Johnny Marr review: a guilt-free celebration of his incredible legacy.
Johnny Marr headlining The Nick Rayns LCR in Norwich. Photo: Steve Hunt - Credit: Steve Hunt
Johnny Marr looked to be in his element, on the opening night of his UK tour, at the Nick Rayns LCR in Norwich.
It's more than 30 years since The Smiths split. With Johnny Marr's erstwhile bandmate Morrissey's political views more likely to do the headline grabbing than his music nowadays, this show at the Nick Rayns LCR UEA, the opening night of his UK tour, was a guilt-free celebration of that incredible legacy. And Marr looked to be in his element.
As well as releasing three solo albums, Marr has a series of collaborations under his belt including with The Cribs and Modest Mouse. It was a real treat to hear two tracks from Electronic, his project with New Order frontman Bernard Sumner: Getting Away With It and Get The Message.
Declaring the show a politics free zone, apart from dedicating Bug to a certain controversial world leader, tracks from his latest album, Call The Comet, made up much of the show, the recent single Hi Hello a showcase for that signature jangling Marr fretwork.
But the highlights were, of course, plundered from The Smiths's back catalogue, and it was here that the guitar really took centre stage. Second song in and it was straight into a punky romp through Bigmouth Strikes Again. The set ended with the swooning How Soon Is Now?, before an encore which, fittingly, concluded with the bittersweet euphoria of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.
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