Morrissey
London O2 Arena, November 29th 2014
Reviewed by Richard Bull
All of the rumours keeping me grounded / I never said / I
never said / That they were completely unfounded / In my own
strange way / Ive always been true to you - Speedway
2014 has not been an easy year for Morrissey. The now routine cancelled
shows and record company battles aside, theres the really quite
shit-your-pants scary news of his being treated for cancer to contend
with. Latest album World Peace Is None Of Your Business
was met with a mixed reaction despite debuting at an impressive number
2 in the album charts (beaten only by ubiquitous hoarder of all record
sales in the entire universe at any given time, Ed Sheeran). For an
artist like Morrissey however, this is really not good enough. Its
good, but not good enough. When you have set the bar so high as on
1994s Vauxhall and I or with 2004s You
Are The Quarry, its remarkably difficult to better oneself.
As usual, Moz has blamed his record company. The entire band, Morrissey
aside, wear T-shirts emblazoned with the simple phrase FUCK
HARVEST RECORDS. There is still some confusion as to the exact
situation between Morrissey and Harvest but it probably goes something
like this:
Morrissey: As I live and breathe, you have dropped me.
Harvest: Er, no. Thats not exactly tru
Morrissey: Yes you have. You have dropped me, you have dropped me.
And I didnt like the videos we made so thats your
fault too.
Harvest: Well, I think
Morrissey: And I saw you eat a sausage with pigs in it. Not mash potato
or whatevers in Quorn sausages. Its Moy-Dah.
Harvest: Yeah, fine. Whatever.
Morrissey: And now youve deleted my album. A-hoo-hoo.
Harvest: Yep. Too right.
In all fairness, there may be an element of Harvest not promoting
the album properly but more likely the problem is, and I realise I
may get in all sorts of trouble for this, its just not a great
album. Again, I reiterate here, its not a bad album. But its
kind of just another Morrissey album. Keep that in mind for the rest
of this review.
Commencing with the double whammy of The Queen Is Dead
and Suedehead really couldnt be a better way to
open a show. So it comes as a damp squib that after firing us up and
getting off to such an incredible start, Morrissey then plays
a shit load of new material. A LOT. Eleven songs out of a nineteen
song set list is A LOT of new material. Which is fine if you have
a new masterpiece on your hands. But not on this occasion. Also, when
you have such an incredible wealth of top notch best-song-ever calibre
material in your back catalogue, we really dont need to see
really very, very mediocre, sub-standard, you-wouldnt-have-put-this-out-as-b-sides-in-the-Quarry-era
material like Istanbul or the frankly awful The
Bullfighter Dies (the latter of which has the only saving grace
in that its barely two minutes long). Its only when the
real curios (by that I mean the ones which dont
sound like your typical Morrissey jingly jangly album filler) from
World Peace come up such as Smiler With Knife,
Im Not A Man and Scandinavia that it
kind of makes sense.
So lets move away from all this negativity. I am beginning to
sound like the grumpy old bastard myself. Peppered throughout the
set, theres the odd nod to his past. A beautiful Trouble
Loves Me and an aggressive main set closer Speedway
make up for any lull in tonights set. Im Throwing
My Arms Around Paris bobs along and does nothing in particular
however. And then theres the matter of Meat Is Murder.
Again, Im going to get in trouble here. First, I want to try
and frame for you my viewpoint. I feel its necessary for me
to separate the sentiments of the song Meat Is Murder
from the way it is displayed at this show. Vegetarianism is a choice
made by a person based on their own beliefs. Fair dues. I believe
thats a free choice and, hey, Im all for that. Fine. No
problem. Were all mates still, right? What I have a problem
with is when you take that view and basically tell me that Im
an awful bastard and youre much better than me and make me watch
things on videos that literally make my stomach lurch and take any
enjoyment out of the remaining half an hour or so of the gig. Ive
noticed over the last few years at Morrissey gigs, these films for
Meat Is Murder are getting more and more graphic to the
point where its actually becoming uncomfortable. So yes, view
your opinion, of course, youre bloody Morrissey, I wouldnt
expect anything less, but please understand that we cant always
agree on everything. Explain things to me but please dont bully
me into agreeing with you. Im off to tell the teacher.
Remember my face, but not my fate. These are the words
Morrissey uses before performing Asleep as the first of
a two song encore. Perhaps a veiled reference to his health or to
his musical future, who knows. Its not the first time Morrissey
has teased us with such things. The arena is almost religiously silent
throughout the song. And as he repeats the songs final refrain, it
really seems as though he may be saying goodbye. So, considering its
been a night of extreme highs and lows it seems right that we end
on Every Day Is Like Sunday, as finer a Morrissey song
as any hes penned which induces utter pandemonium throughout
the building.
So again, I feel I must point out that if I sound critical of Morrissey,
its because I fucking LOVE the guy. Hes like a grumpy
old uncle who has the best stories and the funniest jokes and always
has the best comebacks to any situation. Long may he reign.
Set list
The Queen Is Dead
Suedehead
Staircase at the University
World Peace Is None of Your Business
Kiss Me a Lot
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Istanbul
Smiler With Knife
The Bullfighter Dies
Trouble Loves Me
Earth Is the Loneliest Planet
Neal Cassady Drops Dead
Meat Is Murder
Scandinavia
Kick the Bride Down the Aisle
I'm Not a Man
Speedway
__________________________
Asleep
Every Day Is Like Sunday