Royal Albert Hall gig is on!!

[Frank's Wild Years]

A very good vocal effort by Morrissey, a setlist which was very nice in parts, a tad leaden in others and, all in all, a nice night. However, in terms of the overall performance it wasn't up there with the shows I attended in 2004 and 2006 where genuine passion and ferver seeped from his every move. I reluctantly concur with those who suggested that he might be going through the motions somewhat - Of course, such an appearance could easily be given by one who has recently been ill. Like a footballer plagued by injury, it would be unrealistic and unfair to expect him to return at 100%. I do hope that he enjoys a prolonged break from touring after he gets the rest of the Swords shows out of the way (hopefully bereft of incident or further illness) - If we cannot see a rejuvenated and refreshed Morrissey until 2012, then so be it.

I would love to see him direct his band away from the thrash and the thunder and into a more textured style though. I know he favours the straightforward rockers but I do think there is so, so much potential that remains untapped. He still has his voice and for me it would be a thrill to have it stand against subtler arrangements.

The thought of Morrissey + the sort of instrumentation offered by the Bad Seeds or Tom Waits on his tour last year is a spellbinding one. I don't wish that to appear as a criticism of the current band as they do as good a job as anyone with what they set out to do. I just think it would be exciting to see Morrissey really shake things up and seek variation.

 

[Raised on prisoner's aid]

A good performance by Morrissey, a setlist which was very nice in parts, a tad leaden in others and, all in all, a nice night.

I would love to see him direct his band away from the thrash and the thunder and into a more textured style though. I know he favours the straightforward rockers but I do think there is so, so much potential that remains untapped. He still has his voice and for me it would be a thrill to have it stand against subtler arrangements.

The thought of Morrissey + the sort of instrumentation offered by the Bad Seeds or Tom Waits on his tour last year is a spellbinding one. I don't wish that to appear as a criticism of the current band as they do as good a job as anyone with what they set out to do. I just think it would be exciting to see Morrissey really shake things up and seek variation.

I really agree with you. I personally despise the way they wreck This Charming Man live. They turn such a textured piece of guitar playing into muscle and power chords.

 

[lainey]

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entert...ill-pops-greatest-eni.aspx?utm_medium=twitter

a much better review, thanks
GQ magazine
Pop's greatest enigma
Whatever malady caused Morrissey to collapse on stage in Swindon on Saturday, it hasn't lingered; the singer looked fit and well at the Royal Albert Hall last night as he appeared with his band in front of a giant backdrop of the Italian actor Walter Chiari, promising the audience "a bumpy night".

The band (led by long-term collaborator Boz Boorer), in dress trousers and white shirts, launched into a muscular version of This Charming Man, which Mozzer, preening yet avuncular, carried off without a hitch. Exhalations all round: thankfully, we weren't in for a Tommy Cooper moment just yet.

The show (postponed from May, due to ill health) was ostensibly to promote the release of Swords, a collection of b-sides out this week, which was well-represented. Ganglord, a brooding exhortation for protection against police brutality was a welcome, if sinister, addition to the set. Teenage Dad On His Estate, was a swooning eulogy to dereliction; the story of the methadone-addicted, Jenson Interceptor-driving dad who's happy with his lot a fitting rebuke to any middle-class smugness loitering in this opulent setting.

A handful of Smiths songs aside (including Nowhere Fast and Cemetery Gates), the set was largely late-period, solo-Morrissey material, which increasingly betrays an almost Jacques Brel-like obsession with death. When I Last Spoke To Carol evokes black earth falling upon a casket; One Day Goodbye Will be Farewell is self-explanatory: the singer, it seems, is becoming increasingly aware of his own mortality, an awareness no doubt piqued by his recent health problems.

And yet, as he sung The Loop, "I'm still right here / Where I always was." In a changing world, Morrissey remains largely unchanged - he's still pop music's greatest enigma. Not for him the cosy decline into louche middle-aged celebrity, and chat show disclosure. Gavin Hopps' The Pageant Of His Bleeding Heart, the first academic study of the singer's lyrics, contains the observation that, when you write about Morrissey, you generally end up writing about yourself. The lyrics are too elliptical: the references too wide-ranging. Gangsters, boy racers, football hooligans, poets and murderers have all found their place in Morrissey's highly personal hagiography. He is camp and tough in equal measure, the showbiz Jean Genet; what is perhaps most surprising is that his vision has struck such a deep chord with so many people.

It was both amusing and touching to see scores of (now) middle-aged fans desperate to invade the stage, or simply to touch their idol during a jaunty encore of The Last of the Gang To Die. There was even a mini-riot when Morrissey removed his shirt and threw it out into the crowd. This was a spirited performance from a rare artist who becomes more, rather than less, interesting with age. His voice, too, gets better with every passing year; the adolescent yodel has become a rich and highly versatile instrument. If Morrissey is one of our most inscrutable public figures, he remains one of our most compelling.

John Lucas

 

[Frank's Wild Years]

I really agree with you. I personally despise the way they wreck This Charming Man live. They turn such a textured piece of guitar playing into muscle and power chords.

Yeah. I mean, it's such a strong song with such a strong vocal melody that it survives on a basic level and was enjoyable to me for that reason but it could be reworked in so many more interesting ways. I suppose what it is at the moment is precisely what Morrissey wants and, well, with it being his show and not mine what he wants goes. But personally it's not an iteration I would seek out.

 

[Mel_Torment]

The man hops out of his hospital bed and practically straight onto stage again. Cue the critics on here!

For pitys sake

I'm not an uber-critic most of the time concerning Moz live as its a lifetime's pre-occupation. I usually enjoy it. Regardless. And I'm not cynical re: Swindon Kudos to Moz for doing the gig in the circumstances But... I can only tell it as I saw it. He looked f***ed off with the reaction. Which manifested itself in 'witty' comments.

I usually share Brel's opinions, but I'm also glad that Bluebirds shared his honest thoughts. It takes guts, not just to be gentle and kind, but to be honest whilst everybody else is caught up in the euphoria of being at a Moz show. I appreciate your guts, Bluebirds. Would you like my Ms. Unpopularity crown and sash, now?

However, I'm not sure I buy Moz being f***ed off manifesting as witty comments. Oh, I see, you put quotes around witty. Lately, Mozzer's displays of wit seem to have declined into unappealing tantrums, i.e. I'm Okay By Myself.

I kind of wish Moz had sung "f***ING career" instead of "funny career". "f***ing career" makes more sense to me than "funny career", but I dunno. I wasn't there, and I often hear things incorrectly when I AM there.

Anyroad, our experiences of shows are so very subjective. Someone up front can be having the time of her life and think it's 80 minutes of pure WIN, while someone somewhere else in the same hall can think it's rather boring and Moz is just sweatin' to the oldies (that shouldn't be derogatory, actually -- I lurve it when Moz is sweatin' to the oldies, i.e. Smiths songs, much better than sludging through certain newer songs).

Even so-called objective records of the event such as video cannot really give a true portrait of whether the audience was giving/receiving energy to Morrissey, if he was merely going through the motions, etc. The whole point is that concerts are very subjective experiences. Certainly while informative and often entertaining, the videos do not adequately convey the whole experience of being present with Morrissey singing.

 

[nothingwrongwithme]

Fantastic gig but no more seating tickets for me.

Highlight for me, apart from seeing and hearing how well he was , was Morrissey dedicating ‘this song’ to Linder Sterling and as the first chords of Cemetry Gates struck up, I was whooshed back to the 80’s and remembering the younger Linder and Morrissey talking about their visits to Southern Cemetery on the South Bank Show. It was a fantastic combination of hearing and reminiscing.

I agree the crowd were quite tame esp at back but to be honest after all the fear of this show being cancelled I was quite glad to see so many bums on seats.

I just couldn’t keep my ass on my seat though which was a bit embarrassing as for the first few mins of every song I felt like a performing seal just on my own but mostly everyone around me gave him cheers and applauded at every song. People enjoy music in different ways I suppose.
Even the folks who practically brought a picnic dinner with them to munch through the performance whilst looking at their watches. Each to their own.

Me, the adrenaline was pumping so hard around my body a caramel toffee would have got stuck in my throat.
12 hours on a train, £120 quid spent on a poxy ‘luxury room’ I am sure was modelled on a Blackpool B and B box room I was in when I was seven, but was it worth every damm penny.
Love you Morrissey, keep well.
xx