Monday 5 November 2018

He plays guitar

A lazy blog post, in lieu of a proper gig review.

I went to see Johnny Marr again last night. He was excellent, again, and makes complex and beautiful guitar playing seem effortless. There were times last night when he seemed not just contemporary but ground-breaking, ahead of the curve - no mean feat for a 55 year old. And yet he was equally at home dipping into his back catalogue: Smiths obsessives will be pleased to hear he played Bigmouth, Headmaster Ritual, Last Night I Dreamt, How Soon Is Now and There Is A Light; for fans of Electronic, he also played Get The Message and a frankly colossal version of Getting Away With It.

Also noteworthy was a brilliant use of lighting, perhaps the best I have seen in that venue.

Anyway, my perch didn't lend itself well to recording any videos - the last thing the internet needs is more poorly shot gig footage, after all. But I did manage to take some photos, some of which aren't terrible. Here they are. As ever, click to embiggen.

Johnny Marr Setlist Nick Rayns LCR, UEA, Norwich, England 2018, Call The Comet

12 comments:

  1. I've been umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether to check out Johnny's show when he comes to town. Your review clinched it - I decided to go, then checked the ticket availability only to discover the gig was last night! D'oh! (Were you at the Norwich show?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was indeed. Only minor was that he did a shorter encore than at every other show on the tour - 3 songs, not 4, omitting You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby. Shame, would have liked to hear that.

      Delete
  2. Looks great, ace set of photos. I've missed out on tickets for the Apollo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He was terrific. And cheers - I was a fair way back but took my "proper" camera rather than rely on my phone...

      Delete
  3. Sounds excellent and those photos are superb (you could sell them!) See what you mean about the lighting too. Glad you had a good time - and interesting what you say about him being ahead of the curve at times.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't know about that - there was a guy in the front row of the crowd with a DSLR right up in Johnny's grill half the show, he'll have pictures worth selling. These are okay but because I was a far way back, and zooming in, the results aren't sharp enough when blown up to any size. I know my limits!

      Future Marr sounds like... well, New Dominions is a good example, even more so live.

      Delete
  4. The Man of Cheese10 November 2018 at 23:04

    Cracking old school tracks,I'd have bern happy just to see them! Good piccies as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Man of Cheese10 November 2018 at 23:05

    Been happy! It's late.....

    ReplyDelete