Morrissey and Marr have been offered big money to tour as the Smiths. Morrissey says yes. Marr says nothing. The Smiths are my favourite band and I saw them many times. Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce were a fabulous rock rhythm section, but the former is sadly no longer with us. Morrissey was a brilliant lyricist, the voice of angst ridden young people. Now he is a lumping populist with very dodgy views who hasn’t written a good song in years. Marr remains a fantastic guitarist. Would I pay to see a 65 year old pretending to be young? No I wouldn’t. Thank God Marr has some morals. Please let them never play as the Smiths again. Just because the lumpen Oasis will play their dirges again doesn’t mean the Smiths have to. Money changes everything, as the Smiths wrote. But not in this case it seems. Let’s leave their wonderful music as fantastic memories of a time past.
Given the animosity between Morrissey and Marr it seems unlikely they would want to be in the same room as each other, let alone tour together, I can’t see this happening.
Shame as I would love to see them live.
Too vastly over-hyped and over-rated bands.
Of course, YMMV……….
Only saw them once, in 1984 in Somerset, where I lived.
I think Johnny has made his position on a reunion clear a number of times. They are my favorite band, but it would not be the same seeing old men on stage when my memory of them is quite different.
The Smiths were the masters of the B-side, especially with their 12" singles. I’ll dust off my complete set of 12" singles over the weekend…
But would you want to see a 65 year old reeling around the fountain. I saw them when he was still twirling the glads and it would be a travesty to see him trying to recapture that youthful energy.
Maybe you had to be there. I find a lot of the music that forum members seem to like to be utter sh.te. To each their own. Anyway, it’s not about whether you like them, it’s more the principle.
I know what you mean, but I didn’t see them when they were together and I regret not making the effort. Enjoy their music and would want to hear it live. Won’t be like it was 30 years ago, but would still be worth a listen. Like seeing the Stones now - not angry young men, but worth a listen.
No I don’t think I did, they were both very average. Nothing that had not been done before - and indeed better!.
Hyped up by the mainstream media, inc the Beeb who wet their knickers at every mention - as indeed they are doing just at this moment!
Oasis were always lumpen and a bit Neanderthal, going through tired rock tropes. But the Smiths were altogether different. I’m not sure that anyone had already done what they did, and nor has anyone bettered them at what they did.
OK , I concede that they are the masters of the self-indulgent dirge!
That’s the spirit!
It rather tickles me though, that as a lover of prog you can call the Smiths self indulgent. You could listen to a few Smiths songs in the time it takes to get through one prog guitar solo.
True dat! Not to mention Mr. Emerson’s noodlings!
I think I’ll now be forced to listen to some early Jethro Tull…… 
Johnny Marr has come out with integrity intact from this, I feel and his tweet was a perfect riposte to Morrissey’s desperate attempt to earn some cash. Now I suspect, Morrissey will have to ask the orange buffoon to bail him out of any cash flow problems he is having?
Let’s not be too hard on these old timers going back to work - after all, they have to fund their missing winter fuel allowance somehow.
I wonder if it is really worth going to see these bands from the past, going through the motions ,to pay for the upkeep of the mansion, or the latest costly divorce. I am just waiting for the Oasis reviews after these shows. All the best concerts I have seen have had a spark that I cannot describe. Others were obvious bank account fillers.
My wife’s tastes are still mostly stuck in her youthful past. She drags me along to see her old heroes. I was almost sat next to Carl palmer in a small club in Bologna, and it was obvious he was having fun, with two young musicians. A concert by an ex Moody Blues, was a tired exercise of reliving the past. We saw a collective concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Joan Armatrading still had the spark. Roger Daltrey was just terrible in every way. We try to catch Pat Metheny, my musical hero, every year when he comes to Italy. He is constantly moving forward trying new things, and his enthusiasm shows.
I also hate stadium and outdoor gigs. The sound is always horrible, and you basically watch a screen.
There are lots of young musicians making great music. I love Jazz and Britain is producing some great players at the moment. I am sure this is true of other types of music. The surprise of attending a great concert by a new name, or unearthing a CD with some surprising music, is why I still spend too much on concerts and HiFi.
Remember the letter that Morrissey sent to Marr not long ago:
OPEN LETTER TO JOHNNY MARR.
January 25, 2022
This is not a rant or an hysterical bombast. It is a polite and calmly measured request: Would you please stop mentioning my name in your interviews?
Would you please, instead, discuss your own career, your own unstoppable solo achievements and your own music?
If you can, would you please just leave me out of it?
The fact is: you don’t know me. You know nothing of my life, my intentions, my thoughts, my feelings. Yet you talk as if you were my personal psychiatrist with consistent and uninterrupted access to my instincts. We haven’t known each other for 35 years - which is many lifetimes ago. When we met you and I were not successful. We both helped each other become whatever it is we are today. Can you not just leave it at that? Must you persistently, year after year, decade after decade, blame me for everything … from the 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami to the dribble on your grandma’s chin ?
You found me inspirational enough to make music with me for 6 years. If I was, as you claim, such an eyesore monster, where exactly did this leave you? Kidnapped? Mute? Chained? Abducted by cross-eyed extraterrestrials? It was YOU who played guitar on ‘Golden Lights’ - not me.
Yes, we all know that the British press will print anything you say about me as long as it’s cruel and savage. But you’ve done all that. Move on. It’s as if you can’t uncross your own legs without mentioning me. Our period together was many lifetimes ago, and a lot of blood has streamed under the bridge since then. There comes a time when you must take responsibility for your own actions and your own career, with which I wish you good health to enjoy. Just stop using my name as click-bait.
I have not ever attacked your solo work or your solo life, and I have openly applauded your genius during the days of ‘Louder than bombs’ and ‘Strangeways, here we come’, yet you have positioned yourself ever-ready as rent-a-quote whenever the press require an ugly slant on something I half-said during the last glacial period as the Colorado River began to carve out the Grand Canyon.
Please stop. It is 2022, not 1982.
Morrissey. January 2022.
I saw The Tubes a couple of times in their hay day.
They were fabulous.
Move forward 40 years and seen them twice.
The shows had changed but at their age they had lost non of their verve and magic and were still fabulous.
Heyday
Wow, you were lucky to see them at that time
Hope it comes off
Martin