And, more recently, part-time six-stringer with Canadian indie rockers Modest Mouse and latterly Wakefield noisy boys The Cribs.
This headline show, though, sees him get rid of the others for a solo performance that is all about him.Marr and mate Steven Morrissey were the driving forces behind The Smiths, the Manchester indie band who defined an era of guitar music and were one of the key influences on the Britpop bands that exploded in the Nineties.
The Queen Is Dead, How Soon Is Now?, This Charming Man – the band’s classic tunes were matched only by their intelligent yet prickly demeanour.
Post-Smiths, Marr’s continued to work and gig, and has played with a who’s who of alt and indie talent. Paul McCartney? Yup, shortly after The Smiths’ demise.
He was briefly a member of The Pretenders, too, and then part of New Zealand musician Neil Finn’s 7 Worlds Collide, with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Radiohead’s Phil Selway no less. In the mid-Noughties he joined Montreal indie-rock legends Modest Mouse.
Then, after a meeting at the 2008 NME Awards, he join the brothers Jarman in The Cribs, touring and recording on their fourth LP Ignore The Ignorant before setting off for pastures new.
His first solo album, The Messenger, is the current period’s produce, and this is the first time he’s taken it out on the road. Take your chance to see a living legend.
O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, W12 8TT
Fri Mar 15 | Doors at 7pm | £22.50
Tube | Shepherd’s Bush
o2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk
Photo: Getty
