‘Rock ‘n’ roll!’
That was the semi-coherent exclamation of a drunken fan a few songs into Johnny Marr and The Healers’ set at the Paradise Rock Club last Friday night. Even funnier than this outburstwhich is like yelling out ‘baseball’ at Fenway Park or ‘nourishment’ at an expensive restaurantwas Marr’s reaction.
‘Rock ‘n’ roll? Don’t you read the press about me? You should all be carrying journals and living in black rooms. And only listening to one band,’ said Marr of his old band, the Smiths, whose legion of devoted mopey fans are as obsessive about the band today as they were during the band’s mid 80’s heyday. Marr’s tongue in cheek reference to Smiths fans indicated a good-natured fondness for the past, and, more importantly, a desire to move ahead.
Taking the stage with his three-piece band, which included Zak Starkey on drums (who, by the way, is way better than his father, Ringo), Marr laid to rest any doubts that he’d have trouble moving on. He purposely stayed away from revisiting the sacred Smiths catalog, instead focusing on material from his forthcoming album, Boomslang. Marr looked sharp in his brown leather coat and black jeans, sporting a hairstyle that brought to mind both Johnny Thunders and Jimmy from The Who’s ‘Quadrophenia’.
On standouts like ‘Down on the Corner’ and ‘Last Train,’ Marr stayed true to his signature sound, which varies from a Scotty Moore-esque echo to all-out power chords. While Morrissey gets much of the credit for the Smiths’ success, Marr’s guitar work was always emotional and evocative, the true backbone of the group’s sound. Three songs into the show Marr strapped on his black Rickenbacker and played a stunning version of Bob Dylan’s classic ‘Don’t Think Twice.’ The crowd, filled with hipsters in mod parkas who may or may not have had the cocaine jitters, was riveted. All the while Marr chomped on his gum and offered an occasional confident smile, acting every bit the British rocker you’d expect.
Many of the new songs don’t stray far from the typical Brit-pop formula, but Marr is only taking from a genre he helped create. The fuzzy opening to songs like ‘Last Ride’ elicit comparisons to groups like Suede or Oasisbut rest assured that the Gallagher brothers were still slap-boxing each other over their toys when Marr was writing the manual.
Most importantly, Marr proved that he could sing. His voice, if not overly distinctive, was solid. He’s certainly got the stage banter down as well, offering up bits and pieces of unintelligible rocker-speak, at times sounding like Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel.
For the last couple songs, Marr decided to buck tradition and forgo the age-old encore ritual that has become the standard. Rather than taking his band off stage and making us clap for a few pointless minutes, he decided to stay on the stage and play an extended set. Maybe Marr just didn’t want to negotiate the slippery stage any more than he had to. At one point he commented on the slickness of the floor, asking, ‘If I fall, will you laugh at me?’
No worries, Johnnyyou haven’t fallen, and even if you did we’re not apt to laugh. We’re Smiths fans, remember? We don’t laugh.
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