Featured image: Riaz Gomez
Johnny Marr has quite a storied history, most notably as guitarist with The Smiths. Despite his collaborations with artists and composers such as Modest Mouse and Hans Zimmer, he didn’t debut as a solo artist until a decade ago with his debut album, The Messenger. Fast forward to 2023 at the newly built Aviva Studios, where he treats us to a pleasant trip up and down memory lane.
Marr’s eponymous orchestra filters in alongside three separate guitarists and a spotlight shines on the conductor. As soon as we get our opening track, ‘Armatopia’, the room lights up with colour, the music echoes around the venue and kaleidoscopic imagery of clocks projects onto the back wall, towering behind the musicians.
“Hello there!” says the hometown boy. He details how Covid halted his plans to return to playing in Manchester, and expresses his honour to be the first rock act to perform at Aviva Studios. With the sentiments out of the way, we launch into the second track of the evening, ‘Day In, Day Out’.
Videos beam onto the wall throughout much of the set. During a redux of The Smiths classic, ‘How Soon Is Now,’ we see close ups of the instruments. Not that the crowd cares. They’re engrossed in their own singalong, despite staying quiet during the rest of the first half of the set, until we get to Marr’s rendition of ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’. All in all, the screen proves an asset, not a distraction.
After a brief shout out to Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys, we’re given a performance of Electronic’s ‘Getting Away With It’ complete with a lively crowd, a disco ball, and video clips of people across the LGTBQ+ spectrum in clubs. An unexpected yet joyous change of pace.
This form returns for the encore, featuring a couple more Smiths classics: ‘Panic’ and ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’, both of which are avidly received by the crowd. “Johnny, Johnny, Johnny fucking Marr” indeed.
A cosy, candlelit performance? Not on the cards. A grand spectacle displaying why Johnny Marr is as influential an artist as he is? Absolutely.
Featured image: Gracie Hall Leeds Festival 2025 is one for the history books. Across three relentless days, Bramham Park transforms into a dust-choked, glitter-soaked arena where breakthrough acts collide with stadium giants and fans leave dusty, voiceless, and aching for more. This year’s lineup proves Leeds still thrives on extremes: chaos and calm, confetti and…
Featured image and gallery: Jack Oliver After eight packed out performances across Europe Kaytranada arrives at Co-Op Live for his largest show on the European leg of his ‘Timeless Tour’. The 23,000 capacity venue is filled with excited fans who eagerly anticipate the start of the show after energetic performances from Pomo, Lou Phelps and…
Featured image: Olivia Taberner and Adomas Lukas Petrauskas From Arc’teryx raincoats to mud-clogged Salomons, we explore how outdoor garments have evolved from fashion trends to functional wear – bringing together communities of young men in the process. What began as a Patagonia jacket and a sunrise ambition soon turned into getting “battered at 3am by…
Featured image: Yas Lucia Mascarenhas and Adomas Lukas Petrauskas Manchester’s inner-city neighbourhood of Moss Side is often portrayed in the media as a dangerous area, plagued by knife crime and shootings. However, one resident and Manchester Met student – Baka Bah – believes this one-sided story doesn’t reflect the true spirit of his community. While…
Leave a reply