GUITAR hero Johnny Marr played a huge show in Southampton.

• Johnny Marr in Suthampton - in pictures >>

The influential singer-songwriter and founder member of The Smiths put on one of the biggest shows ever held at The Engine Rooms on West Quay Road.

After a tension filled minute of high energy strobe lighting the capacity crowd of 800 devoted fans were delighted when the man from Manchester boldly arrived on stage.

Still fresh from their storming set in front of thousands at Portsmouth’s Victorious Festival, Johnny and his band were sharply dressed in suits and smart buttoned down shirts.

They began with the title track from Johnny’s latest top ten album, Playland, before launching into Smiths favourite Panic, which is still an incredible song nearly 30 years after its debut.

Generate! Generate! and Lockdown from Johnny’s first solo album, Messenger, soon followed by the brilliant Easy Money and Candidate from Playland.

The Southampton audience were treated to one of the first previews of a new song called Spiral Cities.

“It’s not recorded yet” Johnny told the crowd, “but we like it and so we’re trying it out” he added. The reaction was terrific.

The band began to wind-up the first part of the set with the high-tempo Getting Away With it, from the Nineties Electronic indie-dance collaboration between Johnny and New Order’s Bernard Sumner.

It was then onto the most popular number of the night.

There is a Light was sung by what seemed like everyone. During one chorus the band stopped their vocals and instruments and let the audience carry on in full voice. There was no doubt they were going to continue.

The highly demanded encore began with Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before, although that was never likely to happen.

The band carried on with The Right Thing Right and a super cover of The Primitives’ 1988 hit Crash, which Johnny ironically dedicated to the Prime Minister, before finishing for good with How Soon is Now?

After playing across Europe this year local support Dolomite Minor returned to their home city and ignited the evening with a tremendous session of guitar heavy anthems.

The next day Johnny Marr was off to London to see the Dalai Lama before heading down to Looe Music Festival. The rest of his autumn UK tour takes in Oxford and London in the South.

Johnny Marr’s latest album Playland is out now. His debut live solo album ‘Adrenaline Baby’, recorded mainly at recent Manchester and London shows, is released on October 9. Read more about the man who has influenced so many others at johnny-marr.com.

• By Richard Derbyshire