JOHNNY Marr took to the stage at the Civic Hall on Friday evening oozing confidence, charisma and cool in front of an audience comprised largely of fans of his 1980s band, The Smiths.

It is little wonder then, that the crowd really came alive when Marr dipped into The Smiths back catalogue and played versions of classic songs such as Panic, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before, Bigmouth Strikes Back, Still Ill and There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

Whilst Marr's vocals lack the distinctiveness of his Smiths bandmate and frontman, Morrissey, he carries the songs well enough to avoid any negative comparison.

What is distinctive about Marr is, of course, his guitar sound and it was easy to understand why he is held in such high esteem for his virtuosity. Like all great musicians, his playing is seemingly effortless, producing a sound that is unmistakably Marr.

It was rather a shame that the brilliance of the old material rather overshadowed Marr's new songs from his two solo albums, The Messenger, from last year, and the recently released Playland.

The new songs maintained the momentum of the set but it wasn't until Generate! Generate! that the crowd responded in anything like the same way in which they did to the older tunes.

The set fished in barnstorming fashion with great versions of Iggy Pop's Lust For Life and another Smiths classic, How Soon Is Now, on which the 50-year-old Marr produced some of his finest guitar work.

The hypnotic vibrato guitar waves combined with evocative lyrics provided a fitting finale to a loud, raucous and very enjoyable set, proving without doubt that there is one particular light that will never go out.