Hands down the killers, then nancy sinatra

If the poll was for less than 10, I'd answer Pony Club. They performed at only one of Moz's gigs (Dublin, 2002), but I was touched by their real emotion and gorgeous sound. Bloody lovely!

If the poll was for the WORST opener (any amount of gigs), I'd go with Assai (Portland and Seattle 2000). When I think of them, I want to stab myself in the neck. And then in the heart just to be sure I've done the job.

M

Kirsty MacColl in 1992, as she performed live at the Alexandra Palace!!!!

they opened for the Maladjusted tour, yeah?

fucking beyond horrible. i wanted to die, and so did everyone else around me.

then Moz does a nice 45 minute set, complaining in between songs and leaving with no encore.

nothing like a San Diego Morrissey show!

What about Franz Ferdinand? They only supported him once at the MEN show, but it was great. A decent support band for once, chosen by Morrissey. Also PJ Harvey.

Last year in Liverpool I really enjoyed rockabilly band Tiger Army.

I'm so glad Kristeen Young has been sacked. She annoyed me to hell and back. From Holland to the US, England, Belgium or Germany: always displaying her attitude problem and making my ears hurt.

opened up for him a few times didnt they?

THE BOYFRIENDS?? They were great though

Before Phranc came on, we were treated to...The Johnson Family!

I seem to remember one of their songs going "We're gonna rock, rock, rock, rock till we drop...", but then it was a long time ago.

I love Damien Dempsey. I shouted, "Welcome to Chicago" at the Aragon-- to which he politely said, "Thank-you."

I am such a nerd. Phranc scared me.

Sack were really good and incredibly nice people. I hope he brings them back some time.

Among the great one-off's, I also enjoyed The Thrills, whereas Kristeen Young hasn't really been to my taste.

MARION! they were great, never heard of them til i saw em support moz at sheff city hall years ago! simply a great indie guitar band, and still goin after a few years separation!

The two times I've seen Morrissey the supports have been dire (Kristeen Young) and mediocre (Sack) I voted for Gallon Drunk cos they once played the Wilde Club...

Barry Newman
(Norwich, UK)

What about the Chicago band Verbow on the 2000 tour? They rocked feb. 2000, Detroit, State Theater. Were you there??

having only ever seen Kristeen Young, who is terrible and Tiger Army, who were just as bad, i feel that Moz should be starting to have better supports. i mean reading this i feel that Franz Ferdinand at M.E.N is the sort of quality that should be used on all tours.

For those asking about other support acts (Dears, Franz, PJ Harvey...) I couldn't all fit them into the poll so I decided to only include those who supported him 10 times or more.

Here is a list of all the support acts, though I could have overseen 1 or 2:

1991 Kill Uncle Tour:

Would Be’s (1)
Phranc (42)
Melissa Ferrick (7)
Wellington Regional Orchestra (1)
The Johnson Family (2)
The Planet Rockers (10)

1992 Your Arsenal Tour:

Gallon Drunk (25)
The Zip Guns (1)
Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Boys (14)
Jet Black Machine (3)
The Well Oiled Sisters (8)
The Mercury’s (1)
Kirsty MacColl (1)

1995, Boxers-Tour:

Marion (17)
McAlmont (1)

1997, Maladjusted Tour:

Elcka (22)
Smoking Popes (24)

1999/2000, Oye Esteban-Tour:

El Vez (1)
Sack (40)
Micro (1)
Konstantinos B (1)
Shrinking Violet (1)
Sigh (2)
Lovesick (1)
The Cultivators (1)
The Promise Ring (1)
Verbow (4)
Hawksley Workman (1)
Sheila Divine (6)
Black Beetle (1)
Phantom Planet (2)

2002-Tour:

King Cheetah (18)
Jaguares (3)
Thrills (2)
Pony Club (2)
The Panics (1)
John Butler Trio (4)
Lovetones (1)
The Anyones (2)
Libertines (1)
Sack (12)

2004, Quarry-Tour:

Killers (3)
David Johansen (3)
Elefant (2)
Dios (1)
Shins (1)
Damien Dempsey (19)
Franz Ferdinand (1)
The Dead 60s (8)
The Dears (2)
Nancy Sinatra (1)
PJ Harvey (2)
James Maker (6)
Remma (2)

2006, ROTT-Tour:

Tiger Army (6)
The Boyfriends (7)
Kristeen Young (50)
Sons and Daughters (15)

2007, Greatest Hits-Tour:

Kristeen Young (74)
Girl In A Coma (5)

The Promise Ring Sheila Divine Damien Dempsey

"Spelled 'PH' with a hard 'C'" Thats what she said on tour. I liked her. She was on the Kill Uncle tour. Those were the good old days.....
thetexasbloke

Smoking Popes, however i am not surprised that many votes went to the terrifying to hear, but not look @, kYoung since many current 'fans' are johnny come latelys fans and prob have only seen her open for mozzy babie, which is fine as long as you are under 21, however, if not
SHAME ON YOU!

PS: am i drunk?
of course i am, why else would i be commenting for christ sake!

The Killers, Elefant and Franz

Gallon Drunk; Big Sandy.

I became a big fan of both of them as a result.

of the full list, the only acts iwould pay to see are The Libertines (sigh...), Franz Ferdinand, The Dears and PJ Harvey (who is by far the best artist to open for Moz).

everyone here trashing Kristeen Young and voting for her more than for the others. A great girl with attitude problems, just like Morrissey back in the nineties. But she'll grow out of it like he did. It's just a matter of getting the hormones adjusted...

While practically all of Morrissey's opening acts have been shite, at least most of them have had the decency to fade into obscurity after their 15 minutes of fame with Moz so that we never have to hear of them again.

I remember seeing James Blunt opening for Lloyd Cole & The Commotions on their short reunion tour in 2004. Blunt was so awful that no one had the heart to boo him, so we all gave some muffled applause to comfort the poor sod. In retrospect, I bitterly regret that I let slip the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bottle the irritating bugger off the stage.

Saw then three times (twice Boston, once Portland, Maine) and thought they were fantastic! The singer gave out great energy, loved the lyrics and HIS VOICE!! They put on a great headlining show as well.
And I am not easily impressed by Moz openers.. obviously!

David Johansen at The Apollo in NYC, 2004.

It's funny to see a lot of people rubbishing the support acts. After all, it seems as though most of them are hand picked by Morrissey himself. You might revere him for his music, but apparently not his taste in music. Strange.

By a mile.

I really liked them in Manchester May 2006...anyone know if they got sacked or they left the tour on their own?

is awesome.

What about Bradford at Wolverhampton Civic Hall in '88 - the free gig? I was there. Much younger.. and last week I saw Moz three times at Hammerstein in NYC, as I am still that sad sixth former deep down!

As a band, I'd say The Boyfriends. Not sure if they did ten or more gigs.

Kirsty MacColl and Franz Ferdinand (even though they only did one a piece) also better than anyone else on the list!

Best band Morrissey has ever had open is unquestionably Gene... RIP.

one of the best underground bands today period.joel from lennox

i was in brum last december when i saw her perform.
i thought the lack of support from the audience was shocking. id go so far as to say she was nearly as good as the man himself!

chris clee, winchester.

the answer would have to be The June Brides, but since we're not, it isn't.

Ho Hum.

all of the bands on this list are shite!

the fact that they opened for morrissey is in no means a reason to like them...

and in my opinion the captain of this parade of swill, talentless, and clearly not popular music is Kristeen...

get over it, they suck, and so did girl in a coma!

Definitely the best opening band I've seen with Morrissey. Tulsa, OK was one of the best shows I've ever seen (partly because I am a fan of both bands.) They definitely had more energy than any of Morrissey's other opening acts.

-Lucas

How could she possibly be winning this poll? I bet she has dynamic IPs. *sigh*

Morrissey should consider having Modest Mouse as an opening act in the future when all's well....that would be interesting...

The Dears were by far my favorite opening act for Morrissey.

And speaking of opening acts, I recently saw The Killers perform, and they were ok, but the most amazing part of the night was their opening act, a new band out of NYC called The Red Romance. Each song sounded so beautiful, with a great britpop of the 90s sensibility, I think a lot of the people on here would appreciate them. Go to www.theredromance.com and under the "Listen" section, you can hear 5 of their songs (my two faves are Just One Kiss and Don't Cry). Give em a shot...you'll love....and after you hear, leave a reply for me so I can hear what you think
Thanks
Robert

seriously, what's the point? I don't find them necessary. I've paid good money to see my favourite artist, why doesn't he/she just come on and sing and be done with it? It's really annoying. It's like going to the cinema and having to watch fucking trailers for 45 minutes.

I think they have been the best act by far.. there different from all that crap out there.. amazing live show.. one of the best cds that has come out in a long time.. and to top it all off.. they are sweethearts in person.

I have to agree about girl in a coma... there amazing live.. i think most voters here have not had a chance to see them since they joined on late.. they would kill in england.. americans always have bad taste in music..

those were two very fun bands to watch. kristeen was a total soul drainer.
very negative and you could feel it. but these two bands are happy to be doing what there doing and are perfect opening bands....great songs as well!

Definitely Tiger Army. Seen them on their own as well, well with Nashville Pussy and Reverend Horton Heat. I wish Moz invited them back....

I would have to go with girl in a coma... very very amazing band... i hope moz keeps them

cmon lesbian with a guitar? it doesnt get any better

scissor me timbers!

Easily the best act I've seen open for Mozzie. Shame they're not up there.

Kristine Young is a fuck face.
People who listen to Kristine Young are tasteless fuck faces.

I saw him play on the maladjusted tour and both elka and the somking popes were awful. Specially elka, what a waste of my time. I dont think he needs an opener. He should play longer sets

thats an idea above..i cannot stand kristeen young and her attitude. Shes the definition of fake.. total poser.

But if we had to have an opener..I think girl in a coma were great. I caught them in DC.. very very great show. Great voice as well..great match to the Moz

It's obvious that people do not know better if they don't think sons and daughters rock balls!!!!

Well duh, Kristeen Young is still fresh in everyone's minds. But Smoking Popes were a good band and an excellent tribute to the Moz himself.

BTW - Gallon drunk were the absolute WORST!!

Journey. Steve Perry rocks.

Got to be the Cockney Rejects, even if they did only support the once (last night at Meltdown 2004). Moz himself is obviously a big fan of the early stuff as evidenced by his "West Ham Boys Club" phase.............

yeah!

best act thus far.. only girl group too.

The Libertines

This poll has been running nearly 3 weeks now. Everyone has had their say. It wasn't that interesting to begin with.

For anyone interested, this British 3-piece band is based in Los Angeles. They are now known as 'The' King Cheetah, for reasons best known to themselves. Since the band supported Morrissey they got a new bass player. They are now one of the tightest, most entertaining bands in Los Angeles (IMHO). Their gigs are pretty much unpublicized though they have a web site thekingcheetah.com that sometimes lists their upcoming shows. They play small clubs, so bring ear plugs!
They released an excellent debut CD (The King Cheetah l.p.) on Spitshine Records, a small indie label. A new CD may be coming next year as they've been adding a lot of new songs to their shows recently.
I recommend you check them out if you can find them!