Hiya cuties, long time no review!

Just came back from the first night of Morrissey's series of ten nights live at the Hollywood Palladium. I got tix to Night One and Night Ten -- just to see if Moz is still standing after ten straight shows!

Night starts with the hideous opening band. I got there late, don't know their names, but the chick lead singer/keyboardist was so off key I think my ears started spontaneously hemorraging! Me and my friends Julie and Rich had to leave the room -- THAT'S how bad! Julie tells me, though that this chick has opened for Morrissey before, so...clearly he's a good and charitable man, helping the helpless and the hopeless! ;)

Morrissey more than made up for her -- he was dazzling! I don't know how old this dude is now -- even though he's gone a sexy salt-n-pepper, he's still sporting that pompadour, and wasn't afraid to whip his shirt off a couple times, to thrill the masses. But the thing about him that makes him a superstar? His voice. Ah, that voice!! Ah, he's a crooner of the first order, and he hasn't lost any of the magic. Sad songs with danceable beats had the audience swaying, singing and pouring out universal love.

The band was tight -- and featured TWO, count 'em TWO drummers, and three guys on guitars, as well as a horn guy, and maybe one other besides Morrissey. The drums were crazy -- the lead drummer had a standard looking kit...with the addition of this HUGE, Japanese-style KODO drum off to one side, and a MASSIVE gold GONG behind him. Needless to say -- the beats were thumping. One of the guitar guys was playing so fast it looked his arm was bionic! He was young and cute too, if a bit too skin-head esque for my tastes!

And fronting them all was Morrissey. He swayed and sang, leisurely moving across the stage -- no crazy antics, just planting it and belting it. Very very satisfying! They played for about 90 minutes, but got through a surprising amount of songs --


Here's the set list, roughly in order.

Stop Me
Tomorrow
??? -- All You Need is Me (thanks for filling in the blanks, Julie!)
Sister I'm a Poet
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
London
??? -- Billy Budd
??? -- The Loop
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself
Stretch Out and Wait
First of the Gamg to Die
Let Me Kiss You
Death of a Disco Dancer
Disappointed
You Have Killed Me
In the Future When All Is Well
I Like You
Goodbye Will be Farewell **new song!!*
Dear God Please Help Me
How Soon is Now

encore: Irish Blood, English Heart

The Audience wasn't packed to capacity. The venue supposedly holds 5000 -- this looked about 4/5ths full -- packed but they coulda squeezed in more. I was just there last week to see the Arctic Monkeys (great show! go see 'em!) and the place had been packed so tight they must have broken fire code. But it was a more streamlined crowd for Moz. Those that were there were amazingly diverse -- and all age ranges -- youngsters to grey-hairs. I guess Morrissey has a strong following among young Mexicans, who didn't seem to know the old Smiths stuff, but sang Morrissey's solo stuff at the top of their lungs, word for word. The old fogeys like me took up the slack, singing all the Smith tunes (and there were several!) loud and proud. EVERY one seemed to know the opening song (Stop Me) and the closing one (How Soon is Now -- my favorite song in all the world!). So all in all a great show, good crowd, minimal fights and rowdy people. Can't wait to see him again on closing night.