Morrissey. Steven Patrick Morrissey that is. The former Smiths front man, the staunch vegetarian, anti-Monarchist, cross-cultural icon and symbol, chief protagonist of esoteric rhyme and the ‘indie’ music scene, who turned music on its head in the 1980s. The same Morrissey who triggered waves of young musicians, poets and performers and who made fashion out of government issue eye glasses, hearing aides and the adoration of Oscar Wilde. That Morrissey took to the stage at The Brisbane Convention Centre on Monday night and left few in the audience wondering why he is the enigma he is.
It must be said that the Brisbane audience (surprisingly spare in the seated rows) took some time to warm up, apart of course from the devoted front row, reaching longingly at every opportunity to Morrissey as he strode the stage like a matador. He swung his arms, preened and lifted himself onto his toes in swirls of a whipped microphone cord. With his gesticulations, Morrissey is fascinating to watch, and equally so to listen to, with his growls and whoops and with his unusual phrasing of familiar lyrics.
This was a truly wonderful performance that he built from opening pre-show projections of The New York Dolls and an auspicious bow, arm-in-arm with his band, at the opening and closing of the main set; and by interspersing his solo material with some of his Morrissey/Marr collaborations of the Smiths. Indeed, Morrissey opened with a single from the last Smiths album, Strangeways Here We Come (1987), the provocative, ‘Shoplifters of the World Unite’.
What is immediately present is his voice, somewhere between a twitching baritone and the sound of a 50’s crooner in full flight; it is simply put, a beautiful instrument. It boomed through the room and was the centerpiece of a band (in uniform coatless prom trousers!) who were at times delicate and at others like a strobing, throbbing rock and roll machine. For this reviewer, an acknowledged Smiths fan, Morrissey and his band performed the seminal ‘How Soon is Now’, (Meat is Murder, 1985), with magnificent power, like a freight train heading into a wall of sound and light; it was my pick for the night. They even worked in a gong solo.
So many years after the Smiths parted ways, both Morrissey and Marr are performing Smiths songs again (sadly separately) but for many around the world, this is the closest they will ever get to what it must have been like with the Smiths in their youth and in full flight. Throw in ‘Still Ill’ from Hatful of Hollow (1984) and ‘I Know it’s Over’ from The Queen is Dead (1986) and the audience was spoilt for a taste of what once was the Smiths, but are now songs with a new life of their own. The Morrissey songs, many penned with long time guitarist collaborator Boz Boorer (with broken arm and perched guitar!) were fresh and passionate, just how one longed to hear them.
‘Everyday is Like Sunday’, ‘Irish Blood, English Heart, ‘November Spawned a Monster’ and ‘You Have Killed Me’, to name just some, were sensational, somehow familiar and somehow mesmerizing. Morrissey even threw in a Frankie Valli cover! However, what resonated in amongst these iconic songs was the single, ‘Ouija Board, Ouija Board’, a song criticized upon its release in 1989 for lack of quality and to an extent, content. It was performed tonight, and was a fantastic contribution to the set.
Morrissey also inserted into this show one of the most powerful and brutal set pieces around: the closer from The Smiths’ Meat is Murder (1985), the title track itself. It is a visual and aural piece that can only be described as assaulting and visceral and the singularly most powerful anti-meat message I have ever seen.
I saw Morrissey in 1991 at the now defunct Brisbane Festival Hall, where a much younger version of the performer was still in a haze of post-Smiths adoration and an early solo career. (My girlfriend at the time managed to get a piece of his gold mesh shirt when he ripped it off, sadly never giving it me!) He may not have the frame he had, but he still has the self-depreciation, removing his shirt and tossing it to the crowd at the end of ‘Let Me Kiss You’ (You are the Quarry, 2004), offering himself, in almost a validation of what he was singing.
It is amazing how, with such an extensive catalogue of songs Morrissey could draw from, that the show this evening definitely did not have a ‘greatest hits’ feel. Instead, it felt like a performance by an artist aware of his cultural significance, exploring his work in front of a generation of new fans and those who grew, wondered, worried for, cried and laughed with him and his humour and wit.
For many of the audience, these were, after all, ‘The songs that saved their lives’.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Morrissey
Presented by Frontier Touring Company
The Brisbane Entertainment Centre
17 December
ADDITIONAL DATES:
Melbourne: Festival Hall, 19 December
Sydney: Enmore Theatre, 21 December
Sydney Opera House, 22 December
