Johnny Marr was on a tour to promote his great third solo album, Call The Comet and on October 15th, at the New York City Irving Plaza, he sold out a truly great show. Marr was accompanied by his excellent band made up of James Doviak playing the guitars and keyboards, Iwan Gronow with the bass and vocals and Jack Mitchell with the drums. They all came together to perform for 100 glorious minutes and the house was very excited.
The show kicked off with a powerful version of “The Tracers” from the latest album that featured Mitchel and his drums and Marr with his stellar voice. Following the next song was Marr’s excellent guitar work and The Smiths’ “Bigmouth Strikes Again” which had the crowd in an uproar.
The single “New Dominions” was a bit edgy on the latest album due to the fact that its synth driven with a Kraftwerk vibe. It plays out beautifully live and it features Mitchell and his drums and Marr with his excellent voice. Another single titled Hi Hello is the latest one from Call The Comet and it got a nice performance that was again highlighted by Marr’s stellar guitar skills. The crowd went wild when Marr and his gang completely bodied The Smiths’ “The Headmaster Ritual” and this was a big highlight of the show. The single “Walk into the Sea” followed next and it was graced by excellent work by Marr on the guitar and Doviak on the keyboards.
Gronow’s bass brought a solid foundation for an excellent and electric performance on Electronics’ “Getting away with it”. The band performed a quality performance of the song as the crowd roared in enjoyment of the show. The spotlight was redirected to the rotating mirror ball on the ceiling of Irving Plaza and this lit up the venue in a spinning reflection. It was quite beautiful and this was another big highlight of the show. Marr and his gang then played the hit “Hey Angel” from the new album and they did justice to it
Following a brief intermission, Marr and his gang got back to stage and started with the encore with an intense performance of “Rise” from the new album. This song Marr had started writing when he was in New York City just two days following Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race of 2016. The song is against the right wing and it opens up with the lyrics “Now here they come/ it’s the dawn of the dogs….” The crowd enjoyed it.
The encore came to a close with three songs from The Smith Catalog. Marr introduced Kevin Drew from the Canadian band Broken Social Scene to the stage to help with the vocals on “Please Please Please Let ME Get What I Want.” Marr and his gang performed brilliantly and the crowd loved every bit of it. Marr has taken a lead role after the tours to support the three solo albums and he and his current band have become very close and work together as a unit.
