Monday 7 December 2026, 7.30pm
In partnership with
Johnny Marr joins Stephen Coates in Vision Hall for a one-off evening to celebrate the new edition of Set the Boy Free, published by Thames & Hudson in a special illustrated 10th anniversary edition with unseen new images.
Set the Boy Free is Johnny Marr’s own account of his life in music, from growing up in Manchester to forming The Smiths and everything that followed. This special illustrated 10th anniversary edition from Thames & Hudson pairs the original text with unseen new photographs from Marr’s own archive – live, backstage and in the studio – alongside a foreword by Noel Gallagher, and Marr’s new preface and illustrated afterword on his recent work.
In a one-off event to celebrate the new edition, Marr talks to Stephen Coates in Vision Hall about the songs, the people and the photographs behind the book.
Johnny Marr: Set the Boy Free, Illustrated Anniversary Edition (Thames & Hudson)
Header photograph © Andy Cotterill
Johnny Marr
Musician and author
Guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of The Smiths, Johnny Marr has since worked with The The, Electronic and Modest Mouse, released a string of solo albums and collaborated with Hans Zimmer on film scores. Set the Boy Free was first published in 2016.
Stephen Coates
Host, musician and writer
Stephen Coates is an author, cultural curator, and countercultural broadcaster. He is the host of the award-winning Bureau of Lost Culture show and the leader of pop-art troubadours The Real Tuesday Weld.
Thames & Hudson is an independent, family-owned publisher of illustrated books on art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, music and popular culture. Walter and Eva Neurath founded it in 1949, with offices in London and New York and a name taken from the two cities’ rivers, to create a ‘museum without walls’ that would open up art and scholarship to a wide readership. Its World of Art series followed in 1958. Today the company is based in London, with offices in New York, Melbourne, Paris and Hong Kong, and its list now includes the special illustrated 10th anniversary edition of Set the Boy Free.
Monday 7 December: doors 7pm, 7.30pm start
Vision Hall
Town Hall by Bottaccio, 2-4 Bidborough Street, London WC1H 9AU
Tickets are £45 and include a copy of the special illustrated 10th anniversary edition of Set the Boy Free. A limited number of ticket-only seats for local residents are available at £25.
In partnership with Thames & Hudson.
