silent assassin ‘Ser llyn Payne' up to his diagnosis with cancer.
This period also marked one of Wilko’s most creative, seeing him star in a second film as Julien Temple as well as recording the hit album Going Back Home with The Who's Roger Daltrey.
He will perform at Llangollen with long time collaborator Norman Watt-Roy from the nucleus of The Wilko Johnson Band, and support from The Delta Radio Band.
Fringe organiser, Neal Thompson said the 2017 fringe, supported by The Arts Council Of Wales, promised to be the biggest yet to celebrate the festival’s 20th birthday.
"It is a true community event, for the community," he said.
"The Fringe began as a musical event for the town of Llangollen and it has grown and grown. It is a not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers and only receives limited public funding, so a big thank-you to all who help in whatever way."
During the 11 days there will be world music from Kasai Masai which marries music from the Congo with today's dance music, folk singer, Seth Lakeman, Llareggub Brass Band, cook book author, Jack Monroe, comedian and prolific activist and documentary maker Mark Thomas, Bedfordshire sextet CC Smugglers and band, Turin Breaks.
The Llangollen heritage railway will host live R&B, soul and funk music on a steam train and on the platforms in the town and in the village of Carrog on July 16 while retro 80s disco violinist Billy Thompson and his group Gypsy Style will perform on a narrowboat which will take the audience across the Pontcysyllte aqueduct on July 22.
There will be a chance to perform in a Band for a Day during a workshop at Dinas Bran School on July 16 then take to the festival stage at the Town Hall for a concert on July 15.
The festival finale with see 9Bach perform at Valle Crucis Abbey. The winners of 2015’s BBC Radio 2’s Folk Award for Best Album will have a spectacular backdrop for the concert.
Tickets are on sale at llangollenfringe.co.uk or by calling 0800 1455 779.
