John Waters - Radio Luxembourg

Iconic star of stage and screen, John Waters, celebrates the songs of the British Pop Invasion that changed the world of modern music forever

Friday 8 December | 7:30pm | GPAC Main Theatre

The newest show from John Waters, featuring Stewart D’Arrietta and the Chartbusters, presents a phenomenal walk through nostalgia and an era of music that remains in the cellular memory of fans over several generations. 

Born in London, Waters was in his teens and early twenties during the 1960s and considers himself one of the luckiest music lovers as a result. The reason why is in part due to Radio Luxembourg. At a time when commercial radio licences were not available in the UK, pop and rock music of the day was broadcast from continental Europe. This access was courtesy of the independent principality of Luxembourg - a clever move by the British record industry to circumnavigate the laws of the day. 

“The great boom in pop music, which started in the US with Elvis Presley and his contemporaries, took a quantum leap with the arrival of the British-led ‘revolution’ and was opened up to me and a whole generation by that great invention: the transistor radio,” Waters said. 

“We could hide under the bedclothes to muffle the sound from our parents ears, tune in to 208 on the medium waveband, and listen to Roy Orbison and Frankie Avalon, Motown and the Four Seasons and Dion. The list was long beyond our wildest dreams. When we no longer had to hide the Beatles exploded onto the scene followed by so many others, and the ‘British Invasion’ really began including bands like The Moody Blues, the Kinks, The Who and scores of others. This was our identity.” 

Friday 8 December is a night not to miss!