Songwriter in one of the best bands to ever do it, and now over a decade into his solo career, Johnny Marr has returned to Cardiff to play more bangers than you can shake a proverbial stick at. It’s almost apt that air-raid sirens play as he and his band appear on stage, given the roar at some of the songs played tonight.
Opening with his own Sensory Street before going straight into Smiths classic Panic, Marr is effortlessly cool and his band are tighter than ever. “Back in Cardiff, eh?” Marr says before Generate! Generate! and the New Order-esque Spirit Power And Soul. “Thanks for coming out, appreciate it on a Tuesday night. This next song’s called New Town Velocity.”
Of course, it’s the hits of The Smiths that get the biggest reactions tonight, including This Charming Man and Bigmouth Strikes Again. The show’s finest moment comes when Marr plays a stunning acoustic arrangement of Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, its genius guitar part even more shining and goosebump-worthy with Marr exploring it in this manner.
There’s also time for tour support Gaz Coombes to return to the stage, joining Marr and his band for a rousing Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before, before Marr reminds us that it’s not just The Smiths he’s famous for as Electronic’s Get The Message filling the room. Marr finishes the main set with three massive tunes: How Soon Is Now? remains arguably his finest moment on a guitar, his own Easy Money is slick as ever, and there’s “a disco song from Manchester” in Electronic’s Getting Away With It.
Marr returns for the encore with a great cover of Iggy Pop’s The Passenger, before thanking the crowd for still being there for him 40 years on from the start of his career (he doesn’t “wanna get nostalgic” mind!). There’s no other song from Marr’s career, however, that could finish tonight’s show – it’s There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, and for the last time tonight, Cardiff’s arms are in the air and singing their hearts out.
Johnny Marr, Great Hall, Cardiff University Students Union, Tue 9 Apr
words JOSHUA WILLIAMS photos SIMON AYRE
