Live Review: Johnny Marr, Flyying Colours

To say that Melbourne's Flyying Colours emerge to a bare room would be an understatement, with around half a dozen people pressing the barrier and an empty floor all 'round. The four-piece introduce themselves with the shattering snare hits cracking across the silent room that lead into an outstanding meld of shoegaze and high-energy alt-rock, with a grooving bass line rippling under a pair of wailing, distorted six-strings. They use their short set wisely with Running Late, Bugs, Not Today and Wavygravy all bellowing out in quick succession. Despite an understated vocal mix, frontman Brodie J Brummer getting washed away in the set's high decibels, they deliver a set that shows why they're one of the most exciting bands touring at the moment.

The room fills out rapidly during the set change, suddenly at inescapable shoulder-to-shoulder capacity. Under the glowing beacon of an LED screen, rolling spotlights and an electronic introduction, Johnny Marr emerges with Playland. It might be expected that 51-year-old Marr would be a little slower on stage, but the guitarist rolls out a stiff upper lip swagger of '90s Manchester style, cutting shapes as he rattles his trademark Jag. Swooping straight into his first track from The Smiths in Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before, he sets fire to the diverse crowd. Even with a fresh backing band, Marr proves there's more than one man who can deliver a heart-pounding track from The Smiths. The set list doesn't hold back for a moment, selections from his two solo records with Generate! Generate!, Easy Money and New Town Velocity, and previous works from Electronic, along with the odd cover song, a relentless cavalcade of Brit-pop hits. Set list aside, Marr owns the crowd easily, moulding them with stage presence and mastering them through his menacing guitar work. With swirling green and blue lights hitting the smoke bellowing from stage, Marr casts a final spell on the room with smash hit How Soon Is Now? to end a night with musical royalty that we can only hope happens again as soon as possible.