On May 22, 2004, Morrissey celebrated his 45th birthday onstage in his hometown of Manchester, England. Highlights of this concert, which took place shortly after the release of the sublime You Are The Quarry, are preserved for posterity in this DVD, which was released simultaneously with a live CD from the tour entitled Live At Earl’s Court.
Morrissey’s lyrics, which can be almost painfully personal, are braced by a mordant wit and buoyed by pop melodies that keep them from descending into bathos. This is displayed to full advantage in a live performance, where Morrissey is able to deliver the lyrics with both a figurative and literal nod and wink to the audience, which is in on the joke from the beginning.
The singer in his middle years looks fit, and his beautiful, distinctive voice sounds good at the outset and just seems to get better as the show goes on. He starts out nicely with “First Of The Gang To Die” and is still going strong by the end of the show, which he closes with “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”, accompanied by the requisite audience sing-along. In between, there is some more Smiths material, and some of Morrissey’s older solo stuff, but, surprisingly, the concert is not heavy on selections from You Are The Quarry, which is his most successful solo effort to date.
For anyone who has achieved a measure of success, performing for the hometown crowd is undoubtedly a matchless experience. Throughout, Morrissey is both engaged and engaging, and the mutual affection between the singer and his fans is apparent. On several occasions, he crouches at the front of the stage to touch hands with fans who are being intercepted by security guards, both the yearning and the connection being sharply felt. If Morrissey the songwriter wears the mask of the alienated outsider, he is unmasked here.
Article comments
1 - Matthew Egan
Lisa--I agree. The DVD is great. I saw him live in Philly in October. He's great live. One thing about the dvd that i interesting is how different his sets are in England than those he did in the states.
2 - Lisa McKay
I so wished I hadn't missed him on that tour. I hope it's not too long before he decides to hit the road again.
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
my dvd arrived today, along with the CD. both are gorgeous things. Channel 4 in the UK screened a version of this on friday past, but thankfully the DVD has more tracks and the like. How could Channel 4 have left out The Headmaster Ritual??
"Same old jokes since 1962..."
glorious
4 - alienboy
as a Mancunion, can I just say that Morrissey represents the music of Manchester, and indeed England, rather in the way Manchester City are the successful face of English football...
5 - Eric Olsen
yes, you MAY just say that, Alienboy
6 - Temple Stark
Lisa,
I promoted this review to Advance.net. That means I put it here (and these places) where it could potentially be read by another few hundred thousand readers.
- Thank you for the post. Temple Stark
7 - poison candy
i really hate morrissey, he can go hang himself, see if anyone cares