I've been waiting for a
chance to see Johnny Marr since his comeback in 2013. For some reason
I've since forgotten, I missed my chance to see him at Fun
Fun Fun Fest in 2013, which was the only time he played somewhere
I was living. After the initial hesitation of having to deal with
Ticketmaster, I gave in and bought a ticket.
Artist: Johnny Marr
Venue: Festsaal
Kreuzberg
Location: Berlin,
Germany
Date: 21 May 2018
Setlist:
01. The Tracers
01. The Tracers
02. Bigmouth Strikes
Again [originally performed by The Smiths]
03. Jeopardy
04. Day In Day Out
05. New Dominions
06. Hi Hello
07. The Headmaster
Ritual [originally performed by The Smiths]
08. Walk into the Sea
09. Getting Away with
It [originally performed by Electronic with Neil Tennant]
10. Bug
11. Last Night I Dreamt
That Somebody Loved Me [originally performed by The Smiths]
12. Easy Money
13. Boys Get Straight
14. Rise
15. How Soon Is Now?
[originally performed by The Smiths]
Encore:
16. Actor Attractor
17. Please, Please,
Please Let Me Get What I Want [originally performed by The Smiths]
18. New Town Velocity
19. There Is a Light
That Never Goes Out [originally performed by The Smiths]
After years of
collaborative projects, Johnny Marr's debut solo album Boomslang
(2003; credited
to Johnny Marr + the Healers) was
lackluster and hasn't aged well. Marr tends to ignore it, perhaps
deservedly so, and prefers to count his albums starting with The
Messenger from 2013. It's a
respectable album with a refreshing burst of energy and enthusiasm,
even if the second half doesn't hold up to the first. This was
followed quite rapidly by Playland
(2014), which mostly followed in the same vein, albeit less
successfully. Adrenalin Baby,
a live album from 2015, was rather unexciting except for the Smiths
songs, "Getting Away with It", and "I Fought the Law".
Marr then took a break for a
couple years. He hasn't yet
released his new album, Call the Comet,
but the
two advance singles are
telling: "The Tracers" picks up where Playland
left off, and "Hi Hello" is a moodier number with a guitar
line that quotes from "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out".
The
concert was just about what I expected: a bunch of new songs, a few
cuts from recent albums, and several classic Smiths renditions. The
new songs were decent; a few were noticeably dancier, the singles
were particularly strong, and a couple were a bit dull. It was a lot
of new material, but it didn't wear me down. However,
I was surprised that they
only played three songs from previous albums. The Messenger
had a number of songs that I would've gladly seen on the stage.
The
Smiths songs (and "Getting Away with It") were the natural
highlights. None of the choices were a surprise (except for maybe
"Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me"), but they
were all executed with skill and taste. They played the songs fairly
conventionally, with Marr singing with Morrissey's meter and melody,
but without his flair and whimsy. In each case, the songs were
slightly extended or rearranged to emphasize the instrumental guitar
jams.
As
always, most of Marr's
instrumental breaks weren't necessarily what you would call a solo.
He didn't bother with
any wailing or shredding. He focused on melody, emotive phrases,
atmosphere, crescendoing energy, and interplay with his bandmates.
(These are the
marks of a truly skilled guitarist!)
Instead of aggression and pure showmanship, he worked
with mood and texture. This has
been
less obvious in his solo work, but still present. When
he plays the Smiths songs
live,
it's an impressive sight and sound to behold.
His
backing band was solid, even if they mostly kept to the background.
It's the same crew that appears to have been backing him since 2013:
James Doviak on
guitars, keyboards, and
backing vocals; Iwan
Gronow on bass and backing vocals; and Jack Mitchell on drums. The
backing vocals were a nice touch, but they rarely tried anything as
fanciful as harmony. Doviak's guitarwork was occasionally
indistinguishable from Marr's, although he never took a solo. He
mostly played the strummed or jangling patterns that underpin the
songs, but he regularly committed the unnecessary sin of using an
acoustic emulator with his electric guitar instead of just playing a
proper acoustic guitar. The band used samples for some parts,
although thankfully not for "How Soon Is Now?" (as far as I
could tell!).
Marr's
recent
solo albums were hailed as returning to his classic style, despite
that in reality they
sound more similar
to the Britpop and alt-rock that was inspired by The Smiths. There's
less subtlety, less acoustic guitar, more dance-oriented drums and
production, and a thicker layer of sound. The bass and drums, while
not without their moments, lack the finesse and delicate interplay of
Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce. Marr's vocal style is not particularly
similar to Morrissey's, and he thankfully doesn't try to copy it.
Lyrically, he clearly has ideas, although he doesn't always find the
best means of expressing them.
Both
Morrissey
and Marr initially declined to play
Smiths songs after the breakup of
the band, and both also
seemed to consciously move into other styles. Morrissey slowly let
Smiths songs back into his repertoire in the mid-90s and 00s, but
Marr waited until 2013 to play them again. While
Morrissey has had his ups and downs over the years, Marr has kept a
steady pace, albeit less prominently. His years of consistent hard
work may be paying off. In
light of Morrissey's
worsening public stature and
meager recent albums, Marr
seems to have become
the proper heir to the Smiths crown at present.
[Making use of the disco ball
for "Getting Away with It".]
Scores:
The concert: B+
The Messenger:
B
Playland:
C+
Adrenalin Baby:
C