Johnny Marr is currently in the midst of his ‘Spirit Power’ tour. Commemorating a decade since the inception of his illustrious solo career, the tour spans across ten cities throughout the UK – culminating at Nottingham’s renowned Rock City. We were lucky enough to catch the guitar legends show at Olympia in Liverpool.
In terms of talented friends, Johnny is surrounded by a plethora of them and was supported by the great Gaz Coombes. While initially known for his role in Supergrass, Gaz Coombes has forged a successful solo path, marked by the release of four studio albums under his own name. Joined by his highly skilled band mates – including the one and only Piney Gir – Gaz kicked off his set with the slick ‘Salamander’ before launching into ‘Don’t Say It’s Over’ from his latest album, ‘Turn The Car Around’. Despite the common (and unfortunate) occurrence of sparse audiences during opening acts, Gaz experienced quite the opposite, with a wealth of enthusiastic support from the crowd throughout his 45 minute set. Whether he was performing new material such as the scuzzy ‘Feel Loop (Lizard Dream)’ or tracks of a more acoustic nature like ‘The Girl Who Fell To Earth’, the atmosphere steadily amplified as Gaz’s set progressed, creating an electrifying energy that resonated throughout the packed venue.
With an enduring knack for curating compelling setlists – whether he’s on tour with Supergrass or solo – Gaz showcased some particularly standout moments during his set, including the irresistibly catchy ‘Deep Pockets’ and the vibrant ‘Long Live The Strange’, which the frontman described as an ode to the weird and wonderful. The penultimate track of the set was ‘20/20’ – an atmospheric offering from Gaz’s ‘Matador’ album that shines a light on his powerful vocals. Last but certainly not least was the stirring ‘Walk The Walk’, during which Gaz impressed with a swaggering riff and confident demeanour, affirming that he was just as delighted to be onstage as the audience were to have him there.
Johnny ended 2023 with two exceptional shows with a full orchestra at Manchester’s Aviva Studios, so we couldn’t wait to see what he had up his sleeve for the ‘Spirit Power’ tour. Launching the show with intense energy, he opened with the synth-driven track ‘Sensory Street’ that’s reminiscent of his time in Electronic, before diving into ‘Panic’ – the first Smiths offering of the evening, which garnered an enthusiastic response from the crowd. ‘Generate! Generate!’ came next, transporting the audience back to the release of Johnny’s debut solo album ‘The Messenger’ in 2013. Continuing to pay homage to his debut, he followed the fast-paced track with ‘New Town Velocity’ – a deeply personal song that’s known for its beautiful guitar breakdown.
Next up was the energetic ‘Spirit Power and Soul’, which was driven by a disco-esque beat – courtesy of drummer, Jack Mitchell. The anthemic ‘This Charming Man’ followed before Johnny armed himself with an acoustic guitar for one of his newer offerings, ‘Somewhere’. Performed in the style of the demo on ‘Spirit Power’, the track benefitted from the arrangement used during the orchestral shows in December, where the instrumentation gradually built up, leading to a crescendo of joyous energy. Reducing the tempo slightly, Johnny followed it with ‘Walk Into The Sea’ – a dark and contemplative track that not only emphasises Johnny’s band of ten years’ tightness in a live setting, but also underscores their musical prowess.
Johnny’s setlist truly illustrated his versatility and talent as a songwriter and performer and the perfect example of this was the seamless transition from the frenzied ‘The Answer’ – which features some of Johnny’s most exhilarating guitar work yet – to a breath-taking rendition of ‘Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want’. In a true pin drop moment – that you wouldn’t think were possible on a Saturday night in Liverpool – the track saw Johnny armed with an acoustic guitar and joined by just one other band member, multi-instrumentalist, James Doviak.
Following the debut of ‘Night & Day’ for the first time on this tour, Johnny paid homage to his orchestral work once more with a distinctive interpretation of Electronic’s ‘Get the Message’, before launching into the raucous ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’. Johnny’s vocals have gone from strength to strength over the last ten years and this was particularly apparent on both fan favourite ‘Hi Hello’ and its predecessor. While ‘Hi Hello’ showcases Johnny’s emotive and melodic vocals, ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ highlights a more raw and intense approach – two contrasting performances that many artists would find challenging to accomplish, but not Johnny. The remainder of the main set was hits aplenty, consisting of ‘How Soon Is Now’, ‘Easy Money’ and ‘Getting Away With It’. With a disco ball illuminating the venue, Johnny delivered a remarkable guitar solo during the latter, leaving the crowd pining for more.
Returning to the stage with a huge smile on his face, Johnny launched into a high spirited cover of ‘The Passenger’ by Iggy Pop – a track that he recently performed live as part of BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room Month. Following an energetic performance of ‘You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby,’ where Johnny effortlessly commanded the vocals, the set reached a climactic conclusion with ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out.’
The perfect end to the set, the beloved Smiths track had the crowd singing and dancing enthusiastically from the front to the back and perfectly captured how much Johnny’s enjoyed not just this tour, but this entire phase of his career.
Words by Laura Dean
