Johnny Marr and James – Switching It Up at Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles

The second installment of my somewhat inadvertent “The Sun Never Seems to Set on the British Music Empire Tour”

What a great double bill for fans of BritPop. The guitarist who helped lift The Smiths to acclaim and the band which laid the groundwork for many bands to follow. Johnny Marr and James switched up headliner status on their two nights in Los Angeles, and also found themselves crossing paths with fellow Brit Billy Bragg, all of them playing the same venues in Southern California over a few days.

On my night at the Orpheum, Marr opened. He stepped in front of a solid stack of Marshall amps as his altar of sound. Marr’s homage to the guitar was first evidenced in the lobby, with a hefty coffee table book filled with lavish photos of guitars on offer at the merch table. But fans knew that was the attraction; an evening of surging guitar against a backdrop of a tight band and infectious melodies was duly delivered.

Most of those catchy melodies were from The Smiths catalog. Missing of course (perhaps forever?) were the accompanying vocals from Morrissey; the former bandmates are in a fit of acrimony. That seems to be a pervasive disease among bands with a pair of strong personalities. (Roger Waters and David Gilmour managed to put aside their decades long beef long enough to sign a $400 million dollar Pink Floyd deal, but they could earn seemingly endless gobs of money with a reunion at Sphere, obviously the band most qualified to play the billion dollar venue).

As you track your mind across any number of classic British bands (American ones to a degree as well), you generally find two strong personalities in the band, driving the artistic vision.

A moment here for you to think of exceptions…not too many, right?

The Smiths were no exception, and fans argue interminably as to who was more crucial to the band’s sound. Often the nod goes to the vocalist, understandably. But recently hearing Marr’s renditions of crucial Smiths tracks, one needs to bring Marr farther along in the discussion.

“Panic” was delivered early in Marr’s set. His vocals are not as quirky / whiny as Morrissey’s, and frankly the latter was not missed.

Among a couple stand out solo tracks (“Spirit Power and Soul” and “Somewhere”) Marr backloaded the setlist with Smiths songs. The completely unique guitar phrasings of “I’m Not Human” is the signature of the song, even I could possibly deliver the lyrics with Marr plugged in and nearby.

The acrimony with Morrissey is probably good for business; I am looking at you Liam and Noel, Oasis is adding more dates to their global reunion tour. Hell froze over, apparently.

Ultimately, Marr is currently assaying his past contributions to the band that brought him fame to ensure that legacy endures. I have no issue therewith.

When James took the stage, the wall of guitar sound became more nuanced. Lead singer Tim Booth moved into the audience earlier than in past gigs. Later in the evening he headed into the balcony, delighting folks with his sunny demeanor. He is still a card carrying member of that intriguing group of bald male lead singers afflicted with white man dancing disease (I’m happily looking at you Peter Garret). During a couple extended instrumental jams Booth maintained his dervish approach, gyrating madly across the stage. Indeed, he first joined the band as a dancer and graduated to lead singer by 1982.

After a slew of critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums across the decades, James is still showing its creative bona fides. Their latest album Yummy was released in April and went to #1 in UK, when is the last time you heard that update from the concert stage?

At the Orpheum, the eclectic lineup included violin, trumpet and cello, which ambitiously and successfully added some unique sonic colors to the arrangements.

“Out to Get You” was delivered as if The Waterboys and Peter Gabriel had a love child. Speaking of Peter Gabriel, I was put in mind of his last tour, where hand on heart probably 50% of the audience did not know the new music but they were happily led through their first time. That counts for a lot in terms of artistic vision and integrity.

Same here; Booth acknowledged that some folks had come to hear the music from the Laid album, but he said ‘trust me on this new song, it’s good’ and he was right. The fresh “Life’s A Fucking Miracle” was ebullient. It is understandable that James has shifted 25 million albums in their career.

By the time “Say Something” was queued Booth headed to the balcony, whipping the audience to a controlled frenzy. “Sometimes” was delivered in epic fashion; the trumpeter Adrian Oxaal moved from the stage to the box seats and up into the balcony as well.