An Extraordinary Life
Coinciding with a new biography, An Extraordinary Life, on August 3 a commemoration of the music and legacy of the much-missed John Wetton rapidly grew from a small-scale live idea into a gigantic, star-packed five-hour celebration that was streamed across the globe. Prog grabbed a golden ticket to attend the once-in-a-lifetime event at Trading Boundaries in the Sussex countryside, a night when (rock) stars truly aligned.
Words: Jo Kendall
Dave Kilminster, Jakko Jakszyk, Mel Collins and David Cross get up to some Crimsonesque shenanigans.
Images: Kevin Nixon
“It’s extraordinary to be in a room with all my musical heroes, I can’t believe it,” says a visibly gobsmacked Michael Clifford, owner of Trading Boundaries, the East Sussex furniture emporiumcum-prog sanctum, from the stage.
What’s about to take place is almost unbelievable. In just four months a live event billed as ‘John Wetton: An Extraordinary Life’ – the same title as a new biography and forthcoming box set – complete with a star-studded line-up to make any prog fan hyperventilate, has been created in Wetton’s honour. Wetton played here in January 2012 supporting his friend, and Asia artist, Roger Dean’s Focus X event. Roger now has a gallery here.
When John passed away from colon cancer in 2017, aged just 67, he left a vast catalogue of music made with Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep, Wishbone Ash and Asia as well as his own solo work and many collaborations. A commemoration idea snowballed following a proposal by Paul Green, founder of the Paul Green Rock Academy, formerly the School Of Rock, for multi-instrumentalists aged 10 to 18. Founded in 2002, most recently the PGRA has provided Jon Anderson with his touring ensemble, but in the 2000s John Wetton was a professor and performer with the Academy, spotlighting songs from his prog canon.
Since John’s passing, his widow Lisa has kept in touch with the PGRA, booking them for US prog event RoSFest in 2022. In April this year, Paul and Lisa spoke about the students playing Trading Boundaries with Anderson as part of their current European tour, “but Paul suggested doing small tribute show for John, with a handful of special guests. We thought it could be a fundraiser for Macmillan Caring Locally, who helped look after John,” Lisa tells Prog. “Well, I knew what I was getting into [laughs]. I had to ask John’s management, QEDG, to be involved. Then all hell broke loose as people started coming forward to be part of it.”