Alternative and indie rock groundbreaker Johnny Marr cranks up The Smiths, Electronic and solo

Photos by Andy Argyrakis

English guitar god Johnny Marr will be forever linked to his seminal co-songwriting role alongside Morrissey in The Smiths, but his extensive discography extends to Electronic with New Order’s Bernard Sumner, time with The The, Modest Mouse and so many more. Though he’s primarily solo at the moment and currently supporting the “Call The Comet” collection, the alternative and indie rock groundbreaker never lost sight of his roots at a crowded but absurdly not sold out Vic Theatre.

Johnny Marr also remarked that Chicago was the very first city his earliest act ever played (at the Aragon to be exact), yet even with the couple of generations that passed in between performances, that youthful hunger to constantly forge forward remained on display.

In fact, he appeared more confident than ever behind the microphone from the launch of “The Tracers” and sounded surprisingly like his long lost pal Moz throughout “Bigmouth Strikes Again.” Though not all of his individual selections packed as much punch or connectively in half hour or so that followed, Marr and a three-piece band really kicked into gear on Electronic’s “Getting Away With It,” accented every so appropriately by a pair of twirling disco balls.

He respectively revisited both groups with “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” and “Get The Message,” sandwiching his own spectacular “Spiral Cities” in between and keeping the momentum moving in that direction for the remainder of the 100 minutes. “Easy Money” was a strutting dance rocker that wouldn’t have been out of place in the ‘80s, but was decidedly contemporary in nature, while “Boys Get Straight” exuded a similarly exultant punk-ish strut.

The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?” was about as epic as any alt-rock concert experience could get, while an encore that included “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” burned all that much brighter with the entire audience’s accompaniment. Marr also remarked that Chicago was the very first city his earliest act ever played (at the Aragon to be exact), yet even with the couple of generations that passed in between performances, that youthful hunger to constantly forge forward remained on display.