Johnny Marr - 1865, Southampton - 19th June 2025

I can't pretend I was ever a great Smiths fan in period - I found Morrisey a bit of a tit (waving his gladiolis around, his fake hearing aid and his droning voice) and time has only soured me on him further, but I have come to appreciate Johnny Marr's contribution to the sound of the Smiths and also to Electronic, the New Order/Smiths spin off, and so it was that I found myself back at 1865 less than a week after seeing Heaven 17 there

Like Heaven 17, there was no support and I think this, too, was a pre-Festival season 'test' gig.

The schedule said the band would be on stage at 8, but it was about 8:15 (not too bad) before the 4 musicians appeared.

I'm guessing Johnny Marr dyes his black hair these days, but he still looks trim and fit.

I didn't expect to recognise many of the songs, having scanned back through previous setlists and never, to my knowledge, having heard any solo material.

That didn't really matter, though, as the songs performed where energetic rock performed with vigour and instantly catchy.

He started with a solo track "Generate! Generate!" and then a less well known Smiths track, "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" before some more solo material including a couple of new songs, which sounded good and fitted the set well.

He then said "I'm going to play another new one" and we got the opening chords of "This Charming Man" to a roar of appreciation from the crowd, who I suspect were mostly Smiths fans, although quite a few obviously knew many of the solo tracks.

The set continued with a mix of solo and Smiths' tracks, all being greeted enthusiastically, but the latter far more so.

The sound, if I'm honest, wasn't the best, certainly not as clear as Heaven 17 had been the previous week and very loud (writing this the following morning, my ears are still ringing and muffled), which probably didn't help. I was probably about 6 or 7 rows back, further than I'd been at Heaven 17.

That said, the overall effect was energy packed and feel-good and all the songs were well performed and fitted together well. Overall, it was a 'rockier' set than I'd expected, but certainly enjoyable.

The set ended on "How Soon Is Now?" and "Getting Away With It" (the only Electronic song, which was a bit of a disappointment for me).

Obviously, we had the charade of them leaving the stage, although I'm sure a drink was needed, the venue's air conditioning was doing a good job on a very hot evening, but even so it was sticky in the audience and I'm sure not much better on stage.

The first song of the encore was an excellent cover of Iggy Pop's "The Passenger" and then he rounded out with The Smiths' hit "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out".

Marr commented a few times that this was the first gig in a while, but it didn't really show in any rustiness (perhaps it was apparent in the energy?) and I definitely left feeling glad I'd come along to see an artist who I may well not have considered before.

Most of the audience, though, were diehard fans and probably would have cheered as loudly if the gig had been awful.

Setlist:
Generate! Generate!
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before (The Smiths song)
Armatopia
Hi Hello
Spirit Power and Soul
Bring On the Noise (Live Debut)
How Come (Live Debut)
This Charming Man (The Smiths song)
Somewhere
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (The Smiths song)
Down on the Corner (Johnny Marr + The Healers song)
Panic(The Smiths song)
Walk Into the Sea
Bigmouth Strikes Again (The Smiths song)
Easy Money
How Soon Is Now? (The Smiths song)
Getting Away With It (Electronic song)
Encore:
The Passenger (Iggy Pop cover)
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths song)
#JohnnyMarr #TheSmiths #electronictheband #NewOrder