“It’s Saturday night at the Apollo”, “I grew up 2 streets away from here”, and “this gig is pretty special to me” are just a few of the quotes from Johnny Marr, as he played a spectacular homecoming show at the Manchester Apollo on his current tour for his new album ‘Playland’. And boy was it special indeed…
Johnny and his band hit the stage at 9pm with title track from the new album ‘Playland’, a track that reminds us all just how much of a wizard he is on the guitar, before hitting in to the crowd pleasing Smiths track ‘Panic’, which had the entire place chanting “Hang the DJ”. His set list consisted of 7 Smiths tracks, which also included ‘Still Ill’ and ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ with their killer opening riffs, ‘Big Mouth Strikes Again’, a beautiful rendition of ‘Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I want’, many Smiths fans favourite ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’, and the perfect encore of ‘How Soon Is Now’. Johnny dedicated ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ to his Manager, who got married that day, telling the audience how it was his Manager who told him he was good, and to form the Smiths many years ago. He then described him and the band to be the wedding band, and the audience as the wedding guests. It was one of those gig moments that will never happen again, and it was absolutely spectacular.
30 years ago this review would’ve been purely based on the Smiths, but Johnny Marr has come so far, and done so much, that although they’re such a prominent part of his career, they’re only a small timespan of it. Johnny played the majority of his new album, his second solo album ‘Playland’, including the single with one of his catchiest riffs, ‘Easy Money’. ‘Speak Out Reach Out’ was also a highlight of the night with its swaggered guitars and drum beat accompanying lyrics Johnny states to have written after being given stick on the streets of London late at night. For his encore Johnny returned to the stage in a ‘Boys Get Straight t-shirt, promoting the fantastic fast paced track from the album.
It’s great to see that Johnny’s cool enough to honour other musicians, with his last tour seeing him cover ‘I Fought The Law’, and this one including a cover of ‘Lust For Life’ by Iggy Pop. Nobody could’ve been disappointed at the set list as at one point the most beautiful moment in the history of music happened, when a glitter ball turned the Manchester Apollo in to the most beautiful venue in the world, as Johnny played ‘Getting Away With it’ by former band of his, ‘Electronic’, which was accompanied by him dancing to his masterpiece. I slightly missed some of the tracks from his first album ‘The Messenger’, but it is the ‘Playland’ tour, and Johnny did play the energetic ‘Upstarts’, massive crowd pleaser ‘Generate! Generate!’, and the wonderfully chilled ‘New Town Velocity’.
I feel lucky to have watched Johnny Marr play guitar, as it’s really something special. If you haven’t checked the album ‘Playland’ out yet, I urge you to do so immediately, you won’t be disappointed! If you think he can’t get any better, be proved wrong by ‘Playland’ – I genuinely think he’s a wizard…
By Laura Dean – @modestlaura
