Morrissey Review

Morrissey - Live Review

Review by Dylan Whatley

Morrissey - Capital FM Arena, Nottingham (13/3/15)

After a long and patient wait, fans of Morrissey and The Smiths in the UK, finally got to see him in the flesh!

 

Morrissey is currently on a six-date UK tour, it started in Nottingham and finishes in Birmingham. Still left to play are Cardiff, Leeds and Glasgow before the Brum date.

During more than a year of health problems, Morrissey has come back with an album which goes by the name of 'World Peace is None of Your Business'. With a one-off London gig last November, fans wanted even more. They got it!

On Wednesday, with the UK tour just round the corner, he had to cancel his already rescheduled Holland gig, due to him having the flu. You can imagine the worry this caused the fans who were set to go to his Nottingham date on the Friday. However, the flu didn't stop him.

The venue made it quite clear that there would be absolutely no meat products (see above image) sold by request of the artist. Obviously this was no surprise to fans, with The Smiths' second studio album being called 'Meat Is Murder', and the ongoing support Morrissey has given to PETA.

With the absence of a support act, a 30 minute video was shown with music, poetry, comedy and art chosen by Morrissey. A two minute clip dedicated to Margaret Thatcher, with 'Ding Dong The Witch is Dead' played in the background got a huge cheer from the crowd. 

Morrissey hit the stage at 8:30 on the dot, and went straight into the title track of The Smiths' 1986 album, 'The Queen is Dead'. 'Suedehead' was then played and the crowd sang every single word straight back to him. 

The first of the songs off 'World Peace is None of Your Business' went down very well with the crowd. Morrissey went onto play 10 songs off the standard version o the album and, 2 songs from the deluxe  edition including, 'Scandinavia'.

Three songs courtesy of Morrissey and Marr's incredible song writing were played after the opener of the show and by far the stand out of the four, was 'Meat is Murder'. A screen behind the band had been showing various pictures of 50's icons including Neal Cassady, who appears in the title of the song 'Neal Cassady Drops Dead'. However, a video was shown for 'Meat is Murder' which had a warning that 'ADVISED VIEWER DISCRETION'. Then for the next 5 minutes or so, animals being brutally kille or abused for meat. Classic Morrissey.

To finish, an encore consisting of one song, 'Speedway' with a snippet of 'Irish Blood, English Heart' which more than pleased the crowd. Morrissey has once again left us wanting so much more.

 

It is unlikely that with Morrissey's ill health that he'll be back playing live any time soon. Well worth seeing, even if it is only to say you've seen the legend in the flesh.