Review: Johnny Marr at Bristol 02 Academy - Smiths legend reduces fans to tears and there's a surprise guest

Next month marks the 41st anniversary of The Smiths’ debut single but their songs have been kept alive by the band’s guitarist and co-songwriter Johnny Marr.

At 60 - although he looks much younger having swapped his 1980s rock and roll lifestyle for sobriety, vegetarianism and running - Marr find himself in the enviable position of having built a successful solo career post-Smiths.

His new album, Spirit Power: The Best of Johnny Marr, brings together the highlights of recent years but this sell-out Bristol show was as much about celebrating the four short years of The Smiths as showcasing his latest record.

With a tight three-piece band, Marr curated a perfectly balanced set that lasted 100 minutes but flew by with no real dips or excuses to head to the bar or toilets - not always the case when veteran bands perform and insist on playing lots of new stuff.

A swaggering and pulsating Sensory Street kicked things off nicely but by the second song - The Smiths favourite Panic - there was a mass singalong as fans joined in with the ‘Hang the DJ’ refrain.

Newer solo songs Spirit Power and Soul and Walk Into the Sea kept the momentum going but by the middle of the set, it was starting to sound and feel like a Smiths gig as Marr dusted off more classics.

Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want segued into a stomping version of Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before, with Marr introducing a surprise guest. For a split second, I’m sure a few fans wanted him to say Morrissey was in the house but it was Gaz Coombes of Supergrass, who had warmed up the crowd nicely with his solo set.

Marr also dipped into his time as half of 90s pop duo Electronic, with Get The Message and a great version of Getting Away With It, during which a huge rotating disco ball dazzled the venue with flickering lights. It was like being back in a Manchester club circa 1991.

And the Smiths songs kept coming, with Bigmouth Strikes Again, How Soon Is Now? and You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby.

Marr’s energy levels were still topped up for an encore of Iggy Pop’s The Passenger, with the 60-year-old pogoing on the spot like it was 1977, which went straight into The Smiths’ seminal There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

As I looked around, I saw several burly men in their 50s wiping tears away as they sang the chorus of this Smiths favourite, reliving their. I may well have been one of them.