[ATTENDED: October 22, 2018] Johnny Marr
My friend Garry got me into The Smiths in high school. I had been exclusively into metal before that, but there was something about the guitars and lyrics of The Smiths that I really enjoyed. And I quickly became a huge fan of Johnny Marr.
The Smiths broke up in 1987 and that was that. Johnny Marr has since gone on to play with dozens of bands, including Electronic, The The and Modest Mouse. He has also been releasing solo albums along the way, but I didn’t really listen to any of those.
Because of my love for The Smiths and much of Morrissey’s solo work, I tried to see Morrissey last year. Of course that show got cancelled. So I assumed I’d never get to see any members of The Smiths live (I have no idea what the bassist and drummer have been up to).
Then I saw that Johnny Marr was doing a one-off in New York City for his new album Call the Comet (which was getting great reviews). I tried to get tickets but didn’t. Oh well, no big loss. Then a few months later, he announced a small U.S. tour including a stop in Philly. He has only played Philly in 2003, 2013 and 2014. So this seemed like my only chance.
I don’t know much about the guy himself. Morrissey, as we all know, is a prat.
But what about Johnny? Is he an aloof 80s alt rock star? Like hell he is. His merch all says “Johnny Fuckin Marr.” He was chatty and funny. He had on a great shirt and smiled a lot. He was generally a load of laughs. Who would have guessed?
But the real question is, Is Johnny Marr to stuck up to play Smiths songs? Like hell he is. Actually I didn’t know if he’d play any Smiths songs. But i was pretty psyched when he played six of them.
But he was there to promote Call the Comet and so he started out with a new song called “The Tracers.” It had a repeating “whooo whooo” refrain and a rocking guitar part. Knowing what I know about Marr, I never expected his songs to rock out like this. And yet they did rock out. Virtually every song he played was rocking and full-bodied. And his backing band was fantastic James Doviak played guitar and keys. I enjoyed that he supplemented Marr, playing mostly rhythm guitar but occasionally taking on some of Marr’s signature sounds as well. Despite the shades, he never stepped into the bright lights
Johnny then delighted me and everyone in the room by playing the opening chords of The Smiths’ “Bigmouth Strikes Again.” This is one of the first Smiths songs I’d ever heard and it was amazing to hear it live. The crowd went berserk (so many old men dancing!) and then Johnny sang.
Johnny is no Morrissey and he does not try to be. He does not sing like Morrissey, but he does have the same Mancunian accent so while it was no Morrissey it was not exactly wrong either. The delivery was less arch but was still right. It was an awesome treat. If that was the only Smiths song he played I would have been happy. But he had a few more tucked away.
He followed that up with the new song, a B-side to “Hi Hello” called “Jeopardy” which had a rockin riff and trippy vocals. Then he played “Day In Day Out” which has an acoustic-sounding guitar. Doviak didn’t switch guitars, he juts switched effects which was pretty cool.
Johnny sang from the center of the stage where the soft lights were on him. Sometimes he was obscured by white, other times, he was faintly visible. But every time he took a guitar solo he walked up to the front of the stage where the spotlights shone on him and we could see him in all of his leather jacketed or heart-print-shirted glory. The only bad thing was that the really tall men (are all former goths really tall? At least none of them had Robert Smith hair) would put heir heads together blocking my view to scrutinize his playing, leaving me looking at pomade and bald spots.
He said, “Hi guys, how are you all doing.” He then corrected that he wasn’t only talking to the men. He’s from England, if he was only talking to the men, he’d say “hello darlings.” This was an introduction of sorts to “Hi Hello.” And then came the opening riff to “The Headmaster Ritual.” So there would be more than one Smiths song! This song, in addition to having a great guitar riff also has a notable bass line which Iwan Gronow played perfectly. It was like hearing the band (except that Johnny sang “same old suit since 1982”).
The next cover was a huge surprise because I had forgotten that Johnny was in the duo Electronic (with Bernard Summer from New Order). Neil Tennant was a guest on “Getting Away with It” (Neil did not guest at TLA, of course). It was odd because I knew this song pretty well but it sounded so different. The original has lots of keys but this song had far more guitar than synth (and no Neil Tennant). But the guy next to me (short with a nice head of white hair) danced like a fool.
“Hey Angel” has some great guitar soloing. Then Johnny switched gears to play a beautiful “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.” It was interesting as he sang the words and I wondered what he thought about Morrissey’s lyrics. They are so distinctly The Smiths, but would he have ever written anything like that himself? Certainly he doesn’t now. Did he feel weird singing it? I can’t imagine that Johnny Marr has felt that way in decades 🙂
He joked that politics was fun eh? Given Morrissey’s recent proclamations, who knew where he was going with this, but he just proceeded to say that “Bug” was dedicated to “you know who.”
Then he asked, “Any requests? Bet you weren’t expecting to hear that!” People shouted some favorites and he responded “That’s no one of our songs, sir.” And then finally he said, “What’s that you say sir ‘Get the Message’ from 1991. Yea I think I can do that.” This was another Electronic song although I wasn’t as familiar with it (but that other guy sure was).
“Easy Money” from his previous album also sounded familiar. Perhaps it had some airplay a few years ago. The guitar chords were very Johnny Marr but the riff was heavy and the verses were very synthy. Either way it was pretty great. He followed it up with another song from Playland, “Boys Get Straight.” It was also a solid rocker, with great drums from Jack Mitchell. Clearly I 
need to check out his solo albums.
Just as I was wondering how long of a show Johnny Marr would do, he started playing the most iconic riff in all alternative rock. “How Soon is Now” was just amazing. Johnny played the echoing chords and Doviak plays the searing note The only downside to the whole thing was that I could barely see him or Doviak the whole time. However, being in the same room as the guy playing those chords was more than enough.
That was a set ender and frankly could have been a concert ender, it was something I’d hoped for and I got and I was satisfied.
But they did indeed come back for an encore. As has become traditional, the encore included two songs from the new album before getting onto real encore material.
He played that chord and we all knew it was “There is a Light That Never Goes Out.” I never thought I’d hear a room full of middle-aged men sing “to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die!” It was amazing.
When that song was over he told us that we were the last night on his tour so how about one more? (It turns out he played the same two songs back to back on all of his shows. In fact it was the same setlist all tour, but he did make us feel special).
And who cares if he was lying when the opening notes of “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby” rang out and once again, we all freaked out. It was an awesome end to the show and left all of us singing and happy.
I had basically written off Morrissey bailed on us last time. I basically felt that I would maybe go see him if he ever came back, but possibly not.
But now that I’ve seen Johnny Fuckin Marr play “How Soon is Now” what do I need Morrissey for?
SETLIST
- The Tracers €
- Bigmouth Strikes Again š
- Jeopardy (b-side of single)
- Day In Day Out €
- New Dominions €
- Hi Hello €
- The Headmaster Ritual š
- Walk Into the Sea €
- Getting Away With It ∃
- Hey Angel €
- Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me š
- Bug €
- Get the Message ∃
- Easy Money ¶
- Boys Get Straight ¶
- How Soon is Now? š
- encore
- Rise €
- Spiral Cities €
- There is a Light That Never Goes Out š
- You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby š
€ Call the Comet (2018)
¶ Playland (2014)
š The Smiths cover
∃ Electronic cover
SOUNDTRACK: GREGORY PORTER-“Be Good (Lion’s Song)” (Field Recordings, May 14, 2013).
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