johnny marr played at london's royal festival hall last night as part of patti smith's meltdown (the event curated by morrissey last year). the night was a tribute to jimi hendrix, with different acts playing various hendrix tunes. marr played "may this be love" with robyn hitchcock (Soft Boys) singing. johnny sounded very hendrix, playing a familiar gentle blues line on his blue stratocaster. he looked a lot better in the flesh than he has on recent tv shows.
also contributing were flea (chili peppers), robert wyatt, richard lloyd & tom verlaine, jeff beck etc. the previous night patti smith performed her "horses" album including "redondo beach".
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Marr (Score:1, Insightful)
. . . but why that song? (Score:1)
Of course, it's an excellent tune, but so many are excellent. A lot of us here are bound to read into the meaning of such a choice.
(User #14012 Info)
im getting sick of it... (Score:1, Redundant)
you do realize that there has not been a Morrissey without either of these two since 1992? thats 13years (more than twice as long as The Smiths career) and 5albums (one more than The Smiths) that Boz and Alain hav been the core songwriters for Morrissey.
if you really think that they are "inadequate" then why hav you bothered sticking around for all this time? why didnt you juste jump ship with Marr back in '87? "Why do you come here?"
(User #9259 Info)
New Line-Up (Score:2, Interesting)
Johnny Marr - Guitar-Vocals-Harmonica
Boz Boorer - Guitar-Vocals-Flute-
Alain Whyte - Guitars-Vocals
Gary Day - Bass
Deano - Drums
Mikey V. Farrell - Key Boards-Percusion-Sax
(User #11301 Info)
Re:New Line-Up (Score:2, Funny)
(User #9259 Info)
Parent
the guitar... (Score:1)
i actually like vini reilly a great deal more than boz and alain as well...but that's just me. i'm a guitar player and vini and johnny are 2 of my top three.
(User #799 Info | http://www.myspace.com/newlands)
Why, why, why could I have gotten what I wanted!!! (Score:0)
Marr... god if only they would (Score:0)
My line up would be
Moz, Marr , Steve Mason ( ex gene guitarist as 2nd guitarist ) , Whitey ( ex oasis drummer ) and the ex bass player from Gene.
(User #14208 Info)
which Smiths songs has Marr played as solo act? (Score:0)
he did there is a light with that twit from crowded house.
and now he's doen please please please.
any more?
john
Not that I'm comparing them but... (Score:2, Insightful)
This is what Morrissey and Marr should do. Not attempt to resurrect The Smiths - be confident that others don't percieve that to be the aim, and get on with creating together.
(User #3100 Info)
Uk/ Us connection (Score:1, Interesting)
Roy Harper guy was old enough to be Johnny's grand-dad, and minutes after I thought that, Johnny actually did kiss him on the cheek, so he probably was. ('Made me a bit melancholic that I couldn't play the guitar and be an old man to get the same treatment from mr Marr but, oh well.)
Johnny is defo a guitar boy, and his singing is on tune but not...You know. Perso I didn't get any chills from "please please please", but then it was never a fave of mine anyway. Actually I preferred him playing songs by other bands that evening.
Which made me think anyway, what does Johny want to get? Hm?
Banter was extremely limited, at one point somebody said "Go Johnny go!" (was that you, Tingle?) to which he wittily responded "Go yourself."
Oh, that Mancunian wit.
Yes, Morrissey got the obligatory mention from I don't remember who, who said some old singer I'd never heard of was some country's (America?) answer to Morrissey, (audience laughed) and he then proceeded to sing a song about a "poor immigrant". (I laughed then). That's all I can remember, sorry!
Patti Smith said it was supposed to be her night off and sang only one song (plus the group finale), which I thought was a bit of a rip off, but I didn't go and tell her. (Still, Patti, you could have made an effort!)
At one point in the evening a singer asked "does anybody have boots?" I froze in terror thinking that was some cue for Nancy to appear. But no. False alarm. The guy just wanted to mark the rythm in proper folk manner.
I found that Finn bloke from Crowded House sang in a lovely way actually, (don't know what some of you have against him). Made us audience sing some nonsense about blooming heather, seemed to dig heather a lot, it went on for a bit.
The group song was quite funny to watch, they all seemed to enjoy themselves, whereas they did seem a bit stressed the rest of the time.
Johnny may not exactly be a singer, but he has enough presence to be the star in a group of ageing folk singers. (Tee-hee. You know I mean that as a compliment Johnny.)
Very glad I finally saw him "in the fringe" anyway.
Shame I missed the Hendrix experience. It would have perhaps, ah, er, rocked a bit more. But all in all a nice, quiet evening with the Folks.
Can't really tell you what Morrissey was doing that night, now...Something more important and interesting, probably. Like somebody else said, it's not a perfect world...
Re:Marr..yawnnnnn (Score:0)
To borrow an overused phrase, Johnny "jumped the shark" when he quit the band. He bit the hand that fed him and now he's exiled along with Rourke and Joyce... I think he deserves it.
LONG LIVE ALAN AND BOZ!
Parent
Re : Marr (Score:0)
but
the first Electronic album
and the Pet Shop Boys "Release"
are both amazing
Parent
Re:Marr..yawnnnnn (Score:1)
The issue is that if Moz and Johnny were to reunite it would have to be for musical reasons and I don't think Johnny would come back without having exceptional material ready in advance. Maybe this is the real reason they never got back together.
(User #12046 Info)
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Re:Marr..yawnnnnn (Score:1)
(User #799 Info | http://www.myspace.com/newlands)
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