Johnny Marr met Morrissey for the first time at a Patti Smith concert
In a new interview, Johnny Marr has discussed first meeting his former Smiths bandmate, Morrissey, at a Patti Smith concert.
Marr opened up about the incident during an appearance on the podcast, The Line-Up With Shaun Keaveny. On the show, guests are invited to pick their dream festival, which brought him onto the topic of Patti Smith. The former Smiths guitarist recalled sneaking into the Apollo in Manchester to watch her in 1978 and stumbling upon Morrissey for the first time.
He explained: “Funny enough, it was actually for the real first time Morrissey and I met, but we met really in passing, when I went to see Patti Smith on my own in 1978. I was 14, and none of my mates wanted to pony up for the ticket. We used to always sneak in. I talked about this in my book quite a lot. We used to sneak into the Apollo.”
The former BBC 6 Music host intervened to ask, “Through the toilets, was it?” which led to Marr adding: “Yeah, through the window. Just get me in the window and then I would open the door at the back girls toilet. I opened the door and we would all pile in. And because of that, and there’s quite a number of usually boys, I think Mark Reilly was in the fall. He works on the radio. I think Mark Radcliffe is another. He sort of might have done that. But it was a bit of a thing of culture, you know, I wasn’t the only one. but we used to go, the thing with me and my mates we were completely indiscriminate.”
He continued: “Whoever was on, we would go just for something to do. So I saw more bands that I didn’t like, that I did like. I saw Barclay James Harvest, I saw Uriah Heep and all these bands I didn’t know about. But because I was so into Patti Smith, I got a ticket.
“So I went on my own and I bumped into a couple of old older lads in the bar, and Morrissey was with them. But then I went off just to get right at the front, and I stood at the front of this Patti Smith Show.”
Meanwhile, Marr recently reunited with Andy Rourke from The Smiths for the first time since the band split in 1987. The pair collaborated on a track for Rourke’s band Blitz Vega, which also features ex-Happy Mondays guitarist Kav Blaggers.
Although this collaboration between Rourke and Marr is their first in 35 years, the Smiths bassist has asserted that the pair have always been friends, despite the band’s dissolution. “We’ve remained friends, we’ve known each other since we were 13 years old. He’s my oldest and dearest friend and I feel our friendship gets stronger as time passes.”
Listen to the full episode of The Line Up With Shaun Keaveny below.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.