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Johnny Marr at Varsity Theater
Johnny Marr Setlist
Tour Dates
09/20 | Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theater
09/21 | Seattle, WA @ The Showbox 09/22 | Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater 09/24 | Santa Cruz, CA @The Catalyst 09/25 | Berkeley, CA @ UC Theater 09/26 | San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore 09/28 | Sonoma, CA @ Old Redwood Barn 09/30 | Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee 10/2 | Mexico City, Mexico @ Plaza Condesa 10/4 | Los Angeles, CA @ The Theater 10/8 | San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger 10/9 | Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater 10/10 | Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room 10/11 | Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall 10/13 | Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club 10/15 | New York, NY @ Irving Plaza 10/16 | Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw 10/17 | Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore 10/19 | Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix 10/20 | Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom 10/21 | Boston, MA @ The Paradise 10/22 | Philadelphia, PA @ TLA Read More
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Legendary The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr is on his Call The Comet tour, stopping by the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis last night, September 17th.
Vancouver’s Belle Game (singer Andrea Lo, guitarist Adam Nanji, drummer Alex Andrew, keys Katrina Jones) spent about forty hours driving to Nashville, and then another twelve hours driving to Minneapolis, so they were just so happy and excited to jump around on stage and singing to us.
I think the energy and sometime upbeat songs could’ve benefit from a younger crowd, because Johnny Marr’s fanbase is mostly middle aged (45-65) and some couldn’t be bothered to do audience participation (answering “yes” to “who’s excited to see Johnny F---- Marr?”).
Marr is a fan of the Canadian band and personally asked them to support some of his tour dates. Marr even voiced his opinion and love for the band at the end of his set, urging fans to really check out their dark electro-pop-ish music, describing them as “awesome.”
Belle Game ended their set with a couple of songs from their sophomore album Fear/Nothing (Arts & Crafts), “Oh I” and “I Want Nothing”.
Godlike Genius Award winner Johnny Marr returned to the Varsity Theater on Monday night. He has a full backing band, which included bassist Iwan Gronow, drummer Jack Mitchell, and guitarist James Doviak. This current 2018 Call The Comet tour set is, by far, the best set yet. This is mostly thanks to some classic The Smiths songs, and a pair of Electronic songs!
Just a little background on my love for Marr: The Smiths was a band that was a little before my time. I discovered Morrissey in 1991 (on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) and went through his back catalog with The Smiths. The songwriting team of Morrissey & Marr was unbeatable, combining Marr’s diverse songs with Morrissey’s witty and often depressing lyrics.
After the Smiths broke up in 1987, Marr spent his time collaborating with other artists, including The Pretenders, Bryan Ferry, Billy Bragg, Kirsty MacColl, Talking Heads, etc. You got the feeling that Marr was just itching to work with other people that he admired.
It really wasn’t until Marr formed Johnny Marr and the Healers that he started concentrating on writing songs (and lyrics) for himself. Call the Comet is Marr’s third solo album (fourth if you count The Healers’ Boomslang), and it’s probably Marr’s best album yet. He showcased some of those songs on his set, and even a fan requested “Spiral Cities” (Marr: “Yeah well do that!”).
Johnny Marr has been in Minneapolis about three times, in May 2003, in April 2016, and last night. So, as far as Marr-solo appearances goes, it’s a bit of a rarity to see the musician in the city.
As usual, Marr is just amazing playing guitars. The way he’s making those guitar wonky effect sounds, the dexterity, and the timing, it was just perfect. I almost felt bad for the guitar tech backstage, who was constantly coming on stage between songs to hand Marr another (pre-tuned) guitar. As we’ve previously written, Marr collects Fender and various guitars like most people collect CDs or DVDs.
Obviously, fans responded well to any classic Smiths songs, including “Bigmouth Strikes Again” (played early in to get fans excited), “The Headmaster Ritual” (a song about being bullied), “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” (not really an upbeat song, but very dramatic and full of sadness), and “How Soon Is Now?” (The Smiths’ most famous song - at least in America).
By far, fans of Electronic, would be really pleased to hear that Marr played “Getting Away With It” (introduced as “This is a disco song from Manchester.”) and “Get the Message”. It’s a rare treat to hear these songs live, because it’s impossible to get the supergroup (New Order singer and guitarist Bernard Sumner, Pet Shop Boys’s Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, and Johnny Marr) together on tour.
For the encore, Call the Comet song “Rise” and debut The Messenger song “New Town Velocity”, were played before the double-Smiths song that ended the show: “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” and “You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby”. For “There Is A Light...”, Marr really didn’t need to sing towards the end, instead just relying the dedicated fanbase to just sing back the chorus. This is likely the same scenario, night after night at a typical Marr show. It was pretty impressive.
During band introduction, although Marr knows people comes to these shows to hear those “old songs”, he also added that there are some fans that is very supportive of his new work, adding, “I really appreciate that you’re loving the new songs... I saw some of you guys even dancing - in an age appropriate way!”
Johnny Marr’s Call the Comet is out now. If you have ever loved The Smiths, Electronic, or just appreciate great guitar-playing, check out this current tour. Marr will be playing Belle Game’s hometown gig at Vogue Theater in Vancouver this Thursday.
Vancouver’s Belle Game (singer Andrea Lo, guitarist Adam Nanji, drummer Alex Andrew, keys Katrina Jones) spent about forty hours driving to Nashville, and then another twelve hours driving to Minneapolis, so they were just so happy and excited to jump around on stage and singing to us.
I think the energy and sometime upbeat songs could’ve benefit from a younger crowd, because Johnny Marr’s fanbase is mostly middle aged (45-65) and some couldn’t be bothered to do audience participation (answering “yes” to “who’s excited to see Johnny F---- Marr?”).
Marr is a fan of the Canadian band and personally asked them to support some of his tour dates. Marr even voiced his opinion and love for the band at the end of his set, urging fans to really check out their dark electro-pop-ish music, describing them as “awesome.”
Belle Game ended their set with a couple of songs from their sophomore album Fear/Nothing (Arts & Crafts), “Oh I” and “I Want Nothing”.
Godlike Genius Award winner Johnny Marr returned to the Varsity Theater on Monday night. He has a full backing band, which included bassist Iwan Gronow, drummer Jack Mitchell, and guitarist James Doviak. This current 2018 Call The Comet tour set is, by far, the best set yet. This is mostly thanks to some classic The Smiths songs, and a pair of Electronic songs!
Just a little background on my love for Marr: The Smiths was a band that was a little before my time. I discovered Morrissey in 1991 (on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) and went through his back catalog with The Smiths. The songwriting team of Morrissey & Marr was unbeatable, combining Marr’s diverse songs with Morrissey’s witty and often depressing lyrics.
After the Smiths broke up in 1987, Marr spent his time collaborating with other artists, including The Pretenders, Bryan Ferry, Billy Bragg, Kirsty MacColl, Talking Heads, etc. You got the feeling that Marr was just itching to work with other people that he admired.
It really wasn’t until Marr formed Johnny Marr and the Healers that he started concentrating on writing songs (and lyrics) for himself. Call the Comet is Marr’s third solo album (fourth if you count The Healers’ Boomslang), and it’s probably Marr’s best album yet. He showcased some of those songs on his set, and even a fan requested “Spiral Cities” (Marr: “Yeah well do that!”).
Johnny Marr has been in Minneapolis about three times, in May 2003, in April 2016, and last night. So, as far as Marr-solo appearances goes, it’s a bit of a rarity to see the musician in the city.
As usual, Marr is just amazing playing guitars. The way he’s making those guitar wonky effect sounds, the dexterity, and the timing, it was just perfect. I almost felt bad for the guitar tech backstage, who was constantly coming on stage between songs to hand Marr another (pre-tuned) guitar. As we’ve previously written, Marr collects Fender and various guitars like most people collect CDs or DVDs.
Obviously, fans responded well to any classic Smiths songs, including “Bigmouth Strikes Again” (played early in to get fans excited), “The Headmaster Ritual” (a song about being bullied), “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” (not really an upbeat song, but very dramatic and full of sadness), and “How Soon Is Now?” (The Smiths’ most famous song - at least in America).
By far, fans of Electronic, would be really pleased to hear that Marr played “Getting Away With It” (introduced as “This is a disco song from Manchester.”) and “Get the Message”. It’s a rare treat to hear these songs live, because it’s impossible to get the supergroup (New Order singer and guitarist Bernard Sumner, Pet Shop Boys’s Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, and Johnny Marr) together on tour.
For the encore, Call the Comet song “Rise” and debut The Messenger song “New Town Velocity”, were played before the double-Smiths song that ended the show: “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” and “You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby”. For “There Is A Light...”, Marr really didn’t need to sing towards the end, instead just relying the dedicated fanbase to just sing back the chorus. This is likely the same scenario, night after night at a typical Marr show. It was pretty impressive.
During band introduction, although Marr knows people comes to these shows to hear those “old songs”, he also added that there are some fans that is very supportive of his new work, adding, “I really appreciate that you’re loving the new songs... I saw some of you guys even dancing - in an age appropriate way!”
Johnny Marr’s Call the Comet is out now. If you have ever loved The Smiths, Electronic, or just appreciate great guitar-playing, check out this current tour. Marr will be playing Belle Game’s hometown gig at Vogue Theater in Vancouver this Thursday.
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Johnny Marr at Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (17 Sep 2018) |
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