Johnny Marr reacts to Rick Astley and Blossoms performing The Smiths
Read his verdict
Legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has responded to Rick Astley and Blossoms joining forces to sing songs by The Smiths.
On Monday night (13th September), Rick Astley joined Blossoms on stage at their sold-out O2 Forum Kentish Town show to perform two Smiths classics – ‘Panic’ and ‘This Charming Man.’
A video of the ‘This Charming Man’ performance went viral on Twitter and has been watched more than 1.6 million times. It even prompted some fans to suggest that The Smiths should reunite for a tour with Rick Astley as their new frontman.
Sharing the video on Twitter this lunchtime (17th September), Johnny Marr reacted to the performance and clearly wasn’t a huge fan. He wrote: “This is both funny and horrible at the same time.”
Following the surprise performance in London, Rick Astley and Blossoms announced two full The Songs of The Smiths concerts take place at Manchester Albert Hall on Friday 8th October 2021 and London O2 Forum Kentish Town on Saturday 9th October 2021.
Both shows went on sale this morning and they are now completely sold out.
Rick Astley previously said in a 2016 Rolling Stone interview that he’d love to perform an entire set of Smiths songs one day, and Blossoms have now helped this dream become a reality.
Back in August 2017, Rick Astley hit the headlines when he performed his signature song ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ with Foo Fighters at Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo. Rick and the Foos went on to join forces several times in the ensuing years.
Featuring the electro-tinged lead single ‘Spirit Power & Soul’, Johnny Marr recently announced his new double album ‘Fever Dreams Pts 1-4’. A new four track EP, ‘Fever Dreams Pt 1’. will be released on Friday 15th October via BMG.
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