The Post presents: Total Stranger

Dear readers – we hope you're well on this Good Friday!

In just under two weeks, we’ll be hosting an intimate evening at Café Tabac – a place that will be familiar to many of you, and one that sits at the heart of Liverpool’s cultural history.

The event is centred around Total Stranger, a striking collection of rarely seen photographs capturing Pete Burns and Dead or Alive in their earliest years – long before the fame, when the city’s creative scene felt smaller, stranger, and full of possibility.

Photographer Francesco Mellina, who was there, camera in hand, will join the lovely Melissa Blease for a live, in-depth conversation about those years: the people, the places, and the energy that shaped a generation.

Melissa wrote about this world for us back in July, describing Burns as “not nice, kind, or fair – but unforgettable.” That sense of contradiction, charisma and chaos runs through these images, and through the stories we’ll hear on the night.

We’re keeping the evening deliberately intimate. This won’t be a formal, on-stage talk, but something looser and more reflective, with photographs passed around the room, conversation unfolding naturally, and space for you to ask questions or share your own memories, if you were part of that time.

Whether you remember those days vividly, or are simply curious about a different side of the city’s past, we think this will be a genuinely special night.

Following the discussion and Q&A, Francesco Mellina will be available for book signings and a chat. His books will also be available for purchase.

*Please note that the venue is not catered for wheelchair accessibility

As ever, thank you for being part of what we’re building at The Post. It’s your support that allows us to put on evenings like this.

We hope you can join us.