Morrissey - London Roundhouse
Artist profile:
Morrissey
Date: 21/01/2008
Rating: ****
Derided anew in the press, beloved as ever to his followers, Morrissey begins his six-night stand here at the odious Roundhouse in some style and with surprising grace.
While the venue itself is antiseptic, uncomfortable and boasts the remarkable design feature of great big bastard pillars blocking the view of the stage, Moz and his band of sharply turned out, nimble rockabilly players negate the sterility with a Richard Burton tryptich backdropped set that begins with the apocalyptic groan of ‘How Soon Is Now’ and closes with the lythe wit of ‘Last of the Famous International Playboys’ touching base with many of the highpoints of his career inbetween.
‘First of the Gang to Die’, his last truly anthemic single is tossed out early, revving the diehard crowd into singalong frenzy before surging into that most vital of Smiths classics ‘Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before’, it’s chiming chords and perfectly pitched lyrics – somewhere between passion and parody – as fresh and welcoming as newly baked bread. But Morrissey-bread, so better.
Treating the throng to five brand new songs he proves clearly why he has always been a step aside from his contemporaries, indeed almost any other pop artist: the crowd actually want to hear the new stuff and welcome it with the same fervour they do classics like the ‘Vauxhall’ era ‘Billy Budd’ and ‘Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself’ (a moving moment this evening and introduced wryly as ‘a song nobody likes’).
Of the new material ‘Something is Squeezing My Skull’ and ‘Throw My Arms Around Paris’ stand as the most instantly memorable, the former a punk blast of anti-depressant depression, the latter a touching lament for a lack of physical love, tinged with bitter humour.
This is good stuff you’ll be pleased to hear and feels at one removed from the more languorous, awkward moments of ‘Ringleader Of The Tormentors’. There are no complaints, of course, when the epic piece de resistance of ‘Tormentors’ is aired though, in the shape of the crushingly romantic ‘Life Is A Pigsty’ with the immortal closing line ‘Even now in my final hour / I’m falling in love’. Stunning.
It is left to a very old, very sweet Smiths tune to round out the experience: a beautiful take on ‘Stretch Out And Wait’ reduces several members of the audience to tears, Morrissey slyly altering one of it’s many classic lines to ‘Is there any point ever having children / I really DO know’, his age and experience dripping into the microphone, a world-weary grin on his lips.
Tonight Morrissey delivers. Despite this country’s media obsession with alternately praising and vilifying him, he remains seemingly unharmed, moving ever forward musically, wisdom gained from his ‘wilderness’ years as much as his tenure at the Top Of The Pops.
He is one of the few truly great performers this country has left and should, simply on the basis of this show if nothing else, be treated with the according respect. As the man himself says on the last line of new song ‘All You Need Is Me’:
‘You don’t like me but you love me, either way you’re wrong / You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone’.
The full set:
'How Soon Is Now?'
'First Of The Gang To Die'
'I Just Want To See The Boy Happy'
'That's How People Grow Up'
'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before'
'Sister I'm A Poet'
'Something Is Squeezing My Skull'
'All You Need Is Me'
'The National Front Disco'
'Death Of A Disco Dancer'
'Life Is A Pigsty'
'The Loop'
'Billy Budd'
'Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed'
'The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores'
'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris'
'Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?'
'Stretch Out And Wait'
'Irish Blood, English Heart'
'Last Of The Famous International Playboys'
James O’Connell
Morrissey Official Site
Morrissey Myspace
Buy Morrissey CDs | Buy Morrissey mp3s | Buy Morrissey Tickets | Buy Morrissey Merch
Date: 21/01/2008
Rating: ****
Derided anew in the press, beloved as ever to his followers, Morrissey begins his six-night stand here at the odious Roundhouse in some style and with surprising grace.
While the venue itself is antiseptic, uncomfortable and boasts the remarkable design feature of great big bastard pillars blocking the view of the stage, Moz and his band of sharply turned out, nimble rockabilly players negate the sterility with a Richard Burton tryptich backdropped set that begins with the apocalyptic groan of ‘How Soon Is Now’ and closes with the lythe wit of ‘Last of the Famous International Playboys’ touching base with many of the highpoints of his career inbetween.
‘First of the Gang to Die’, his last truly anthemic single is tossed out early, revving the diehard crowd into singalong frenzy before surging into that most vital of Smiths classics ‘Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before’, it’s chiming chords and perfectly pitched lyrics – somewhere between passion and parody – as fresh and welcoming as newly baked bread. But Morrissey-bread, so better.
Treating the throng to five brand new songs he proves clearly why he has always been a step aside from his contemporaries, indeed almost any other pop artist: the crowd actually want to hear the new stuff and welcome it with the same fervour they do classics like the ‘Vauxhall’ era ‘Billy Budd’ and ‘Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself’ (a moving moment this evening and introduced wryly as ‘a song nobody likes’).
Of the new material ‘Something is Squeezing My Skull’ and ‘Throw My Arms Around Paris’ stand as the most instantly memorable, the former a punk blast of anti-depressant depression, the latter a touching lament for a lack of physical love, tinged with bitter humour.
This is good stuff you’ll be pleased to hear and feels at one removed from the more languorous, awkward moments of ‘Ringleader Of The Tormentors’. There are no complaints, of course, when the epic piece de resistance of ‘Tormentors’ is aired though, in the shape of the crushingly romantic ‘Life Is A Pigsty’ with the immortal closing line ‘Even now in my final hour / I’m falling in love’. Stunning.
It is left to a very old, very sweet Smiths tune to round out the experience: a beautiful take on ‘Stretch Out And Wait’ reduces several members of the audience to tears, Morrissey slyly altering one of it’s many classic lines to ‘Is there any point ever having children / I really DO know’, his age and experience dripping into the microphone, a world-weary grin on his lips.
Tonight Morrissey delivers. Despite this country’s media obsession with alternately praising and vilifying him, he remains seemingly unharmed, moving ever forward musically, wisdom gained from his ‘wilderness’ years as much as his tenure at the Top Of The Pops.
He is one of the few truly great performers this country has left and should, simply on the basis of this show if nothing else, be treated with the according respect. As the man himself says on the last line of new song ‘All You Need Is Me’:
‘You don’t like me but you love me, either way you’re wrong / You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone’.
The full set:
'How Soon Is Now?'
'First Of The Gang To Die'
'I Just Want To See The Boy Happy'
'That's How People Grow Up'
'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before'
'Sister I'm A Poet'
'Something Is Squeezing My Skull'
'All You Need Is Me'
'The National Front Disco'
'Death Of A Disco Dancer'
'Life Is A Pigsty'
'The Loop'
'Billy Budd'
'Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed'
'The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores'
'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris'
'Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?'
'Stretch Out And Wait'
'Irish Blood, English Heart'
'Last Of The Famous International Playboys'
James O’Connell
Morrissey Official Site
Morrissey Myspace
Buy Morrissey CDs | Buy Morrissey mp3s | Buy Morrissey Tickets | Buy Morrissey Merch
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