From Eric G. Postel
-
Morrissey's first ever appearance in Madison (sold out) was much
more enjoyable than the Salisbury show I saw last Fall. Who
knows the real reason but it seemed that the lack of an active
mosh-pit and Morrissey chant was welcome relief to Morrissey.
Whatever the reason, he was fairly relaxed as he worked through
the too-short set-list. Nothing very special frankly but still
the versions just seemed to flow nicely. Having learned that
Madison is home to the annual World Dairy Expo seemed to add some
bite to "Meat is Murder". As on earlier dates, encore was too
short -- indeed the entire night was too short. If Bruce
Springsteen can play for 2.5 hours at his much more energetic
pace, why can't we get good value for money also? (I do not care
if he plays any Smiths songs but with such a great songbook, he
could certainly play more Morrissey stuff than 80 minutes,
including encore.) Also wonder why Morrissey gave his "do you
really know what you are saying (re. "I Love You" from fan) but
then turns around and makes obscene gestures, preens and says "I
love you all" if he really is against the whole rock star thing.
Nonetheless, it was great to see Morrissey in this non-UK and
small setting (1000 people). However, unless he makes more
changes, I predict he this is just part of a long slide downhill
in popularity - seeing him in a club again should be interesting.
From Lisa Murer
-
"Welcome to the Monkey House"
The queue for the GA sold out Madison, WI show started a little after 12 pm. I would have thought this rather remarkable given this nasty little winter we're having, but today was probably the warmest it's been in months. I got in the queue a little after 4 and still managed to get a piece of the barrier. A certain somebody arrived around 5:30 and amazingly was 3rd in the queue. How convenient.
The opening band was a collegiate-aged 4 piece from Milwaukee called the Promise Ring. The only lyric I remember was "You've dropped a bomb on my bad day." Lots of the Madison people seemed familiar with them. A little razzing of the lead singer here and there, but generally they were pretty well received. It was a bit like Tonight Show when Bill Cosby "opened" for Morrissey and had to make lots of Morrissey references to keep the crowd interested. Promise Boy mentioned Morrissey several times. Notably, "Yeah, I know he's a hot guy. You don't have to tell *me*."
Morrissey and the band entered the stage during the Operation I believe. I think on the last tour, they often waited a good 2-3 minutes after the songe finished before coming out. At any rate, Morrissey greeted us with "Welcome to the cheapest show in town." Then, it was into "You're Gonna Need".
Overall, it was a pretty tame crowd. A lot of first timers around me, but don't know if they were representative of everyone else. They really seemed to like Hairdresser the most for some reason and were way too cool towards "Snap, Crackle, Pop" in my opinion. Morrissey was very talkative, though. No stage divers tonight. The theme of the night, though, came from some girl who'd brought monkeys for all the lads and Morrissey and threw them up throughout the show (I guess they were labeled or something.) At one point, Morrissey asks her about the initial offering -3 monkeys, "Did you make them yourself? How did I know that?" And, later, when Alain's monkey was offered up, "Another Monkey. Oh, I get it. It's Alain. It's an incredible likeness." Alain was very pleased with the monkey and did his impression of a monkey for the crowd. During the encore, another mystery monkey was offered up, Morrissey picked it up and said something about giving it to him later and "buy him a rum and coke." Quiz time: which lad is a rum and coke drinker?
Some other quips (these are all paraphrased, mind you):
"Welcome to the Drew Barrymore Theatre. What's the difference. I don't know."
"Usually the deal is - if you get the shirt, you get me. But not tonight. Tonight I think I need to know who the person is first."
"A long time ago when I worked at Footlocker"...(before "Half A Person", I believe) Ok, didn't he mention something similar last night? What's with him and shoe stores? Oh, yeah, I remember Bremen. ;)
"Madison is known as the beef export capital. Men sit around and discuss butchering. It's so macho. It's quite brave, really." Guess what this was before...
I seriously wish I had his Meat Is Murder follow up on tape. It was something about how the macho, butchering Madisonites could stick that crap up their arses. Then, he went on about how he can't say "asses". "When I think of asses, I think of stroking...???" I think he was talking about donkeys, but I dunno.
"That's not how you spell Morrissey. It's a figment of your imagination. Which is a good thing."
"What? Are you serious? God Almighty!" (after someone suggests, I kid you not, "End of the Family Line")
"It's strange all the smiles here. That's not supposed to happen. I've done something wrong."
"I know what's strange. I've never seen so many spectacles. (looks over the crowd slowly) It's not a good thing."
Someone says, I swear, "You're losing your hair" to which Morrissey responds "I know. I should see a doctor".
Other notable stuff:
Guy at the front of the line was a dead ringer for
that Cody/Koby (son of David Hasselhof on Baywatch).
Spike smokin' that cigarette during Now My Heart Is Full. Very touching.
Morrissey playing with the bubbles during Lost. People kept blowing bubbles up at him, see....
I like the way he kinda sits on the floor at the end of Break Up.
Meat Is Murder included the laying on the ground triangle thing. What does it all mean?
People behind me before the show suggested - get this - that Johnny Marr's new band was opening for Morrissey at this LA shows. Kids!
Julia got an "are you okay", of course.