It’s Sunday evening at the All’s Well bar in Gibraltar and the jukebox is playing non-stop John Otway songs. The great rock eccentric is leading fans in the call-and-response parts of his 2002 heavy-rock version of House of the Rising Sun, originally recorded at Abbey Road with 1,000 fans on guest vocals. The bar staff look on in amusement. “It was so special,” says Sarah Hatton, a 61-year-old lorry driver from Cornwall, afterwards. “John looked so happy.”
This is John Otway’s Wee Rock weekend – named after one of his songs and held on the wee rock of Gibraltar. Equal parts DIY punk and comedic entertainer, Otway is a veteran of more than 5,000 gigs across five decades of attention-grabbing stunts. Now 70, he still plays dozens of dates a year. To celebrate 30 years of his four-piece Otway Big Band, he has brought 100 fans to Gibraltar for one of his regular international excursions.
