Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Morrissey at Embarcadero (Viejas Bayside) 06/03/07 Review

I went. I was very up in the air about going. I had seen him before and had great experiences and now that he's older, I felt that it might ruin what I had seen before and leave an ugly taste in my mouth.

Pictures to come...

Setlist:

The Queen Is Dead
First Of The Gang To Die
You Have Killed Me
In The Future When All's Well
Disappointed
Ganglord
Girlfriend In A Coma
Let Me Kiss You
The National Front Disco
That's How People Grow Up
Panic
Irish Blood, English Heart
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Everyday Is Like Sunday
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
I Will See You In Far Off Places
I've Changed My Plea To Guilty
How Soon Is Now?

I got there about a little after 7pm and I was able to hear Kristine Young play her set while I was in line waiting to get in. It was the longest line I have ever seen to get into that place! She sounded good. She's a two-piece. She's on the keys and the other guy was on some other instrument - sorry, I forgot. hehehe

Before Morrissey took the stage, he was showing clips of black and white movies, my favorite being the East of Eden clips with James Dean. I had/have a slight obsession with him since I was 14. Once that was done, the screen dropped and his backdrop showed 3 side-by-side pictures of James Dean - great stuff!

Morrissey came on looking all swank. I was surprised by how good he looked. He's in his early 50s and still has it going on. He opened with The Queen is Dead and I was hooked. I had seen him twice before - many, many moons ago and I left every show beaming. He got really sweaty fast. He took off his shirt very early into the set and I am proud to report that he's keeping in shape. He went backstage and changed into a different shirt, but it didn't really matter. He had the back sweat and he even had titty sweat. Close your eyes and imagine that! hahahaha

The sound was not the best. I saw Radiohead at this venue and they blew me away. Morrissey needed a lot more power and a lot more sound coming from his speakers and monitors. He alluded to this right from the beginning by asking the crowd how it sounded out there because it sounded "shitty" up here. He was constantly playing with his mic and his in-ear monitor. He wasn't happy with the security. They were being assholes with the crowd. I mean, come on, it's Morrissey, the fans aren't that crazy! He would even start some of the songs off-beat. I'm sure this didn't help his mood, being the diva that he is. He even gave his mic to a few fans so that they can talk!

The setlist that was provided to the sound guys had 2 encore songs and 2 additional songs he omitted. I was bummed about that because I really wanted to hear 2 of those songs. He did a great job vocally. He still has it. Morrissey was moving around, playing to both sides of the stage. He was doing his ever-famous mic cord swaying manevouer (however you spell that). Everytime he does that, I want him to sing "Boy Racer". I LOVE that song. I was surprised by the amount of energy he gave to the audience in the beginning, but then it all went downhill.

I'm sure the sound and technical issues he was having and the crowd being a little unresponsive at times didn't help his mood. He ended up leaving half way through "How Soon is Now" and didn't really sing much of the song. He didn't bother to say bye or come out for an encore. He just left without any word. The lights came on, but we still had hope - no one was breaking things down. But once the production crew came on, we knew it was over and I was sorely disappointed. I wasn't disappointed with the actual show, I was disappointed with his exit. I have not been to a concert that just ended so abruptly. I truly hope that this was just a one show fluke and that his remaining dates are even better.

I was really surprised with the crowd though. Morrissey fans are usually pretty cool, passive folks, but not this time. I saw so many mean fans. There was this guy that was at least 6 feet tall and he was elbowing shorter girls that were either trying to move up front or being pushed up front because the oh so many thousands behind her were making her move towards the front. And this guy just wasn't pushing back, he was winding up and swinging his elbows into people. There were people talking shit to others. You had the shorter people telling the taller people to move to the back. Um, if they waited at the venue since 1pm, I don't care how tall you are or aren't, you deserve to be up front.

We were out of there at around 930pm and headed over to Tivoli's for a drink. I still love Morrissey. I just hope he doesn't get all diva like this again and kicks ass for the rest of his tour.

Will I see Morrissey again? I don't know, probably not.

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