I, too, went to his Memphis show last week–only the second-ever time I’ve seen Morrissey in concert.
He was in a great mood, lots of friendly banter with the crowd (“You really musn’t applaud so much… this is much easier than it looks”). The setlist (in Memphis and at other venues on this tour) seems aimed at hardcore Moz fans–most of the songs from his solo stuff were B-sides (with the obvious exception of “Every Day Is Like Sunday”) plus four of his new songs. I especially enjoyed seeing him perform “Trouble Loves Me” and “Life Is a Pigsty.”
I was surprised that no one even attempted a stage invasion during the encore, but A) security was apparently really tight at the venue (from what I could see from near the back of the concert hall), and B) the set ended with “Meat is Murder,” and the first song of the encore was “Asleep”–and while it was great to hear two more Smiths songs, they really bummed me out (even by Moz standards!)–even had I been closer to the stage, I doubt that “First of the Gang to Die” (the final song) would have been enough to rouse me from my despair.
This was only the second time I’ve seen Morrissey in concert–I’ll always regret that I didn’t get into The Smiths until after they’d broken up. The only other Moz concert I’ve been to was in Chicago in 2011, which was quite different from the show I saw last week–for THAT show, Moz did several more Smiths songs, including two of my personal faves, “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” and “I Know It’s Over,” as well as opening with “I Want the One I Can’t Have” and closing with “Still Ill.”
In Chicago, I nearly swooned… due not only to the preponderance of classic Smiths tunes, but also to the fact that it was a general admission show, which entailed waiting several hours before the show in the freezing cold–well worth it, since I was only two rows back from the stage and could almost touch Morrissey. Another difference about the Chicago '11 show compared to last week’s show in Memphis was the stage invasion during the encore (“Still Ill”)–although only one person got as far on stage as to hug Moz, several others nearly made it, only to be tossed off by security.
Here’s a video that someone else made at that Chicago show of the encore/stage invasion. I was standing close behind the tall fellow with the tall, late 80’s style Moz pompadour, although I’m too short (and obscured within the crush of bodies) to be made out in the crowd. Anyway, that was quite the experience.
Although nothing like that happened at the Memphis show last week, I still enjoyed it and would recommend catching the current tour. BUT if you have assigned seats, I’d suggest following my example (and that of many others) of arriving late enough to skip Kristeen Young’s opening. I didn’t have that option in Chicago due to its general admission status, and really couldn’t stand her. YMMV.
