It's rare for any concert-goer to look forward to the support act rather than the main course – but a Wilko Johnson show is not your usual gig these days.

The former Dr Feelgood guitar maestro was given less than a year to live back at Christmas 2012 after being diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer but, more than 15 months later and counting, Wilko is still strutting his inimitable stuff.

Rejecting chemotherapy, Wilko defiantly remains one of rock’s most compelling performers, with his machine gun guitar style approach and that unique wild-eyed stare.

The creator of all of those 1970s Canvey Island R&B classics may be staring death in the face, but Wilko’s back catalogue will live on forever for a certain generation of rock fans. Quite possibly for the very last time, The Civic Hall was treated to blistering versions of Roxette, Back In The Night, Down By The Jetty and a glorious finale of She Does It Right.

Wilko Johnson on his farewell tour at Koko in London
Wilko Johnson on his farewell tour at Koko in London

The Grim Reaper may hover ghoulishly over all Wilko’s gigs, but, with fellow maastros Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Dylan Howe in tow, do not bet against him rocking on for some time yet.

Headliners Status Quo, were, well, Status Quo. But Francis Rossi’s cheesy stage patter about chasing 50-something women and that trademark headbanging boogie could never compare with Wilko’s quite magnificent raging against the dying of the light.