Waterbury Connecticut is a dirty little city chock full of crack heads and hookers and smack dab in the middle is the Grand Dame of a by gone age the glorious Palace Theater. A 1920s gem that oozes marble and velvet. Its grandeur set the tone for the performance of my year. Morrissey has come to town and for the first time in my 30+ year of being a fan I was going to see him live.Familiar with his work with The Smiths and solo I had preconceived notions of a light hearted stop start performance fluctuating in tempo from happy go lucky Brit pop to the serious croon.
The show started with an interesting strobe show with a disembodied woman speaking of world atrocities 'rape, racism,Tiananmen Square…" for a good three minues with lights and words the audience stood just waiting for Morrisey to come out. This bit dragged a bit, the crowd wanted action and the anti climatic step on of Steven and the band and they were off with "You Have Killed Me". Not exactly a rousing start but a great song that the crowd sand along to as if they were driving in their cars.
And that's how it went. A disassociated audience and band. There was no true interaction, there was no connection. The crowd was there for the hits and Morrissey was there to sing what he wanted. There was no ' How Soon is Now" but there was a fantastic and graphic performance (with PETA film Meet Your Meat) of "Meat Is Murder". It is with that song that Morrissey and the crowd parted ways. 80 percent of hte audience (and 95 of my section) sat in silent protest. One person shouting "I cant believe he's pulling this shit- get the grill". I do believe that Morrissey uses this bit to determine exactly what to feed his guests. Are you going to dismiss his passion- then you wont get the dance tunes.
Perhaps he just wasn't feeling it. The Connecticut crowd was not giving much in return.
The energy simply wasn't there. Morrissey wasn't on fire and he certainly wastn having fun. Even during the encore he opted to do "Let Me Kiss You" instead of leaving us fired up on pop. I cant blame the crowd alone but I have seen enough footage of live Moz to know that he absolutely loves what he does and has a blast. He wasn't having a blast Saturday night.
But I was. I found Morrissey to be extremely charismatic and although he really was just doing his job- his job still absolutely impresses me.
There is an interesting bit that I feel needs mention to define my point. When Morrissey introduced his band he ended it by saying "and applause, on occasion, from you". Was that a nod to the fact that we weren't igniting his room? Could be."I'm an instrument. For gods sake, someone use me" lead in to "'I Know It's Over", I think he was unimpressed with Waterbury.
The set list is almost identical to Bostons opening night but I will say the addition of "Shopkeepers of The World Unite" made me quite happy.
Heres what we got:
You Have Killed Me
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
Youre The One For Me Fatty
Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Everyday Is Like Sunday
Ouija Board
Maladjusted
Spring Helled Jim
Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Everyday Is Like Sunday
Ouija Board
Maladjusted
Spring Helled Jim
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
People Are The Same Everywhere
Fantastic Bird
Meat is Murder
To Give Is The Reason I Live
A Rush and A Push
People Are The Same Everywhere
Fantastic Bird
Meat is Murder
To Give Is The Reason I Live
A Rush and A Push
Speedway
I Know It's Over
Let Me Kiss You
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
Im OK By Myself
Still Ill
I Know It's Over
Let Me Kiss You
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
Im OK By Myself
Still Ill