Yesterday I saw Morrissey live at Hovet. Attendance: 5623 people (72% sold tickets). The support, Doll and the Kicks, sounded like a mix of Blondie and Siouxsie And The Banshees - in a bad way; disco bass and a yelling female voice, in about every song. On paper it might sound interesting but it wasn't. Get off the stage.
Seated in the very front of the room were approximately 100 people who had invariably been queuing since early morning. Our party - the ever lovely X, myself, Björn and Lina - walked up to one of the small queues when the doors opened, and saw this once inside the venue.
In other words, not worth queuing that early for me! Following the support act, Morrissey displayed a bunch of compiled videos that played onto a big screen. E.g. New York Dolls live at "Musik Laden", Sparks' video for "Lighten Up, Morrissey" and Shirley Bassey singing on RAI TV.
Then my mental sky fell with the quite physical backdrop, which consisted of a great picture of a man that seems to be Walter Chiari, according to some speculations at Morrissey Solo, was revealed. ((And I must say this backdrop is absolutely wonderful.)) People yelled, of course. People screamed, of course, when Morrissey entered and the band launched "This Charming Man". Bonkers.
That song set the stage for a lot of ham-fisted moments. Few Johnny Marr-ish guitar pluckings were called for as distorted chords set the scene, for good and bad; I think it's nice of the band to re-work "This Charming Man" but it really isn't gentle and kind anymore, although "How Soon Is Now?" really surprised me with its electrifying effect and strobe; ham-fisted was good, and Morrissey's today really in control of his voice - which is not to say he can't make it break and bob like he was very prone to doing in the days of yore. There was the strength of a fused band playing together, even though three of the players are temporary temps.
Here's the entire video I filmed of "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" including Morrissey introducing the band at the end:
He seemed a bit tired at times during the show. Reverting to fandom, somebody wrote that it felt as if Morrissey was "just going through the motions" during his performance. I've been telling people all day now, that Morrissey at his faintest is still stronger than many a musician, but still, yesterday's performance makes me understand his frank (as always) words on retiring in this very recent interview with Cameron Bird for Filter Magazine.
Also from the gig, Morrissey saying hello to YouTube:
"Life Is A Pigsty" was truly great, and as X points out, he changed some lyrics ((Like that's something unusual.)) for a different turn.
After the show, which he regrettably ended by means of the ever-too-popular "First Of The Gang To Die", we - including a colleague of Jenny's that we basically met by being crammed together with in the subway after the show - went to the after-party at Kägelbanan where we hooked up with Zak, sweet! We hung around for a while, drank a few Jelen Pivo - Serbian beer that translates to "deer beer" - and talked quite a lot. It was really nice meeting Björn and Zak again. It's been bleeding ages! Hold on to your friends.
Queuing to Kägelbanan.
The sky outside Mosebacke was ice-cream.
BTW, the setlist, courtesy of Morrissey Solo:
This Charming Man / Billy Budd / Black Cloud / How Soon Is Now? / When Last I Spoke To Carol / Ask / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel? / You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby / Irish Blood, English Heart / One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell / The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores / I Keep Mine Hidden / Let Me Kiss You / Girlfriend In A Coma / Life Is A Pigsty / Sorry Doesn't Help / The Loop / I'm OK By Myself // First Of The Gang To Die