Johnny Marr live at King George’s Hall, Blackburn, 23/09/2021

Review by David Lancaster…

So on a warm Tuesday evening in Blackburn I approach King George’s Hall, I’m impressed by its splendour and it reminds me of a slightly smaller version of Liverpool’s St George’s Hall. Once inside, Scott, the security guy is telling me how the venue has had a paint job during lockdown and it’s all ready to celebrate its centenary next month with some special shows, it’s a lovely venue and deffo worth a visit. It’s fitting tonight that the King’s hall is hosting the King of Indie.

I never got to see Johnny’s old band The Smiths play live as I was maybe a bit too young when they split in ’87, but as a kid, I did follow their career and I was captivated by Morrissey’s quirks and the bands musical proficiency. Eventually, I got to see Moz live, but until now, I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing Johnny onstage.

The show opens with a new song ‘Hideaway Girl’ and what can I say about the Indie King?.. Maybe he’s the King of Cool, I mean look at him, he’s like Tony Montana throwing Keef Richards shapes while swinging a yellow Jag around the stage.

The latest single ‘Spirit, Power and Soul’ is indeed powerful and this song allows Johnny to show off his vocal skills and I notice he has become a bit of a frontman too. A few more tunes in and JM tells the audience to wake up as the new songs are over now, but I liked ‘Tenement Times’ and I think the new album is gonna sound really interesting. Soon we’re into ‘Get The Message’ and ‘Getting Away with It’ from JM’s Electronic days and people are dancing in the gallery around me. Next, we get some Smith’s classics, ‘Headmaster Ritual, ‘This Charming Man’, ‘How Soon is Now’ and ‘There is a Light’.. people are on each other’s shoulders down in the stalls and it’s a real privilege to see these songs getting played live. Johnny might well be the greatest English guitarist ever, certainly the best of his generation and it shows in how he plays those chords and picks those notes out, emotive and magical. Watching him mess about with the tuning heads of his guitar on ‘How Soon is Now’, putting his guitar in out of tune is mesmerising. With ‘Easy Money’ we get a bit of a mosh pit in front of the stage and Iwan the bass player looks up to the gallery and has a little chuckle at some 20 somethings wearing Smiths t-shirts who lose their shit during ‘Some Girls are Bigger Than Others. The set closes with ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ and that mosh pit is even bigger and crazier now. “JOHNNY, JOHNNY, JOHNNY FUCKING MARR!!!” chant the crowd and Johnny looks well pleased with his nights work.

The dream was always for a Smiths reunion and that looks like it might never happen now (even though Rick Astley is seemingly auditioning for the role of Morrissey’s replacement.) My dream now is for Johnny to keep playing these solo gigs for the next 10 or 15 years and I wish he wuda been doing these shows 20 or 25 years ago.  Look out for Johnny at his big Manchester show that’s coming up soon and try to catch him wherever you can, you won’t be disappointed.