| Morrisey | Date: Monday 6th September 2004 Venue: Bridlington Spa |
The hottest ticket for years in this aesthetically perfect very British seaside town pier hall was an intimate show in further support of Morrissey’s excellent “You Are The Quarry” album, following much larger arena or festival shows over the past few months. It gave around fifteen hundred lucky punters the chance to savour close-up everything that is attractive about Morrissey, his music and the legend which has built up around him over the years.
 | | Morrisey |
“Welcome to our miserable little gig”… (Huge cheers from the crowd)… Currently championed (again) by the NME, Morrissey has eased into the position of masterful indie music ‘Mozzfather’ for post-skatepunk youngsters, those who are only just a little too old to know better, and he seems to be more than willing to play up to the Grandfatherishly warm but vaguely curmudgeonly hoary old Godhead perceptions.
He knows how strong his back catalogue is, how much it is respected and valued, and he seems to have relaxed about it – the gig begins with “How Soon Is Now”, The Smiths’ “Day In The Life” or “Venus In Furs”… and later the band strike up a lean and mean “Shoplifters Of The World Unite”. Witty, precise and insistent, the songs from “You Are The Quarry” are greeted with the approbation of old favourites, and it’s hard to reconcile the fact that the album has only been available for three months. “The First Of The Gang To Die”, probably his best pop song in 15 years, has already achieved heavyweight status amongst ‘those in the know’, though only bruised the Top 10 briefly. A crime.
Anyone who saw Morrissey’s uncomfortable interview on the Jonathan Ross Show on BBC 1 a while back will note that generally sullen and slightly misanthropic he may be - but bleakly miserable he is not. Tonight, the smiles, the smirks, the banter, the poses… they all illustrate that there is humour in deep abundance. Perhaps it has always been widely missed because it doesn't shove itself into your face and shout about how big and funny it is – like, say Robbie Williams, who is actually only mildly, wearingly, amusing... It’s far far shrewder than that, has much more longevity by leaving you to hear it or find it for yourself.
First and foremost Morrissey is a writer, a British treasure, and the sheer quality of his work is easily parred with that of Alan Bennett or Alan Aykbourne, with its subtle observations, turns of phrase or use of words. A great gig, then, in a terrifically appropriate venue. But he really should have been christened Alan. | 
