25th March saw Johnny Marr return to Liverpool for the first time since he toured his first solo album ‘The Messenger’ back in 2013. Johnny chose the East Village Arts Club as one of four intimate warm up gigs before he was due to support Paul Weller at the Royal Albert Hall in London last Friday as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs.
Johnny and his band took to the stage at 9pm with the track ‘Playland’ from his latest album of the same name – a perfect opening track to gear the crowd up as not only is it catchy and upbeat, but it sees Johnny play a killer guitar solo. Next Johnny threw the crowd in to Smiths classic ‘Panic’, before a varied and fantastic to make everyone happy, including several more Smiths tracks, tracks from both of his solo albums, his Record Store Day 2015 release, and a track from his time in supergroup Electronic; ‘Getting Away With It’, which is one of the best live performances i’ve witnessed. It’s never a bad thing to see Johnny play in a state of bliss, in a darkened room with the lights shining down on him.
Now back to Record Store Day 2015, of which Johnny recently announced that he’d be releasing a cover of Depeche Mode track ‘I Feel You’ for, which was an incredible and intense performance that himself and his band truly shined on, especially Jack Mitchell on the drums. Johnny also announced the release of ‘Back In The Box’ as his next LP during the gig, before playing the energetic track which saw him bounce up and down (he must be Peter Pan because surely he hasn’t aged?!) The tracks from ‘The Messenger’ album went down like a dream, especially album title track ‘The Messenger’ and single ‘New Town Velocity’, which both sounded sublime. Up tempo ‘New Town Velocity’ B-Side ‘IT Switch’ had also made its way back in to the set list.
Aside from ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ which saw a smiling Johnny and a mass crowd participation, and closing song ‘How Soon Is Now’, the crowd were relatively calm and well behaved – even Johnny passed comment on how he couldn’t tell whether they were shocked or surprised! Johnny’s rapport with the crowd never fails to amuse, so it was typical Johnny when whilst thanking the crowd for being there, to joke that there’s reality TV to watch, such as ‘Real Life Cheshire Housewives’. Johnny joked that he’d blown the vibe before ensuring that a fantastic gig was ended in the best way possible, filling the Arts Club with his genius sound as he begun to play ‘How Soon Is Now’ – the second his tremolo sound hit the speakers the atmosphere was out of this world and I’m sure the venue was shaking. In true God-like fashion Johnny threw his plectrum in to the crowd, pleasing one lucky fan, before holding his beautiful green Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar both above and on top of his head.
It’s safe to say that the pleasure and the privilege was mine, and another Johnny Marr gig can’t come quickly enough. Johnny’s energy, enthusiasm and the clear passion for what he does is spectacular.
Special thanks to Jackie Nutty for the wonderful pictures!
Written by Laura Dean
