Billy Duffy of The Cult Joins Johnny Marr to Perform The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?”

Photo By Brett Padelford

On August 16, 2023, at The Cheese and Grain Venue in Frome artist Billy Duffy from the Cult and Johnny Marr joined forces to perform titles by the Smiths and Depeche Mode. While at a Johnny Marr concert amongst the classics from the Smiths and Marr’s solo career Fans had the surprise of a lifetime as Marr brought out the surprise guest Billy Duffy of The Cult for the evening. 

“The on-stage appearance is the latest of the multiple times the two musicians have joined forces, as they both have a long history of playing music together – stemming back to their adolescent years,” According to NME the musicians had met “in Manchester during their childhood, Duffy was in an early incarnation of The Smiths with Morrissey and had also played guitar with Marr when the latter was just 12 years old. It was also through the three of them attending a Patti Smith gig in 1978 that Marr was introduced to Morrissey – leading to the formation of The Smiths.”

The night of the 16th, the two joined together to perform one of the Smiths’ most well-known tracks, “How Soon Is Now?” and before that they performed a cover of Depeche Mode’s 1993 hit “I Feel You”. This was surely a show many must feel terrible to have missed. The two musicians seemed to have had a great time on the stage together and the crowd must have felt that energy as well. A great performance and a very cool pairing keep an eye out for any more pairings like this to come.