Manchester - Manchester Arena (July 28, 2012) post-show

Post your info and reviews related to this concert in the comments section below. Other links (photos, external reviews, etc.) related to this concert will also be compiled in this section as they are sent in.


Set List:

You Have Killed Me / Everyday Is Like Sunday / You're The One For Me, Fatty / How Soon Is Now? / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / Ouija Board, Ouija Board / Maladjusted / Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me / When Last I Spoke To Carol / People Are The Same Everywhere / I Know It's Over / To Give (The Reason I Live) / Black Cloud / Scandinavia / Meat Is Murder / Let Me Kiss You / Action Is My Middle Name / I Will See You In Far Off Places / Speedway / Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want // Still Ill

set list provided by SimonM, Because. Order corrected by telegram-sam.



 
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To those (few) moaning about it starting at 8:35. When anywhere had it said Morrissey would start at 9? Didn't see it on the tickets. Did you ring and ask the venue stage times? Yes he has started at 9 in the past, but that was then and this is now.

Listen Clever Cloggs. The last time he came on this early (for a regular gig) was 1992, and people got caught out then. So go and park your wise cracks somewhere else. I was lucky enough to arrive bang on time, but the early start meant that a lot of people missed the start, and a lot more had it ruined by people arriving and queuing to get down the stairs.
 
Treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen?
 
I was at the gig last night, came from York with my dad, was his 3rd show and my 5th. Was quite surprised to see so many negative comments as i had a really good night. We were both a bit apprehensive what with it being his hometown we thought it might be a bit mental but we were in a great spot 3rows from the front to the left. Had a drunk woman wandering round us for the support act but thankfully she buggered off before Morrissey came on. There were maybe a few different songs i would rather have seen and i was surprised he didn't do more of an encore but we still enjoyed it, thought there were some touching moments like when he said "i loved you" after a song(anyone remember what it was after?) and when he was singing I Know It's Over and there was an inflatable rose that seemed to be working it's way towards him throughout it (though why someone didn't chuck it at the stage for him to catch i don't know) . It was also a nice feeling when everyone around us seemed to be swaying in time for some of the slower songs. I thought his voice sounded better than the last times i'd seen him recently and enjoyed "Gaynor Tension" strutting her stuff, i genuinely thought someone had let their mum have a go on guitar at the beginning lol. I felt Morrissey seemed to enjoy himself and despite what some said he did acknowledge the crowd like when that guy was hauled up for a hug, i was inches i away from shaking his hand and it was a nice touch when he passed the mike around for the audience to have their say. My only disappointment was that they ran out of the t shirts i wanted at the end, would've thought they would've got more in to be honest but i did buy the Oscar Wilde one as a souvenir :)
Also, was a bit of a shame to see the t shirts, i'm not a royalist but Will and Kate seem decent enough.
A quick word on the Meat is Murder "discussion", with regards to the footage, everyone is entitled to their own opinion about it. I'm sure he's turned a lot towards vegetarianism and good for them though i do eat meat myself and even if you are a veggie i'm sure a lot didn't particularly want to see that footage. Yes for a lot of animals it was and is a reality but some are also treat very well. Also, it's a bit unfair to say "well that's the reality of eating meat so there" because that's not really what people pay for when they go to a gig or buy a cd. But hey that's my opinion, i thought it was unnecessary but it didn't ruin our night.
Overall i really enjoyed it, thought it was the best Morrissey gig i've been to in terms of the people that were around us, our comfort, Morrissey's voice and his general performance :)
 
Also, i agree with the person pointing out that the show starts at 7.30 so basically Morrissey can come on anytime after then, in an age with so called artists like Pete Doherty or that tit Axl Rose coming on hours after they're supposed to or not turning up at all people should be grateful that he came on early it's not as if he did a really short set, i made it about 1 hr 3 quarters?? Plus it gave me plenty of chance to get my train home in plenty of time :)
 
To those (few) moaning about it starting at 8:35. When anywhere had it said Morrissey would start at 9? Didn't see it on the tickets. Did you ring and ask the venue stage times? Yes he has started at 9 in the past, but that was then and this is now.

we DID contact the venue in advance and were told Morrissey would be on at 8:45. He did play a longer than average set, but annoying to miss the start
 
Manchester council well done for giving him nowt the cheeky sod !!!!!!!
Go on son sod off to Edinburgh and don't show your face and your cheek in this manor again.
 
I've never been so disappointed in my entire life. I've seen Morrissey many times and was eagerly awaiting his return to Manchester but was left completely flat. He started 15 mins early and left the stage 45mins early after a 1-song encore. He almost resented the crowd, saying "There's no place like Hulme... oh yes there is." (How would he know? He's not lived in Manchester for about 20 years and when he did he lived in a big semi in Stretford!) At one random point he said "Harpurhey... whatever." The setlist was shocking. 'Ouija Board, Ouija Board' but no 'First of the Gang' or 'Irish Blood'? We were at the back and, as he'd not forked out for screens, could barely see him. He usually puts an interesting image behind him, but we had to settle for a pic of Oscar Wilde with a speech bubble saying 'Who is Morrissey?' that looked like it had been knocked up by a kid on Microsoft Paint. To top it off he said "I've played Israel, I've been given the keys to Tel Aviv, Manchester has given me nothing. What does that tell you?" Considering Elvis Costello and many others refuse to play Israel because of its apartheid system, that's not a flag he wants to wave. The Moz Army will no-doubt blindly tell themselves he was great, but he wasn't. There was a light. But it went out.
 
I'm amazed at how much people dislike 'Black Cloud'.
Just replace 'Black Cloud' with 'Tough Crowd' in the lyrics and you'd see what Morrissey was getting at.
 
I have been to many Morrissey gigs before and have followed him for years. He has a very hardcore following i know, I too love his music very much but last night was very poor and people who say that gig was good must be easily pleased or blindfolded with cotton wool in there ears.

People were being rude to Kristeen Young during the warm up act, a complete lack of respect, it wasn't needed and was uncomfortable.

As for Morrissey the opening songs were good and had the crowd pleased, but it went downhill, for an artist with so many great songs he really knows how to chose his weakest, just my opinion though. Singing Meat is Murder (especially with the footage shown during the song) , then leading into Let Me Kiss You, was extremely odd and didn't work. Boz dressing as a woman isn't funny by the way and those T Shirts saying We Hate Wills and Kate that the band wore is something a child would wear. Tacky Shit.

The band he has now (excluding Boz) is far to heavy for his songs and ruin their original sound. Bring back Alain Whyte, Gary Day and Deano Butterworth, because at the moment it really doesn't work.

As I have said before I love the man and his music, but for the £50 ticket I expect more and for all the fans that think he can do no wrong, he can, he did it last night, and the truth is he has been poor for a few years now and I am fed up singing his praises.

I took a friend along last night who has never seen him before and I was embarrassed because it was such a weak gig, accompanied with drunk idiots everywhere falling into people and foul mouthed aggressive thugs, it was a night to forget.
 
First Morrissey concert I have ever been to and I loved it. A real experience. People who complain about the set-list confuse me, just have to look at his recent concerts to see what the set list was going to be. Agree it wasn't one to get the crowd jumping but I was seated so didn't bother me. Meat is murder was a powerful performance. The encore of "still ill" made it for me, a real crowd pleaser too. I just really enjoyed myself. The quiff, the hilarious anti-establishment digs, the swishing of the microphone. Yes it would have been nice to see "this charming man" or "panic" but I was fully aware he doesn't perform them very often any more.
 
The tone of internet message boards are the same everywhere...

I'm puzzled by the complaints about the setlists - particularly the folks who claim it shows he 'doesn't care', or 'can't be bothered'. There were some minor annoyances, but of 21 songs, I can point to 4 I didn't want included: Ouija Board, Ouija Board / People are the same Everywhere / Scandanavia / Action is My Middle Name. Even then, it's just me doing the typical whinging of all fans - 'why does he have to play two or three new songs'? 'Why can't he just roam the world playing the same Greatest Hits compilation'?

Personally I think the venue is horrific - there'll never be much intimacy - but the band were excellent, and often more 'rock' than ususal. Overall it went very well...Shame about the abuse of that poor Kirsty things opening. Really felt sorry for her.
 
To those (few) moaning about it starting at 8:35. When anywhere had it said Morrissey would start at 9? Didn't see it on the tickets. Did you ring and ask the venue stage times? Yes he has started at 9 in the past, but that was then and this is now.

I didn't miss the start so I'm not moaning but i got an email yesterday from the venue stating Morrissey would be on at 9pm
 
Last night was my last morrissey gig.
The set was flat with no atmosphere whatsoever.
Moz made a few comments which had people smiling but other than that he seemed to ignore his crowd.
The play list was pretty dire with a huge flat spot in the middle,the ageing meat is murder video did nothing but make me think it's a time filler whilst Moz has a break.
I don't want some ancient animal rights movies rammed down my throat when I have paid good money to watch a performer I have followed since The Smiths were formed all those years ago.

The MEN arena is not the best place to watch a gig but this was made even worse by the fact we had a constant queue of people attempting to enter the standing area which blocked our view of the stage for nearly three quarters of an hour.
A couple of decent songs but I'm afraid overall a poor performance.
Sorry Moz but I will not be attending future gigs.

"Losing in front of your home crowd you wish the ground would open up and take you down"
 
The tone of internet message boards are the same everywhere...

I'm puzzled by the complaints about the setlists - particularly the folks who claim it shows he 'doesn't care', or 'can't be bothered'. There were some minor annoyances, but of 21 songs, I can point to 4 I didn't want included: Ouija Board, Ouija Board / People are the same Everywhere / Scandanavia / Action is My Middle Name. Even then, it's just me doing the typical whinging of all fans - 'why does he have to play two or three new songs'? 'Why can't he just roam the world playing the same Greatest Hits compilation'?

Personally I think the venue is horrific - there'll never be much intimacy - but the band were excellent, and often more 'rock' than ususal. Overall it went very well...Shame about the abuse of that poor Kirsty things opening. Really felt sorry for her.

Oh dear were the people standing abusing her? That is so out of order. What was said?? Some Morrissey fans confuse me. He clearly thinks very highly of her and it baffles me that people would want to hurt her, and by extension hurt Moz. I thought she was a very unique and intense performer. Clearly talented musically but I did have trouble understanding some of her lyrics. I think that was only partly her fault though, some issues with the acoustics maybe.
 
I couldn't tell what the abuse was - I was so very far away that at first I genuinely thought Boz Boorer had been replaced by a new multi-instrumentalist who looked like Amy Lame. Embarrassingly I'm not even joking...for a few minutes I felt a bit left out that the rest of the crowd clearly knew her, as they gave her a special cheer!

Anyway - between songs Kristeen was saying things like "Thankfully I can't understand what you're saying", and sounded generally hurt and downbeat. It's tough enough being a support act, but apparently a subsection the crowd at the front seemed to be being pretty awful to her. A couple of the earlier comments suggest it was mainly one distinctive drunken woman though. Bless her. She gave what you want from the support - lively; kooky, strong vocal range. Could have perhaps toned down some of the theatrics by using her range more selectively, but overall she was very interesting.
 
I've seen Morrissey many many times and that was by far the worst gig i have been to. Apart from the fact that the sound was truly awful, I felt the set really sagged in the middle and he lost the crowd and never really got them back. I defend Morrissey through thick and thin but last night was not good. To be honest, i don't rate this band and think Jess Tobias is an average guitarist at best. Obviously Johnny Marr was irreplaceable as a guitarist but Alain Whyte did a hell of a job and really became an essential part of Morrisseys band and a valuable songwriting partner too. Jess Tobias has never convinced me in either of these departments. His playing has no subtlety at all. I think the whole band needs a shake up as they seem to be going through the motions at the moment. I thought with the time that had elapsed between his last gigs on home soil, he would have a new set list but it was virtually the same as his last tour. Sorry. To say the least, Truly disappointed, truly, truly, truly...
 
So glad I stuck to my guns and did'nt buy tickets this was so predictable i.e. Songs/t-shirts/remarks/drag etc
Very sad really and off they go North taking the circus to Edinburgh the only difference maybe the band will wear tarten skirts.
I feel sorry for Edinburgh actually knowing they're about to be shafted
 
I have enjoyed the music and content of Morrisey for many years and was looking forward to this concert. But I have to say it was apalling we left early and I didn't appreciate being exposed to videos of animals being killed. I am a vegetarian by choice and I really don't feel it is appropriate for someone to instil his values on others. As for I don't know why i didn't get the keys to the city of Manchester. Well mate after last nights performance you'd be lucky to get a set of car keys.
 
I've never been so disappointed in my entire life. I've seen Morrissey many times and was eagerly awaiting his return to Manchester but was left completely flat. He started 15 mins early and left the stage 45mins early after a 1-song encore. He almost resented the crowd, saying "There's no place like Hulme... oh yes there is." (How would he know? He's not lived in Manchester for about 20 years and when he did he lived in a big semi in Stretford!) At one random point he said "Harpurhey... whatever." The setlist was shocking. 'Ouija Board, Ouija Board' but no 'First of the Gang' or 'Irish Blood'? We were at the back and, as he'd not forked out for screens, could barely see him. He usually puts an interesting image behind him, but we had to settle for a pic of Oscar Wilde with a speech bubble saying 'Who is Morrissey?' that looked like it had been knocked up by a kid on Microsoft Paint. To top it off he said "I've played Israel, I've been given the keys to Tel Aviv, Manchester has given me nothing. What does that tell you?" Considering Elvis Costello and many others refuse to play Israel because of its apartheid system, that's not a flag he wants to wave. The Moz Army will no-doubt blindly tell themselves he was great, but he wasn't. There was a light. But it went out.

Get your facts straight before saying that Israel is an "apartheid". Morrissey is the only artist who is not afraid of the pro-Palestinian fanatics and liars. Well done to Morrissey who stands for the truth and the only democracy in the middle east, yes and I mean Israel.
 

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