Original Dr Feelgood Founding Member Back on the road Celebrating Lee Brilleaux Birthday

Original Dr Feelgood founding member back on the road — and this one means something.

This Afternoon Matinee show is a full-blooded celebration of the life, legacy and birthday of fellow founding member Lee Brilleaux.

10th MAY.
Born 10 May 1952.
Gone 7 April 1994 — but never silenced.

The date of this concert is no coincidence. This is Lee Brilleaux's birthday, marked the only way that would ever make sense to him: loud, raw, unpolished R&B played inches from the crowd, sweat on the walls, groove in the floorboards. No speeches. No sentimentality. Just the music that Lee lived for — and lived through.

At the centre of it all stands Sparko — founding member, original bass player, and one of the last living links to the moment British pub rock caught fire. Sparko played on every single classic Dr Feelgood recording, standing shoulder to shoulder with Lee Brilleaux as the band tore up pubs, clubs and finally the charts. This is not a tribute band peering through history — this is history still breathing.

On drums and backing vocals, Mat Hector brings relentless power and pedigree forged on the world's toughest stages, having driven the engine for artists including Iggy Pop, Razorlight, Thom Yorke, Glen Matlock and more. This is drumming with punk intent and pub-rock muscle, exactly the way Feelgood music demands.

Guitar and vocals come from John Simpson, a working musician since 1975 and a lifelong disciple of the original Feelgood sound. Having shared stages with Wilko Johnson, Sparko and other key figures from the scene, his clipped, machine-gun guitar attack channels Wilko's spirit without parody — sharp, functional and deadly. In 2023 he hit No.17 in Mike Read's Heritage Chart with "I Don't Get It", a heartfelt salute to Wilko and early Feelgood, recorded entirely solo. Belief over polish. Every time.

The setlist is pure Feelgood DNA — heavy on the first four albums, stacked with Wilko-era classics, choice cuts from the Gypie Mayo years, and a handful of snarling rock 'n' roll standards for good measure. This is the soundtrack of pubs that shook, bands that learned fast, and a scene that lit the fuse for punk.

Dr Feelgood formed on Canvey Island in 1971, built on rhythm & blues, attitude and sheer bloody determination. By the mid-'70s they ruled the London pub rock circuit, infamous for shows that were short, brutal and unforgettable. Albums like Down by the Jetty and Malpractice captured that danger, while 1976's Stupidity went to No.1 in the UK album charts, proving that raw, live music could still knock the industry sideways.

Lee Brilleaux stood at the centre of it all — a frontman without artifice, without ego, without compromise. His influence rippled straight into punk and beyond.

This show is not nostalgia.
It is a birthday celebration, a thank-you, and a proper night out in the spirit of Lee Brilleaux — played by the people who were there when it started.

10th May. Turn up. Turn it up.
Celebrate Lee the only way that matters — Going Back Home.