1,323 JOHNNY MARR, Gaz Coombes, Bristol O2 Academy, Wednesday 10th April 2024

 

Well, wasn’t this just a thing of utter joy and wonder…

I feel a little ashamed that it took me until last year’s stellar single “Somewhere” to get on board with Johnny Marr’s solo works; I loved iconic 80’s jangle-indie band The Smiths whilst never ascribing to the hero-worship of their admittedly charismatic lead singer Morrissey, finding him dismissive and arrogant at the time, and quite distasteful in his utterances since (and if Simon Fletcher’s definitive “A Light That Never Goes Out” Smiths biog is anything to go by, it seems bandmate, co-songwriter and wingman Marr put up with a lot of his shit back then too…), so I’d largely blanked on Mozzer’s solo career since the Smiths’ dissolution in 1987. Marr, however, had gone a different route, forming chart-friendly synth duo Electronic with New Order’s Bernard Sumner, then becoming somewhat of a luxury gun-for-hire with the likes of The Pretenders, Modest Mouse and The Cribs. So when he finally turned his hand to a solo career, some dozen years or so, it barely registered on my radar. My mistake. “Somewhere” is a beautifully crafted slice of classic, effortlessly melodic and hooky indie pop, referencing Marr’s past but sounding very modern at the same time. I bought the accompanying “Spirit Power” compilation of his recent solo works and loved it, which honestly, given my love for The Smiths but not their singer, made perfect sense.

So the other thing to fall into place for me would be a “live” gig, of course… happily, Marr announced a Spring 2024 “Spirit Power” tour outside of my knee op window, so I gleefully booked myself a ticket, the only surprise being I couldn’t find anyone else interested! So, flying solo, I set off early down a drizzly M4, hitting the already ample O2 priority queue 20 minutes before doors, greeting a passing Martin Thompson on his way in, then bagsying a second-row spot, house right, on entry. With barriers all taken, my knee is going to suffer tonight, so good thing I chucked some painkillers down before leaving… not long to wait, though, as support Gaz Coombes took the stage at 7.45 with his 6-piece band, including a saxophonist! I’d last seen former Supergrass mainman Coombes marking time in his Hot Rats project on the Foo Fighters undercard (gig 824), so was happy to report that tonight was infinitely better; “Salamander” was an eminently serviceable slice of soaring indie pop for starters, then “Don’t Say It’s Over” had a more melodic hazy 70’s Laurel Canyon vibe, setting the tone for the rest of the set. A little bit country, a little bit down and dirty bluesy (particularly set highlight “Deep Pockets”, a dark and swampy Doors “La Woman” clone), and occasionally quite lovely (the middle-8 break of “Turn The Card Around”, and “The Girl Who Fell To Earth”, a touching ballad), this set was replete with quality songwriting, which should be a given for Coombes, but was still a pleasant surprise! Clearly overjoyed at this support slot as well (calling opening for Marr a “privilege and honour” from the outset), his accomplished performance gave the impression of a man who’d rediscovered his mojo, and quite likely another indie icon I need to catch up with.

I hazarded a comfort break (partly also to stop the knee from seizing up, a la Nick Parker’s gig recently), but was back in place by 9, as an air-raid siren and spotlight combo served as walk-on accompaniment for Marr and the band. Opener “Sensory Street” was an enjoyable, swaggering stomp with a synth blare hook, but was swept away by the “Metal Guru” glam strut of Smiths classic “Panic”, next up, Marr’s middle-8 riff being cheered to the rafters before the joyous and extended “hang the DJ!” singalong outro. “Bristol, eh?” deadpanned Marr, “last time we were here was 2018; [that was] a rocking night, so no pressure then!”

Coombes was right; this was a privilege and honour to be in the presence of a true rock icon tonight, but one not resting on any past glories, instead delivering a consummate, virtuoso performance. Not necessarily a natural singer, with a high register, more understated vocal delivery recalling his former Electronic bandmate Sumner, he was however a natural star, confident and urbane onstage, and of course an utter master craftsman on the guitar – it was telling that whenever he stepped away from the mic to deliver one of his trademark intricate, undulating and utterly mellifluous guitar riffs, mobile phones sprung up like sunflowers to record those moments. And, replete with Smiths numbers this set might have been, but his own material largely stood pat with them; an early “Spirit, Power and Soul” was powered along by an ascending synth riff recalling Electrafixion’s classic “Zephyr” into the soaring hook, and after the subsequent, joyous “This Charming Man”, Marr quipped, “here’s a new one; don’t worry, it’s not shit!”, then delivering a stunning, stripped back and almost symphonic “Somewhere”. Just gorgeous and quite possibly my highlight of a night crammed with many. 

After the reverential singalong to a heartbreaking and extended “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want”, rendered largely acoustically, Marr invited Coombes back onstage to duet on “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”, the former Supergrass man clearly in fantasy band camp for this. The melodic riff of “Bigmouth Strikes Again” was totally joyous, Marr then lowering his voice an octave for the vocal to the dark, jagged rhythm of “How Soon Is Now”. “Easy Money”’ s swaggering repetitive hook was stupidly catchy, before Marr rounded off a stellar set with Electronic’s “Getting Away With It”, the upbeat synth pop combining with the disco ball twinkle to provide a magical snowglobe effect. 

“Well, this has been quite a nice way to spend a… night; oh yeh, Wednesday…” Marr deadpanned before the inevitable nightcap of “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”, the stripped back, lengthy and inclusive communal final choral singalong being a totally apposite finale for an utterly stellar show, and reminding me of Hooky at “Shiiine On”, doing the same for the equally revered “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. Johnny at “Shiiine On” one day? Ooh, that’d be an idea… I joined the baying hordes at the front for a list, more in hope than expectation, so was gratified when the roadie made a point of thrusting the guitarist’s one towards me, as I was the only bloke saying “please”! Loaded up with merch too, chatting to the lady who’d been dancing next to me during the set, then managed to limp up the hill to the car park for a swift drive back to the ‘don. As I said, this was an utterly joyful performance from the man, and will likely loom large in my “Best Gig of 2024” list. I’m now totally back on board with Johnny fuckin Marr!

1,191 RICK ASTLEY and BLOSSOMS play THE SMITHS, London Kentish Town The Forum, Saturday 9th October 2021

 

Just when you thought that this gig year couldn’t get any weirder…!

 

Young Stockport indie band Blossoms have (along with the likes of The Courteeners, The 1975 and Catfish And The Bottlemen) somehow attained arena-level gig status whilst registering not even the slightest blip on my musical radar whatsoever, so I initially feigned scant interest on an internet news article indicating they’d dragged 80’s pop holdover Rick Astley onstage at a recent warm-up gig for a covers encore. That is, until I heard it… said encore was a cover of 80’s indie icons The Smiths’ all-time classic “This Charming Man”, and to my surprise, it sounded damn good, actually! The article them went on to mention they were playing a couple of one-off gigs covering all Smiths material, which more than piqued my interest… I loved The Smiths back then, without fully subscribing to the slavish devotion of most fans for charismatic lead singer Morrissey, and saw them 5 times “live”. So, I booked tix for the London leg (the second of two, after the inevitable Manchester opener) for myself and my gig buddy son Logan (after playing him some stuff which he immediately approved of) on the O2 pre-sale, and good thing too, as rumour then had it that the general sale took less than a minute to sell out completely. Wow!

 

I was actually champing at the bit to finally get out gigging again, after Covid-related reasons forcing me to miss a few scheduled late September gigs (particularly Inhaler, who I was really looking forward to see; Rachel and Logan still went, and said they were excellent – bugger!) so we headed off on a sunny Autumn Saturday early afternoon, choosing to take the M4 route “oop the Smoke” despite threatened delays. Big mistake. A closure at Junction 14 saw us take 2 hours just to get to Newbury services (!), then another at 4B saw us heading North onto the M1 (!!) to get back down to Kentish Town, eventually dumping the motor in our pre-booked parking spot at 5.15 after a tortuous 4 hour journey. Yikes! Only a quick one-stop hop down to Camden, then, rather than the planned longer shopping excursion, but enough time still to grab some excellent Thai street food and for Logan to both “fall in love with Camden’s charms” (as one of heroes Gaz Brookfield would say) and con me into buying him a new jumper! Back to the venue 15 minutes before doors – we initially had to join the long GA queue, snaking around the side of the venue and down an alley, as the O2 Priority queue was full, until an O2 Priority girl, as good as her word, came and grabbed us from our distant spot to usher us in! Result! Logan grabbed a bit of front row barrier, house left, and we hunkered down for the wait as the place filled up. No support, unless you count the “Club Fromage” DJ onstage, who actually did a fine job getting the crowd in party mood by playing a mix of cheesy 80’s singalong hits and popular indie stuff, and who fully earned her ovation as she left at 9.

 

A few onstage tweaks (and time for a couple of rounds of “Sweet Caroline”, sung along lustily by this surprisingly young crowd), before the lights smashed to black, the “Coronation Street” theme tune started up, and Blossoms slinked onstage, almost apologetically, followed by Rick Astley, all brandishing gladioli as per early Smiths gigs (including the couple of times I saw them in February 1984, gigs 11 and 12!). OK, I thought, this isn’t some kind of weird fever dream, this is really happening…

 

Astley in the 80’s was pretty much the antithesis of my musical tastes, a manufactured Stock Aitken Waterman plastic soul-pop chart fodder puppet, and scourge of indie cool (The Wonder Stuff even going so far as to pen a “tribute” to him entitled “Astley In The Noose”!); however he’s unexpectedly found a cooler niche of late thanks to the recent “Rickrolling” phenomenon (which if I understand correctly is basically his cheesy chart hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” being superimposed on YouTube videos). The Foo Fighters even brought him onstage at Reading Festival a few years back to “Rickroll” the crowd after initially making them believe they were going to cover “Smells Like Teen Spirit”! Be that as it may, I have to admit he’s always had a great voice; a deep, rich sonorous soul-boy baritone, actually perfect for vast swathes of tonight’s material, particularly the more mournful, introspective numbers such as “Reel Around The Fountain” and “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”. And tonight, bedecked in his usual blazer and sporting a pair of voluminous checked trousers (which he referred to as his, “MC Hammer gone golfing look”!), he was an absolute star from note one of opener “What Difference Does It Make”, immediately getting the crowd onside by totally nailing the tricky falsetto outro. Respect!

 

3 numbers in – including an astonishing “Still Ill”, where Astley’s delivery turned from pure Northern snark in the verses, to almost soaringly operatic in the chorus – I turned to the lady next to me and remarked, “I’m still not sure I believe what I’m seeing!”, her beaming reply being, “I know – bonkers, isn’t it!” This was the crux of the night – a “mad dream [which] came true,” according to Blossoms vocalist Tom Ogden (an excellent name for a Northern vocalist – any relation to World Of Twist’s late and lamented Tony?), with self-confessed Smiths uber-fan Astley “getting away with murder,” performing this beloved material amazingly well, balancing reverence with an energetic performance belying his years, and backed up ably by Blossoms who’d clearly done their homework, delivering the undulating indie jangle as authentically as possible. A dark, racey “Hand In Glove”, which followed a round of Jaegers called for by Astley, saw Ogden nail the harmonica riff perfectly to cheers; “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side”’s melancholy meander was overlaid with Astley’s splendid yodel, and segued into a deliciously doleful “Girlfriend In A Coma”; and the “Metal Guru”-esque pounding glam stomp of “Panic” led to a roof-raising “Hang The DJ!” singalong, Astley delivering the line, “the music they constantly play says nothing to me about my life” with oodles of conviction and not a whiff of irony. The phone torches-aloft, stark ballad “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” ended a swift hour-long set (maybe a little brief, but as Astley stated, these boys have had to learn 19 numbers from scratch in short order, so fair enough) which seemed less than half that.

 

Of course the most iconic Smiths numbers were left until last; firstly a tremulous, effects-led “How Soon Is Now”, then guitarist Josh Dewhurst took centre stage for the intricate riffery of a superb “This Charming Man”. However the best was saved for last; after a heartfelt tribute to both The Smiths (“I’ve wanted to sing [their songs] since I was 15”) and his Blossoms backing band (“these handsome devils!”), Astley delivered one final soaring performance to the iconic “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”, the crowd once again raising the roof with a similarly heartfelt and communal singalong. A quite brilliant end to the night, capped by Dewhurst unmooring Astley’s own setlist and handing it over to me. Result! Again!

 

Joined the slow egress from the venue, the throng singing, “Never Gonna Give You Up” in tribute to Astley’s excellent shift this evening, then a thankfully swifter journey home via the M40 and Oxford still saw us home the other side of 1 a.m. Yikes! Still, well worth it… this utterly bonkers idea could have turned out brilliant or bowling-shoe ugly, but thankfully was easily the former, with Rick Astley a true star doing more than justice to The Smiths seminal canon of work. And in all honesty, given some of Morrissey’s recent remarks, I’d rather see anyone other than him sing Smiths songs right now!

 

772 MORRISSEY, Doll and the Kicks, Swindon Oasis Leisure Centre, Saturday 24 October 2009

I've never had one like this before - a gig ending in the headline act being carted off to hospital! Still, let's start at the beginning...

I snapped up a ticket for this one, despite having lost touch a little with the Moz' work since the Smiths (who I was a fan of, albeit not a slavish one - I saw them 5 times, for example, and only once for me were they appreciably better than their support act), then picked up his recent clutch of "renaissance" CDs and thoroughly enjoyed them, finding them more thrillingly harder-edged than the introspective jangle-pop of his earlier solo work. So, looking forward to this, I dropped Evan off early in Chester and hared home for 7.30, out again for 8, running into loads of people I knew at this sell-out show.

Met up with Rich, Ady, Phil (who's been a Morrissey clone since I've known him - about 25 years! - and whom I just wanted to watch tonight to see how manic he'd be!) and Ingrid after checking out Doll And The Kicks, a strident Sioux-a-like fronting a band with a sound like a harder-edged Florence And The Machine.

Met Dave and Ceri in the hall, stage-centre, 2/3 back for some pre-Moz films (including a great vintage Sparks video!), then the lights went out, and Morrissey came on at 9. "Good evening, possibly," he said, then started into "This Charming Man". Thicker set and with age giving his fey lilt a smokier feel, he seemed to struggle through a fairly perfunctory reading of this Smiths classic. Then... everyone went off!

I hadn't seen what happened, and after a 25 minute wait, during which rumour and counter-rumour (he collapsed! No, someone jumped onstage and knocked him over!) flew around, we found out from a roadie he'd, "left the building... he's seriously ill". Talking to some bods at the front (at which time I snaffled a set-list, just to see what we would have won) confirmed he'd collapsed and was helped offstage, so everyone kind of drifted away, non-plussed yet concerned.

Subsequent news was good (an early discharge, no major health problems), so here's hoping a rescheduled gig takes place - and lasts longer!

11, 12 THE SMITHS, The Telephone Boxes, Warwick University Arts Centre and Reading University, Friday 2 and Thursday 22 February 1984

Two in a row from the Smiths, a jangly new band currently on the rise, featuring a charismatic vocalist in Morrissey. Stayed up at Warwick University in Coventry with old school friend Jennifer for the first gig, which featured both The Smiths and support The Telephone Boxes playing with conviction and meaning, fighting to create an audience for themselves. The Smiths, with Morrissey's stage presence and masses of gladioli thrown to and from the stage into the rabid and frenzied crowd (of course, I was one too!), won the day - just!

Reading, a couple of weeks later, was unfortunately a more fragmented affair. Following another committed and fun set from The Telephone Boxes (vocalist Peter D'Brickley sporting a white phone box t-shirt), The Smiths plied their trade in front of a more hostile crowd. This manifested itself in some spitting, which The Smiths took exception to, curtailing their set, then returning to warn Reading, "spitting is old hat". However, halfway through the subsequent "You've Got Everything Now", they exited for good when the noxious act was repeated, guitarist Johnny Marr's parting V-sign saying it all.

A shame, as this band have a lot of potential that they only showed in Warwick...

17 THE SMITHS, THE WOODENTOPS, Gloucester Leisure Centre, Monday 24 September 1984

Drove up in time to catch the support band, and boy was I glad we did! I'd never heard of The Woodentops before, but they were a truly wonderful, carefree and raucous support band, quite literally blowing The Smiths offstage with a performance of passion, fire and fun, underpinned by some frantic rockabilly rhythms. Their performance made me hunt down their debut single "Plenty", and proclaim it the Best Single of 1984!

The Smiths, promoting current single "William It Was Really Nothing", played well, with Morrissey as riveting and attention-grabbing (seeking?) a frontman as before, but really seemed a little disappointing and flat after that breathless Woodentops performance!

24 THE SMITHS, JAMES, Chippenham Golddiggers, Wednesday 27 February 1985

Travelled down with a few friends to see how now-NME darlings The Smiths had progressed since their promising early gigs last year. 

Support band James played a fascinating set of unusual and quirky pop with lots of galloping, Woodentops-like rhythm, opening with a number which started, "an earwig crawled into my ear...". A band to investigate! As for The Smiths, they seemed a little complacent and wooden, maybe suffering from first night nerves, but either way delivering a sub-par set of their undulating jangle pop well below their potential. Well, they were number one in the LP charts at this point with the equally disappointing "Meat Is Murder", after all...

57 THE SMITHS, Raymonde, Gloucester Leisure Centre, Saturday 18 October 1986

Drove down with a carload for this one, unfortunately getting there in time to see poor support Raymonde. The Smiths, however were much more like it; promoting their serious-return-to-form new (3rd) LP, the rockier, harder-edged "The Queen Is Dead", The Smiths, never the most reliable proposition "live" for me at least, were at their bilious, acerbic best, with Morrissey a commanding onstage presence, waving his Ramones-like placard bearing the new LP title with imperious majesty. Even tracks I didn't enjoy from their disappointing "Meat Is Murder" album shone, although the venomous new LP title track, kicking things off tonight, and the yearning "There Is A Light" stood tall amongst the new material.

Grabbed the set-list after a refreshing experience, making a difficult drive home in horrible weather well worthwhile. The 5th time, and easily the best I've seen The Smiths!