Music / Reviews
Review: Johnny Marr, O2 Academy – ‘Wholly authentic’
Johnny Marr is a British alternative rock icon who requires little introduction. An unconventional guitar hero, Marr paved the way during his career in The Smiths as an antithesis to the traditional face-melting solos of preceeding rock guitarists with staggeringly complex layers of interwoven tracks.
Favouring abstract studio witchcraft and airtight rhythm parts, Marr shied away from the spotlight with his career in The Smiths to allow the questionable Morrissey to take the centre.
Launching his solo career however has allowed Marr to escape an orbit of the divisive lead singer, leading him to collaborate with the likes of Noel Gallagher, Modest Mouse and most notably Hans Zimmer for the James Bond film, No Time to Die, score and theme.
is needed now More than ever
Taking his place by the microphone in front a huge sign of his name, captured in lights, felt like a position of deserved respect, comfortably occupied alongside his recruited bandmates.
Kicking proceedings off with songs from his solo career, Marr showcased his abilities as a songwriter as well as performer before he took an inevitable turn to the classics.
When the sharp opening of This Charming Man ripped suddenly through the room, a boom of cheers rocked the crowd as Marr raced through the song at breakneck pace whilst singing along with an impressive competence considering his mainstay as an instrumentalist.
Though the voice of Morrissey may have been missed (a mood emanating mostly from tipsy die-hard Smiths fans by the bar), the show proved more than anything that Marr is both an incredible musician in his own right and a total powerhouse of the group.
Thanks were given for “a really rocking night” as Marr noted how his last show in Bristol was in 2017 and the crowd had been viciously enthusiastic to receive him: a continued theme from the impassioned audience seven years on.
As the seasick tremolo guitar of How Soon Is Now wobbled around the hall, Marr dived into the disorienting soundscape and displayed his unusual techniques in an extended solo, modulating the pitch of his low e string with the tuning peg and reaching some unusual frequencies through a freehand bend behind the nut of his Fender Jaguar.
Briefly disappearing before the encore, cheers and clapping heralded a return from Marr as instruments were raised and a cover of Iggy Pop’s The Passenger began.
Paying homage to a great, Marr proved onstage that he was a musician only as humble as his reputation would suggest.
Engagement with the audience was sparse but the fact that it was mostly thanks to his bandmates, opener Gaz Coombes and audience only echoed how Marr is one of the most down to earth alternative legends still touring.
Ending the night with a totally indulgent version of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, a recent “TikTokification” of the song initially made the moment feel ironically surreal.
However, by the end of the song the merry sways of the crowd that surrounded me returned my mind to a place of wholly authentic and ravishing experience which had coined the show.
Main photo: Benji Chapman
Read next:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
