Judging from the influence they still wield decades later, one would have thought The Smiths were together for eons. However, on December 12, 1986, the group performed their last real concert after just four years from their inception.

Morrissey kicked off the show by asking the sold out crowd at the Brixton Academy, "If there's something you'd like to try / Ask me, I won't say no, how could I?"

Unfortunately the thing both he and guitarist Johnny Marr wanted to try were solo careers.

The show was a benefit for Artists Against Apartheid, an activist group founded by Bruce Springsteen's best friend and sidekick, "Miami" Steve Van Zandt. In 1985 they recorded the song "Sun City" which shed light onto the fact artists would perform at the South African resort to sidestep a cultural ban against apartheid.

It would take until 1990 for the pressure of high profile artists like The Boss, Sting, Sinead O'Connor and U2 to help release Nelson Mandela from his South African prison, but events like The Smiths show along with the Buzzcock's Pete Shelley as the opener all helped the momentum.

Originally scheduled to happen in November with The Fall opening, the show was postponed for a month when Marr was injured in a car accident while driving that nearly killed him.

"It was pouring with rain, and the car went completely out of control, then bounced off a couple of walls and ended up in the middle of the road," Marr later recalled.

"I jumped out and saw that the car was completely squashed. I couldn't believe that I was still alive. I did more damage running from the car to the house, falling over and stuff, than I did in the crash. It was the next day that I started getting stiff," the guitar legend who gave us "How Soon Is Now," (which they didn't even play at that last gig) said.

"There was something I remember about the car crash which was a little sad. I don't want to make too much of this, but we were supposed to be playing an Artists Against Apartheid gig at the Royal Albert Hall," he continued.

"There was a letter from one of our fans saying the whole thing was a cover-up. I thought, 'What kind of people are calling themselves our fans?'" he asked.

"The top half of me was bandaged up and braced, and I had splints and all this kind of crap. The Smiths would have done anything to get to concerts under terrible circumstances," he concluded.

"That was the first time I can remember feeling a separation between what the fans were believing and the truth. It taught me a lesson."

Once it went down it was more than just a rehash of their fond memories, the prolific Smiths live debuted “Shoplifters Of The World Unite" and “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others.”

Who live debuts songs at their last gig? To Marr's point, the type of band who, regardless of internal infighting, always gave the audience its best, be they performances or songs in the set.

Years later Marr would say the split from the Smiths was "really devastating to me, because I was forced into it."

Moz, never one to hold his tongue, blasted his former guitarist and asked him in a 2022 post to take his name out of his mouth.

"When we met you and I were not successful. We both helped each other become whatever it is we are today. Can you not just leave it at that?" the singer wrote in an open letter on his blog. (Bloggers of the world, unite.)

"Must you persistently, year after year, decade after decade, blame me for everything … from the 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami to the dribble on your grandma's chin?"

Marr replied on Twitter. And has never taken it down.

Almost every year fans of the Smiths have been asking for the pair to make up and reunite, at least at Coachella or a reasonable festival where they can be enjoyed one last time. But every year the odds seem against it, despite the millions of dollars promoters are allegedly throwing at them.

The problem is, neither side seem to be hurting for cash. Marr, who has done little stints with The Pretenders, The The and Modest Mouse, will be heading out on the road, solo, next April in the UK.

Tickets are available on his website.

Likewise, Moz is scheduled to be on the road shortly. Although he has cancelled so many shows over his solo career (over 300 to date) there is a website that tracks them all. His most recent canceled dates were four gigs in November in Asia. In December he canceled one in Australia and New Zealand.

In January he is booked to perform two shows in Southern California to celebrate the 20th anniversary of You Are The Quarry, the brilliant solo album that featured "America Is Not the World," "Irish Blood, English Heart," and "I'm Not Sorry."

Tickets available on Songkick.