Johnny Marr & James Offer Dallas Transcendent Nostalgia

Monday night at Majestic Theatre, James and Johnny Marr knew what Dallas wanted to hear. When bands and artists of such a long tenure take the stage, they know they have a responsibility to their fans to play the hits. But more often than not, they have new material to acknowledge as well. It’s a delicate balance. Nobody wants their audience to walk out feeling duped, complaining to their friends, “They mostly just played their new stuff.”

It takes a truly seasoned performer to be able to execute that delicate balance of new and old material. And James and Johnny Marr both proved their masterful ability to do just that.

Rather than a typical shortened opener and headliner format, James started off the evening with a dual-headliner set that ran for about an hour, to the delight of audience members. The nine-piece collective formed in 1982 but reached peak success with their single “Laid” in 1993. If you can’t recall it, rest assured you’ve heard it before. In 1999 it was tapped as the main theme for touchstone teen-movie American Pie.
Applause rang out as the backing instrumentalists in James took to the stage. But when frontman Tim Booth filed out last and took his place at the microphone, the floor level of the Majestic Theatre gave him a standing ovation. Booth thanked the audience for the warm welcome and insisted with a cheeky air that this first song would be the coolest of their set.

“All of your friends will be jealous that you got to see this legendary song live in person,” he promised in blatant allusion to “Laid.” But  the band started with a set opener from their latest album, Yummy. Booth would continue this playful introductory banter until mid-performance when the band rang out the opening chords of their biggest hit. Fans took to their feet to sing along the jubilant opening lines, “This bed is on fire, with passionate love!” The song’s heartening nostalgia filled the room.

After that, which Booth referred to as a “mid-set lift,” he dedicated the 2014 song “Moving On” from their album La Petite Mort to anyone who’s lost someone important in their lives. The band played along to the incredibly moving music video for the single projected on the large LED screen behind them.
Directed by BAFTA-winner Ainslie Henderson, the beautiful stop-motion piece presents human figures fashioned out of twine. As they approach their deaths, the figures begin unraveling upward to the sky by a single string, as their soon-to-be survivors clutch at their loved ones to try and keep them intact. One of the unraveling figures sits nearly motionless in a hospital bed, one of them is a baby disappearing from a mother’s arms.

The video was a heart-wrenchingly intense and honest portrayal of the pain of loss and brought tears to the eyes of audience members. It was the most emotionally charged and powerful moment of the night.

Booth highly engaged the audience with time spent walking through the aisles to serenade and dance with audience members. Toward the end of the set, Booth even disappeared to run up the back stairwell and emerge again in the stage-right opera box. He walked the ledge in a daredevil maneuver, singing down on the crowd and dancing along with the band while attendees simultaneously cringed for his safety and roared in response to the display of showmanship.

After a brief intermission, Johnny Marr took the stage. The revolutionary guitarist of the highly influential Manchester band The Smiths was truly a sight to behold. Marr trail blazed a guitar sound in The Smiths that practically invented the jangly chorus-tone distortion effect in popular music. Upon his stage entrance, he briefly adjusted the knobs on his enormously stacked rig of Marshall amps but largely ignored the small setup of effects pedals beneath his microphone.
Marr played only three guitars throughout the night, two floating-bridge Fender Jaguars equipped with humbucker pickups (one in dandelion yellow, one in a deep teal green, both custom colors) and one acoustic brought out for the likes of The Smiths’ ballad “Please Please Please, Let Me Get What I Want.” Marr’s technical approach to the guitar was astounding to watch, proving the point that you don’t really need an abundance of tools to create a singular, magical sound.

As far as vocals, Marr matched The Smiths’ vocalist Morrissey quite well. He wasn’t as operatic or dramatic in delivery, but most singers could never match Morrissey that way. Though the legendary group has long been disbanded after a still contentious breakup in 1987 caused by interpersonal tensions between Morrissey and Marr, fans were treated to the rare and transcendent experience of seeing some of The Smiths’ most popular tracks performed live by one of their originators.

Considering that both Morrissey and Marr continued on solo after The Smiths’ downfall, it was relatively easy for Marr to balance the many classics that fans were rabid for with material from the second act of his career. The audience was almost equally enthusiastic to hear Marr’s solo work.

In the end, the crowd poured out of the Majestic Theatre in a state of bliss. The Smiths’ cult fan base remains active, large and passionate for the band credited with changing lives and influencing much of the alternative popular music landscape that came after it. To love The Smiths’ is to love hard; they’re the kind of band you either adopt as a constant in your life as a music fan or to hate them all together. But to see fans gather together to get their fix is a truly beautiful live performance experience.