By Ritzy Sparkes

Artist: Johnny Marr

Date / Venue: Thursday July 16th, 2015 - The Powerstation, Auckland

I sincerely hope that all of you who missed the gig last night had a very good excuse.

Johnny Marr needs no introduction. From the moment he took to the stage, the incredible musicianship and groovy swagger didn't let up and nor did we want it to. 

His solo work shone alongside the classics from The Smiths. ‘Easy Money' and ‘Generate! Generate!' were fantastic and you would never know that ‘Getting Away With It', from his time in Electronic with Bernard Sumner was as ‘disco' as he inferred in its original form. Some may care to argue this point, but even in a parallel concert universe where Marr & Morrissey were super best friends, had Morrissey of been there he still would have seemed surplus to requirements.

With Marr singing, his band sounding super tight and aided by an excellent crowd, the tracks simply held their own. ‘How Soon Is Now' had me in raptures and memories of the crowd singing along is still bringing goose bumps.

But wait! There's more. If that wasn't the perfect track to finish on, Neil Finn materialised for an epic encore of ‘I Fought The Law' and the sublime ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out'. A wonderfully kiwi tinged end to a fantastic show.