Review: Britpop icons Johnny Marr, The Charlatans and Gaz Coombes sparkle by the sea

Icons of the 90s scene Johnny Marr, The Charlatans and Gaz Coombes delivered a night of musical wonder as they played out their greatest hits to a Scarborough Open Air Theatre audience that turned out in force to cheer them on.

Starting up the night ahead by the coast was Supergrass frontman Coombes, who brilliantly opened the proceedings for the audience that turned out early to see him.

With just himself and a guitar, the singer-songwriter played a mix of solo material and Supergrass anthems, all of which were both received well by the northern crowd.

Long Live The Strange, a solo outing, seemed to strike a notable chord with the crowd and so did the upbeat indie Supergrass track Caught By The Fuzz, which got the audience moving and prepped everyone for the set of Britpop classics ahead.

The Charlatans followed on next to a radiant atmosphere that engulfed the venue when the Madchester band stepped onto the Open Air stage.

Their set was lined with classics including the likes of The Only One I Know, So Oh and Come Home Baby.

With a helping of psychedelic visuals and everlasting mellow guitar solos, the band entranced the audience with a catalogue of their very best.

Halfway through the set, frontman Tim Burgess introduced a certain legendary guitarist that would be on next after him, only the icon of the indie scene that is Johnny Marr himself.

They collaborated for the cult classic Charlatans’ hit Weirdo - an infectious taster for the Marr’s set to follow.

The group closed out their wonderful supporting set with Sproston Green, a track that feels like a perfect combination of all their tracks before blended into a mix of bliss and pure charm.

The main event Johnny Marr was next and accompanied by his band, the guitarist of legendary status performed a setlist of pure ecstasy dating back from The Smiths days, to Electronic, to his now current solo stuff, which altogether cemented an unforgettable night on the northern coastline.

Marr kickstarted the night with one of his own, Armatopia, with its wailing anthemic synths, the upbeat anthem had everyone swaying and smiling to a song self-described by the Manc as an “eco-disco” track; in short, these are songs that are meant for dancing to in the face of ecological destruction, very much taking a note from the drearier and bleak lyrics of his former band, while being tied together by a charming guitar hook from Marr.

It was then back to basics for Johnny as the second track of the night relived the days of the golden era of music as the iconic intro to Panic saw the North Yorkshire crowd go wild with recognition as the audience rose out of their seats to dance along a true British pop classic.

A few more solo cuts from Marr’s pool of great tracks saw him dive into more recent releases such as Spirit Power and Soul, which is the opener to his most recent album the Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 and made perfect sense to be placed so early on in the set to carry into the night ahead.

Before the next track, Marr asked the crowd whether they had any requests and before most could even think of a reply to the posed question, the legendary guitar riff for This Charming Man was kickstarted into motion by the main man himself.

The national anthem of the indie rock stage that has been infecting dancefloors ever since its release transformed the open air into an 80s club scene as drinks were launched and dance moves were thrown about to the sounds of the one of the most recognisable guitar patterns riffs ever.

The next track to follow would find itself sandwiched between a section of The Smiths’ songs but as proven time and time again, Marr’s solo stuff is able to stand proud and boisterously against them and prove that at 60 years of age that true talent never fades, Somewhere was a delightfully sweet addition to his performance.

Two tracks from Marr’s Smiths days followed – and these could probably be classed as their own sentence due to their lengthy titles – Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want and Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before.

The irresistibly catchy Easy Money was up next for the Scarborough audience, with its radiant sounding guitars and an easily chantable chorus – it made for a personal highlight of the night.

Next up was Getting Away With It from Marr’s Electronic days - but since New Order’s Bernard Sumner wasn’t on hand to deliver the vocals, Marr reintroduced Tim Burgess to the stage to help with vocals as the pair rocked it out and showed why every era of Marr’s career has a rightful place landing its way onto the setlist.

To finish the initial set, the instantaneously recognisable There Is a Light That Never Goes Out ringed across the Open Air Theatre, with the crowd singing every lyric back to the Manc and his band on stage.

The song timeless as ever, was performed to perfection by Johhny and as the song came to a close, he and his band left the stage.

After a couple of minutes, they returned to the stage to see out their performance with a two-song encore.

Kicking off his encore, Marr flawlessly performed a rendition of Iggy pop’s The Passenger, a track itself of such great magnitude only to be performed by one of the very best was a match made in heaven.

Marr thanked the audience for turning out and ended the night on the classic Smiths track Bigmouth Strikes Again.

A night of nostalgia from a host of much-loved musicians. A real treat for all.