Along with every other decent Manchester act...
Jeff Ando

14:20 29th January 2006

Founding members of The Smiths Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke came together on stage for the first time in almost 20 years on Saturday night.

Performing at the Manchester vs Cancer charity event at the Manchester MEN arena, the guitarist and bassist delighted fans by performing classics such as 'How Soon Is Now' and 'There Is A Light That  Never Goes Out', with Rourke joining Marr's band The Healers on stage, according to virgin.net.

On introducing his old bandmate, Marr said: "I first played with this guy at school in 1978 and we last played together in 1987. We've done some good things and some not so good things, but it's been too long really and now is a good a time as ever."

The charity event also featured other local acts such as Doves, Elbow, Badly Drawn Boy, Stephen Fretwell, Nine Black Alps and New Order, who played an entire set of Joy Division songs.

All of the performing acts reappeared at the end to perform the Happy Mondays' 'Wrote For Luck', with Shaun Ryder appearing on vocals.

Mad for it? We think so...

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