Article credit: Andrew Brown, Stand Up For Southport (Sponsored feature)
Award-winning writer, comedian and music journalist Marc Burrows is delighted to be bringing The Britpop Show – a multimedia stand-up celebration of one of Britain’s most iconic and chaotic musical eras to Southport this April.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the mega Blur vs Oasis chart battle, and The Britpop Show unpicks the rivalries, hype, absurd personalities and unforgettable music that defined the 90s Britpop era and changed the face of UK culture.
During his career, Marc has interviewed some of Britpop’s biggest stars.
With wit, warmth and a knack for finding the strange beneath the surface, he charts the rise and fall of a movement that started with hope and swagger and ended in excess and identity crisis.
At its peak, Britpop was more than music – it was freedom, fun, Hooch, Union Jacks on everything, and a generation of nerdy outsiders finding themselves suddenly famous.
But what came after the Blur vs Oasis frenzy? What happened when Britpop stopped being fun?
What influence did New Labour’s election victory have as the UK hurtled towards the millennium? And how did Damon Albarn sleep with so many people’s girlfriends?
Equal parts love letter and send-up, The Britpop Show is sharp, silly and surprisingly moving.
It explores the legacy of the era, from middle-class pretension vs working-class grit to the way British music tried to reinvent itself in the ’90s, to what happened when cocaine, commercialisation and culture wars kicked in.
On bringing the show to Southport, Marc says:
“Southport gave us one of the more interesting bands to come out of the Britpop era: Gomez — five lads from Southport who formed at college, released their brilliant debut album Bring It On in 1998, featuring the brilliant ‘Whippin’ Picadilly’ and ‘Get Myself Arrested’, and promptly won the Mercury Music Prize, beating The Verve’s Urban Hymns and Massive Attack’s Mezzanine.
“Which is absolutely insane when you think about it!
“They sounded nothing like any other Britpop band — bluesy, scruffy, oddly American in places — and they were from a seaside town on Merseyside best known for its flower show.
“Ben Ottewell had one of the great voices of the era and ’78 Stone Wobble’ remains one of the strangest singles to get radio play in the ’90s.
“Southport also sits between Liverpool and Manchester, the two cities that arguably invented everything Britpop was built on, so you’ve been surrounded by this music whether you knew it or not. I’m very happy to be here.”
Directed by Dec Munro, the show blends comedy, cultural commentary and nostalgic chaos to remember what made Britpop brilliant in the first place and to create something uniquely fun and resonant – a show for diehard fans, curious newbies, and anyone who remembers the distinct sound of 1995. Packed with jokes, classic tunes, and a heartfelt celebration of the best (and worst) of a musical moment that still shapes British identity today, this is a joyous, raucous look back at the 90s. Remembering the music, memories and the mayhem, this show captures the spirit of a cultural moment when anything seemed possible.
Marc, an award-winning music and culture journalist (The Guardian, The Quietus, The Big Issue), is best known for his acclaimed show The Magic of Terry Pratchett, (based on his book of the same name) which is endorsed by Pratchett’s estate, has sold over 10,000 tickets across the UK on tour, played to great acclaim at the Adelaide Fringe, and recently sold out London’s Duchess Theatre with Terry Pratchett’s daughter, Rhianna Pratchett, as a special guest.
The Britpop Show
Wednesday 22 April 2026, 7.30pm
Tickets: https://theatkinson.co.uk/events/the-britpop-show/
Article credit: Andrew Brown, Stand Up For Southport (Sponsored feature)