So I saw Morrissey live this week and he was amazing. Sounded better than ever. His band was tight. He played a great mix of songs from his whole career, even a few Smiths songs. Of course there was the obligatory “Meat Is Murder” song with matching video of tortured farm animals. But, hey it’s Morrissey. Any other fans here?
The Smiths being my favorite band of all time, I’ve seen Morrissey on several occasions but not since the 90’s. I regret never having seen The Smiths live but they broke up just when I became a fan. Morrissey didn’t play any The Smiths songs when I saw him. I guess he now does. There has to be a way to get Johnny Marr and him together again for a reunion tour. There must be!
Morrissey has said he’d eat meat before he’d play with Marr again.
I’ve seen him a couple of times and I love that he still mixes in a good number of Smiths tunes into the set. He opened with How Soon is Now at one show and his guitarist was able to nail the Marr sound.
I saw him in Memphis on Tuesday night and he played three Smiths songs He opened the show with Hand in Glove, then later played Meat is Murder (of course) and Asleep.
I loved the four new songs he played though. There was one funny one called “The Bullfighter Dies” (and no one cries)
I assume that both Morrissey and Marr can both play The Smiths songs independently? Or do they have to pay each other some kind of usage fee? I also assume that Rourke and Joyce probably can’t.
Yeah they can play them independently as they are both owners of the publishing.
Pretty big Smiths fan here. Grew up watching them on Top of the Pops and on The Tube in England, and when I came to the States in '86 I met a bunch of kids who were into them as well. Louder Than Bombs had its U.S. release in '87 I think, with Strangeways either right before or right after.
I was supposed to see Moz in '90 or '91 supporting Kill Uncle but he bagged the show leaving a bunch of emo teens in tears at Palmer Auditorium. Finally saw him around 2000 in Santa Barbara supporting… erm, Boxers? It was a good show. Mostly his stuff, but he did “There Is A Light” and then some emo jackass tackled him on stage and that was it.
I’ve seen Marr several times - once at the Paradise in Boston with The Healers, and that summer at the River Rave in the Hatch Shell. I saw him at the Orpheum with Modest Mouse (incredible show), and most recently, here in Austin at Fun Fun Fun Fest doing stuff from The Messenger, his new album. Who knew Johnny could sing (decently)? Smiths fans will love the track “New Town Velocity,” which sounds like a lost Smiths track. At the Austin show he played at least two Smiths songs: “Stop Me…” and “There Is A Light.”
Marr played with Rourke in 2013. They were best mates at school and I think that’s a likely pairing. Morrissey and Marr regularly meet over Smiths business (I mean every few years or so). I’m of the mindset that Morrissey would be way more willing to collaborate with Marr than the other way round. Marr is anti-nostalgia; the closest we’re getting to a reunion is remastering old Smiths albums.
Morrissey bears grudges. He’s never forgiven Marr for dissolving the Smiths right after they signed to EMI, and of course, he will never forgive Joyce for the lawsuit. Whereas Johnny is known for being a likable guy and maintained relationships with all of the band post-Smiths, the high court judge lambasted Morrissey - and like a fool, he tried to appeal the ruling instead of forking over the cash to Joyce and Rourke. That seemed to consume him for nearly a decade.
I am not too sure about the post-You Are The Quarry Morrissey output. I’m glad he’s making a living, but nothing he’s done makes me perk up and say, “Wow, the old codger’s still got it.” I think the high point of his solo work was the post-Smiths output that later appeared on the compilation Bona Drag (“International Playboys,” “Interesting Drug,” etc.) and the next high point was between Vauxhall and I and Your Arsenal. The production on both was amazing - Steve Lillywhite on Vauxhall and Mick Ronson on Arsenal, and the band never sounded better.
I find Marr’s post-Smiths CV more interesting. I became a huge The The fan, and Dusk is one of my all-time favorite albums. He was in Electronic with Bernard Sumner from New Order for over a decade, and they are probably my favorite band right after The Smiths. He did The Healers (still trying to find his way as a frontman, but not bad) and Modest Mouse - I did take a breather with his work with The Cribs, though. Soundtrack work with Hans Zimmer and Pharrell, and The Messenger is a brilliant record, virtually every track is a winner.
Always up to talk about the boys from Wythenshawe and Hulme!
Not much to add- I saw Morrissey in concert at The Cosmopolitan in Vegas a couple of years ago. He did give a good show though it was almost ruined by the ultra-long, graphic opening Meat is Murder montage.
However, I think you all will appreciate this:
I read Morrissey’s Autobiography a couple of months ago and I really liked it. It shone some light on things I had always wondered about, but hadn’t been a big enough fan to seek out answers to. It’s a recommended read though. At times poetic, with lots of inside jokes. A decent amount of honesty in it, as he’s decided not to be as evasive as usual. At one point the book gets sidetracked and bogged down in the legal battles, but you kind of knew that would happen right?
He’s a real character. Talented, stubborn, vain, churlish, shy, witty. An idiosyncratic loner. When you see him say “I don’t really caaaaare” on any interview, as he curls his lip, you just know he’s telling the truth.
I got into The Smiths shortly after they released their first album but struggled to get in to Morrissey, partly due to some unexplainable grudge I had against him for the breakup of the band. 
But after a few years his talent shone through and I came around. He’s one of the best lyricists that have ever been, I think. And if you don’t agree, well, I don’t really caaaare!
Much to my regret, I’ve never seen either Morrissey or The Smiths live. However that hasn’t stopped me from being a big fan for many years now.
Hippy Hollow’s story of Morrissey being tackled on stage followed by an abrupt end to a concert reminded me that the exact same thing happened when I saw him in NY. I wonder if it was all staged.
No, I don’t believe it was staged. Read his autobio. He complains many times about “having” to cancel shows because he felt security weren’t doing their job and he was about to be mobbed because he was in danger. He’s a rock star that doesn’t know how to be a rock star. If he felt like being hugged on that evening when someone jumped on stage then it was all good, but if he didn’t then it was all cancelled. He’s an odd fella.
That probably applies to most of us.
No, it’s not staged, it’s a tradition. Every Morrissey show ends with people climbing on stage during the last song of the encore to shake his hand or get a quick hug before they’re hustled off by security. The problem arises when inebriated or assholish fans try to bear hug him or if there are too many stage invaders for security to handle. The second show of his current tour was abruptly ended (or, the last song of the encore was abruptly ended) when too many fans rushed the stage and the guitarist had to swing his instrument at one particularly nasty invader.
It happened the first time I saw him in Chicago in 2004 or so!!! Right at beginning of encore. Moz seemed genuinely bothered by it though. Didn’t happen the other times I saw him though.
It literally happens at every show. If it didn’t happen at a show you were at, then the stage was probably too high or the security was unusually tight.
I saw him last night!
He has canceled on me so often I didn’t expect this show to happen.
The security was insane. I was in the balcony and they made us stop dancing. Really, we were going to stage jump from there?! Last night was the worst Moz show I’ve been to, actually. He was in a bad mood. Apparently the drunks up front set him off. Not being allowed to dance killed it for me .
I agree his autobiography is a must read. The best books about Moz are songs that changed your life, meetings with morrissey and mozipedia. He is infuriating and wonderful at the same time. His book is more like if his songs were books than a book about himself. I loved it.
Word is he’s writing a novel.
I’ve seen him four times and will see him at Barclay’s Center in June. Each time has been wonderful, although the stage invasions can get very out of hand and a little scary at times even. But it was adorable when I saw him at the Brooklyn Academy of Music when a girl stepped on stage and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He seemed touched by that.
I am short, so I have not been able to get a handshake despite being in the front row of two of his shows, but I did pass him a note telling him how much his music means to me when I saw him in Port Chester, NY last January and he accepted it. I know that sounds nutty, but he does take notes and gifts from fans pretty frequently so I figured why not go for it.
I have Autobiography** of course and thoroughly enjoyed it although I thought it ended a little abruptly. And I’ll admit that I found the long section at the end detailing all the tours and concerts was a little boring.
I like the two new songs he’s released so far and am eager to hear his new album. Can’t wait till Barclay’s Center either- less than a month to go! I have a GA floor ticket so I’m hoping I’ll be up front if I get there early.
I’ve thought about making a thread about this before, but didn’t because I figured she’s probably too obscure for most people to know who I’m talking about, but what do you guys think of Kristeen Young? She’s an acquired taste and sometimes her voice is a little shrill, but I do like some of it and have a few of her songs downloaded. I also saw her do an independent show at Bowery Electric (just her- I didn’t make it to the shows she did in NY with her new band) and it was great and she had an incredible energy that was fun to watch even if her music is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Missed the edit window the second time around, but I forgot to add that I’ve seen Johnny Marr twice and those were some of the best shows I’ve been to. At the second show I went to he brought Andy Rourke out for How Soon is Now. He also did Panic which I was so happy to hear because I love the live version of Panic on “Rank.”
I’m a big Smiths fan in addition to being a fan of Morrissey and Marr on their own, so I’m thrilled that they’re still touring and that they do Smiths music as well. Usually when a band breaks up that’s it, anyone born after the fact will miss out (unless there’s a big cheesy reunion which will never happen with the Smiths. I will be appalled if it does).
I know at the Santa Barbara show in '00, I think it was, a couple of fans got on stage and gave a hug… Moz just kind of continued to perform. It was weird. He didn’t really acknowledge them, but he let them get a hug and carried on. I think it’s bloody rude - the man’s up there working and some assratchet attaches him/herself. He was fine, even when the hugs became more violent and dragged on him. The final one, the guy sort of leached onto him, and wouldn’t let go… Moz kind of dipped down a bit and then security types hustled him off the stage. The band carried on, but at that moment about half the crowd headed for the exits (I suppose they’d seen a Morrissey show before).
This is really the frustrating about The Smiths, and particularly Morrissey. Morrissey more or less sabotaged the band when they had opportunities to really break out - Morrissey and Marr, The Severed Alliance by Johnny Rogan chronicles the many times that Morrissey chased off managers and people who were trying to steer the band. Seems like he saw anyone as a threat to his relationship with Johnny, and poor Marr was left to pick up the pieces, manage the band, and all sorts of bullshit that the greatest guitarist/composer of his generation should have had handled by someone else. Marr basically ran out of steam and was burned out, and Morrissey issuing edicts about the state of the band without talking to him more or less ended it all.
Post-Smiths, Johnny’s played with plenty of mercurial types - Chrissy Hynde, Matt Johnson, Bernard Sumner, Isaac Brock, to name a few - and they all think the world of him. He’s the consummate professional. I can’t imagine him putting on a crap show, or whingeing about the rider and refusing to play. Morrissey, on the other hand… I think he has a wavering adoration and contempt for his fans.
Before seeing The Healers in Boston years ago we were at a Thai restaurant on Commonwealth Avenue, and there was a hippy looking guy sitting next to us, who noticed my Smiths shirt and asked if we were going to the show. He then starts saying that he’s a luthier and he’s designed mandolins for Johnny, and how cool of a guy he is, and how he hung out at his house with his family for a few days… and I’m about to call him on his bullshit… Then hippy dude busts out with a portrait sized picture of him, his wife, some kids… and Johnny in the middle with the mandolin! It wasn’t photoshopped. Pretty cool story. He also had a new mandolin half-finished that he was going to slip to Johnny that night… I got to see it and hold it, so that’s my brush with fame - I touched a proto-mandolin that Johnny may or may not own…
Every encounter I’ve ever heard of with Marr has been really nice. Morrissey, on the other hand…
I don’t think that a reunion is completely off the cards. I am fairly sure Morrissey and Joyce will never share a stage again, but I don’t think it’s unthinkable that Johnny might one day guest on a Morrissey track, or vice versa… There’s genuine affection and admiration between the two. Morrissey has said many times that Marr saved his life as a young man, and Marr’s always been complementary about working with Morrissey. I do think they are both very concerned about the legacy of The Smiths and they would know that anything they did would be compared to “Hand in Glove” or “William, It Was Really Nothing.”