- Music
- 01 Sep 19
In case you're wondering, the hair was immaculate!
Sorry Miles Kane, lad, you came a close second but I'm afraid the Barnet of the Festival Award goes to the evergreen Johnny fucking Marr. It's not just his hair that defies the laws of nature, with the 55-year-old - how did that happen? - as whippet thin as he was in his Smiths days.
While he's never going to be M*******y, Johnny fucking Marr's days as a reluctant frontman are over. Throwing some extremely impressive shapes, he opens with the newish/old whammy of 'The Tracers' and 'Big Mouth Strikes Again'. I'm not sure if I've ever heard his guitar sounding quite so big and ballsy.
"Where did you go my blue eyed son," he inquires (as Bobby D did before him) on 'Armatopia', his recent 'eco-disco' single, which triggers some serious dad dancing. While seeing Johnny fucking Marr should be a mandatory part of any state education, this is definitely one of the EP weekend's more senior crowds.
The Harrington comes off for 'Hi Hello', which segues seamlessly into 'How Soon Is Now', a song that ages not one jot. The tune seems to suck an extra couple of thousand people into the already packed Electric Arena.
Spotting a t-shirt with her face on it in the crowd, Johnny fucking Marr proclaims, "Billie Eilish is cool but she's not as pretty as me." While that's debatable, there's no denying that the ensuing 'Getting Away With It' and 'Get The Message' are two of the greatest floor fillers ever manufactured in Manchester, and there's been some serious competition.
When the P.A. petulantly goes down for three minutes, Johnny fucking Marr responds, as all good rock stars do, by diving into the adoring masses who gleefully hold their hero aloft while he strikes even more poses.
By the time they decide to hand him back, the sound's been fixed, which allows him to seal the deal with a version of 'This Charming Man', which has sped up considerably since the '80s.
What can I say? Johnny fucking Marr!