Royal Oak, MI - Music Theatre (Dec. 18, 2011) post-show

Will try to do justice to song order:

I Want the One I can't Have
First of the Gang To Die
When Last I Spoke to Carol
You're the One for me Fatty
There is a Light that Never Goes out
Black Cloud
Everyday is Like Sunday
Satellite of Love
People are the same Everywhere
Maladjusted
You Have Killed Me
Speedway
All the Lazy Dykes
Meat is Murder
Ouija Board, Ouija Board
Scandanavia
I Know It's Over
One day Goodbye will be Farewell

Encore:
Still Ill

Bizarrely, Royal Oak decided to split the line up in two, so despite the fact that we were freezing our tails off for hours and one of the first to arrive, anyone who had digital tickets got into the venue before anyone with an actual ticket. By the time I got into the club, naturally the whole front row and then some was filled up. Ridiculous.

Really loud, raucous crowd. A strange mix at times, particularly the group of boors who drank the night away, jeering at Kristeen Young screaming, "Kate Bush!" and "Yeah we love you! You're so pretentious!" Kristeen made a remark about "People not having better things to do in life, such as drinking in the lobby" and I really felt for her. It took a lot to do an opening act on her own, and to have the final show seemingly spoiled by a few drunkards was horrible. It never ceases to amaze me that people seem to think that the world wants to be enlightened by their knowing tastes and by that same token, that they are qualified to treat someone with such disrespect. The same group of people butchered every chorus they happened to know, screaming at intervals, "I love you morrissey!" and "Yeah Beef!" when Meat is Murder was playing, and said things like "Oh, look at these Morrissey fans over there." I'm sorry, what?

Morrissey seemed to butt heads with certain audience members. After introducing the group, Morrissey asked "What is your name?" Someone screamed "Morrissey!" and he gave a reproving "I haven't heard that one before" look. Morrissey said hi to Julia, mentioned again American presidents' "residencies," remarking that he wished that on ballots, you could simply check off "none of the above" or something along those lines.

During the abrupt stop in Speedway when the lights went out, one person tried to make in on stage. Morrissey said, "Very funny. Very funny. Too bad I'm not laughing."

Security went overboard during the encore, so much so that I saw Boz kicking and chastising the security. Morrissey calmly asked that the security "steady on. steady on" before he gave up, told the band to stop "still ill" abruptly, and walk off. They got through the verses and choruses, but not the final musical outro. His final words were, "We'd like to thank Royal Oak Security. Bleh!"

Talk about lack of professionalism! To walk off mid-song?' I want my $80 back!

I was a Morrissey first timer and was NOT disappointed. "First of the Gang" is one of my all time favorite songs and seeing/hearing it live is now one of my all time favorite live music moments.
Too bad the night ended on a sour note. After the third attempted stage invasion Moze remarked, "Nice security Royal Oak. Goodbye." and that was the end of the show.
Can anyone please tell me WHAT was up with that picture of the dude kneeling in front of the naked girl that was used as a backdrop?
Also, if you know the videos that played before the show, please post. VERY cool idea. I knew several, and found several more on line but still don't know them all.
Thanks.

really great show, moz and the band sounded great. setlist was the pretty much the same as chicago. he played fotgtd second and played you have killed me later. let me kiss you was swapped out for one day goodbye could be farewell. it ended on an abrupt note during the encore, moz was none to pleased with how rough venue security were treating attempted stage invaders. the final words of the show were "great security at the royal oak,goodnight" and then he and then band walked off halfway through still ill. other than the shitty security still a great show. moz received lots of gifts from the audience. not sure what many of them were i did see him get a record though. kristeen young was kristeen young, if you like her i'm sure it was great. i'm just not a fan. it was my 7th moz show and i'd rate it right up there with chicago at the aragon in 06 which is my all time fave.

Setlist went something like:I Want the One I Can't HaveFirst of the Gang to DieYou're the one for Me FattyLet Me Kiss YouWhen Last i Spoke to CarolThere is a LightMaladjustedAll the Lazy DykesEveryday is Like Sunday (My favorite song, I don't know why it sounded amazing live).Satellite of LovePeople Are the Same EverywhereBlack CloudYou Have Killed MeMeat is MurderScandinaviaOuija Board, Ouija BoardI Know It's OverOne Day Goodbye Will be Farewell------------------Still IllI think that was his biggest set this tour.What really surprised me though is how incredibly funny he is, I knew he was but not to the extent that he is.First thing he said when he came out, "Oh what fun, it is to ride, in a one horse open *fart noise*""I was sad today when I drove by your Detroit Zoo, because no animal should be kept caged and shackled. The only thing that belongs in a zoo is the entire cast of The Big Bang Theory.""In November when you can be fooled into voting for a new president or extend the reservation of your current one just remember, it's crap, crap, it's all crap. They should have a third box that says, 'No president"Not even joking about this next oneMoz: You know this is a free seminar, you can say whatever you want.Me: SHAKE MY HAND!Moz: Shut up. Some other funny stuff in the songs I can rememberAfter You Killed Me he added onto the line "Still I forgive you but I don't know why."and during There is a Light after the chorus he sang "Who cares?"I thought I was going to cry during this show but I was too happy and was laughing the whole entire time.I brought a flower that looked like a gladiola but wasn't, he refused to take it and same with someone else who had a whole bouquet of what looked like dandelions. When I threw it on stage security took it off almost immediately, I guess he's trying to run away from that whole image.The last two songs got hectic. No one expected One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell, and he came over and shook my hand during it and sang to me looking in my eyes. Yeah...it was beautiful.At the end he threw his shirt in, now this wouldn't be a problem if not for the fact that it looked like this (coincidentally this picture was taken right before our hands touched, that's my head right there hahaha) http://instagr.am/p/aBfnl/The shirt was see through and had studs and shit in it. The hardest fucking fabric. I managed to grab on to some and was tugging away, I was surprised that I basically had a whole sleeve but people were tugging back. There were about 20 of us total, it was kinda funny, everyone was all serious and I was joking around saying, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL!" I could've got the whole sleeve but because of other people grabbing it it was like twirled and whirled and all wrinkly, basically it was too thick to cut with my keys so I just took off a piece at the end and was more than satisfied with that.All of this was happening during the encore, I basically missed the first half of Still Ill wrestling over the shirt with everyone else.Then I turned around and it was just hilarious how there was chaos everywhere, the shirt was in the middle and to the sides were stage invaders. Right in front of me though this guy kept trying to get on and the security guard was putting his hands around his neck and throwing him down. Repeatedly. Morrissey wasn't liking that, he said "Steady, steady, steady, steady. Okay, we're leaving you can thank your security guards," and walked off.Boz went up to the security guard and screamed what looked like, "FUCK YOU!" in his ear.I'm sure Morrissey is going to get a lot of hate for this but I don't blame him, the security guard was going out of control and was told numerous times by his supervisors and the band to stop, he was just looking out for his fans.Honestly I have no idea how far into Still Ill we were when that happened.Still a great night.

I asked Boz about the security and he said,"i just shouted 'C**T' very loudly in his ear, there was no reaction, I had already kicked that asshole really hard in the back, but he didn't care about the audience or Moz, band or crew, he was an idiot and he ruined it for others, I think if we went on, someone could have got really hurt. Sorry BB"

Originally Posted by Neader

"i just shouted 'C**T' very loudly in his ear, there was no reaction"

...No kidding. Tough. Well then Boorer, now at least you know exactly how it feels... (Would you like us to shout 'C...HRISTMAS', now?...?)(no? K, baiii!)

Royal Oak is full of lame Republican engineers and their cohorts; best Morrissey stayed away next time and settled for Ann Arbor or a venue in midtown Detroit.

The only song missed in the above set list was the additional encore - the cover of the Hermans Hermits hit 'Mrs Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter'.

You do know right that the whole 'throwing flowers at gigs' hasn't been in vogue since 1991 right?

This Detroit crowd had to be the worst crowd I've ever been to a concert with. They just stood there. A lot of people didn't even clap and forget about dancing. I don't know if they were waiting for another act to come out or if they were just so cool and hip that having fun of strictly off limits. During the encore a kid was trying to get on the stage. The security just started hitting him. The kid had no chance of ever getting on that stage but it didn't stop the security from giving him a beat down. I'm not surprised that Morrissey walked off in disgusted. When the show was over most of the people just stood there for a long time drinking. It was like they went to a bar to drink and had to put up with a Morrissey concert.

Ugh! Sounded like it was one of THOSE nights. Glad i wasn't there.

I definitely agree with the comment above about the audience not being into the show. I was at the Chicago show the night before and it was a completely different dynamic. I can't really describe it but the Chi-town audience had a much younger demo (18-30 year olds) compared to the RO show, not really sure if this made a difference. Also I agree about the audience being mostly older Oakland County yuppies who drank too much in the lobby and booed Kristeen Young, I'm not a big fan of her but that got a bit cliche after a while as did waiving flowers and random stuff in his face. ROMT really needs to do their research in the future about their upcoming acts and what's standard at their shows, especially when Moz already played the theatre in the past, they have to expect the stage rushing is standard practice at his shows. Overall I would say the Chicago show was better, he seemed to engage the crowd more in Chicago. He seemed to talk down to the RO crowd the whole show (which I actually don't blame him.)

I don't think the first person who tried for the stage early in the show actually made it. I lost him/her in the crowd of security that rushed over as they came over the top. I think they actually bounced off the side of the stage. That's going to hurt this morning. To add insult to injury, I saw security pick up their glasses from the stage after they were hustled off.

Great show. First time seeing Morrissey and first time at Royal Oak Music Theatre. It did feel like the security was really uptight not to mention beating some guy at the very end of the show. I don't think I would go to this venue again unless I had a seat in the balcony.

I would like to say that Morrissey should schedule a show in CLEVELAND !!!!!

Originally Posted by Neader

I asked Boz about the security and he said,"i just shouted 'C**T' very loudly in his ear, there was no reaction, I had already kicked that asshole really hard in the back, but he didn't care about the audience or Moz, band or crew, he was an idiot and he ruined it for others, I think if we went on, someone could have got really hurt. Sorry BB"

Boz Boorer
(Proper Noun)

A person with rude, clumsy manners and little refinement.

Hello All!

It was an amazing show for sure. Morrissey sounded great as did the band. The security was definitely on a power trip. Starting with the whole two lines to get in after people had been waiting for several hours. Then the pat down to get into the venue seemed a bit extreme as well. I have seen several shows here and not had that done...although it was a little over a year ago since the last one. I guess you can't be too careful. I'm not sure what it is about wearing the same colored polos that turns people into crazy control freaks.

I was in the front pretty much center right behind Julia. I couldn't see the melee during Still Ill but I did see Boz kick the security in the back and yell to them to stop. Kind of sad way to end, but I had an awesome time. Meat is Murder was really powerful. I particularly enjoyed Maladjusted. It sounded amazing.

Took a bunch of photos if anyone is interested: http://bit.ly/vAG1vn

It might take a while for them to load...be patient though as it is worth it.

Until the next show....

Originally Posted by Anonymous

I would like to say that Morrissey should schedule a show in CLEVELAND !!!!!

He walked off there last time too.

"Joyce 1, Morrissey 0"

Great show up until the end. For those of you complaining about the two lines, the Royal Oak website (and Ticket.com iirc) clearly stated that those who either had their ticket sent to their mobile phone or printed it at home got in first. Don't blame the venue for that one.