WPINOYB live

Tbevie

Girl afraid
I was at the Hydro on Saturday, my first Moz gig since WPINOYB was released. And although I had read reviews, complaining about the set list being too WPINOYB heavy and feeling a bit flat in those areas I was shocked at how little atmosphere there was in the crowd whenever a WPINOYB song was played.

I hadn't heard any of these songs live so I was loving it and thought some of the songs sounded even better live. But from where I was standing I appeared to be the only one.

I appreciate the album is no longer available but surely 99% of the audiance already own a copy. I just find it hard to understand why an album, only released last year and considered to be one of Moz's best by the majority of fans, seems to have translated so badly in the live arena.

Are the audiance tired of these songs already?
 
I was at the Hydro on Saturday, my first Moz gig since WPINOYB was released. And although I had read reviews, complaining about the set list being too WPINOYB heavy and feeling a bit flat in those areas I was shocked at how little atmosphere there was in the crowd whenever a WPINOYB song was played.

I hadn't heard any of these songs live so I was loving it and thought some of the songs sounded even better live. But from where I was standing I appeared to be the only one.

I appreciate the album is no longer available but surely 99% of the audiance already own a copy. I just find it hard to understand why an album, only released last year and considered to be one of Moz's best by the majority of fans, seems to have translated so badly in the live arena.

Are the audiance tired of these songs already?

the songs are shit in my opinion
not even one good song
his worst album
 
Down in the front it was well received. I love hearing the new stuff live.
 
I was at the Hydro on Saturday, my first Moz gig since WPINOYB was released. And although I had read reviews, complaining about the set list being too WPINOYB heavy and feeling a bit flat in those areas I was shocked at how little atmosphere there was in the crowd whenever a WPINOYB song was played.

I hadn't heard any of these songs live so I was loving it and thought some of the songs sounded even better live. But from where I was standing I appeared to be the only one.

I appreciate the album is no longer available but surely 99% of the audiance already own a copy. I just find it hard to understand why an album, only released last year and considered to be one of Moz's best by the majority of fans, seems to have translated so badly in the live arena.

Are the audiance tired of these songs already?

The album is decent, some pretty good songs within it, but it certainly isn't considered to be one of his best by the vast majority of fans.
I think the real issue is the overall pace of the album, which simply does not lend itself to the 'live experience', especially in large arenas.
This is why I believe I'm Not A Man and Smiler With Knife were dropped from the set list in Leeds last Friday, and in my opinion this resulted in a significant improvement.
 
hmm i had been hearing the opposite from reading though i guess to some degree its gonna be about where you are? pacing is an issue with his setlists though he does better in some spots than others. like anything its multi facltoral. probably has somewhat to do with how he feels, how he feels about where he is, where the huge chunks of his fan base are etc. i had only heard better things about world peace live so far but oh well
 
The album is decent, some pretty good songs within it, but it certainly isn't considered to be one of his best by the vast majority of fans.
I think the real issue is the overall pace of the album, which simply does not lend itself to the 'live experience', especially in large arenas.
This is why I believe I'm Not A Man and Smiler With Knife were dropped from the set list in Leeds last Friday, and in my opinion this resulted in a significant improvement.

We'll that's just the impression I got when the album was leaked/released and I appreciate that people's opinions may change over time.

I agree with you about the pace of the album and musically it's a lot more experiential but I personally thought the new songs sounded great live.
 
We'll that's just the impression I got when the album was leaked/released and I appreciate that people's opinions may change over time.

I agree with you about the pace of the album and musically it's a lot more experiential but I personally thought the new songs sounded great live.

The new songs do sound great live, for example I only got to really appreciate Smiler after hearing it live at the O2 in November. It never did anything for me before then, and now I think it's one of the best in the album.

Some of World Peace is indeed very good, I just don't believe playing it almost in its entirety, has helped the atmosphere at these gigs.
 
Too many of the songs are mid to slow pace. People are hardly going to be pogoing along to the title track, or 'Istanbul'. Also, this is an arena tour, where a lot of the people in the audience are only going to be casual fans, and in such a situation Morrissey would really do better going for a broader and more populist setlist that will appeal to more than just the hardcode in the front. A smattering of new songs throughout the setlist is fine, but when he does 3,4,5 World Peace songs in a row, it sucks the atmosphere out of the gig.
 
The new songs do sound great live, for example I only got to really appreciate Smiler after hearing it live at the O2 in November. It never did anything for me before then, and now I think it's one of the best in the album.

Some of World Peace is indeed very good, I just don't believe playing it almost in its entirety, has helped the atmosphere at these gigs.

We had 9 WPINOYB songs in total in Glasgow, 7 album tracks 2 bonus. Which I think is quite reasonable with a new album. But perhaps if these songs were a bit more spead out rather than 4 or 5 in a row, that would help.
 
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We'll We had 9 WPINOYB songs in total in Glasgow, 7 album tracks 2 bonus. Which I think is quite reasonable with a new album. But perhaps if these songs were a bit more spead out rather than 4 or 5 in a row, that would help.

I agree with your point about alternating new songs with older ones, that would help enormously in my opinion.
I also agree that 8 or 9 songs out of 20 is reasonable when touring/promoting a new album, the issue is that until this week he had been playing 11, some of which are rather long and slow paced. This is why I say the current set list strikes a better balance and improves the overall experience.
 
I appreciate the album is no longer available but surely 99% of the audience already own a copy?

Absolutely no flipping chance!
100% of the audience know all the Smiths singles and the 5 or 6 big Morrissey singles that get decent airplay (from Bona Drag and YATQ).
Probably about 50% know most Smiths songs and have a couple of Morrissey albums (Viva Hate and YATQ are the only ones that sold in decent numbers).
But a very small percentage at an arena show will have bought World Peace. It has sold a tiny amount - probably 45,000 compared with Quarry's 400,000 - despite glowing reviews.
It was the first Morrissey album since Maladjusted not to get a big Radio 2 playlisted single which makes a massive difference.
It is a really good album - his best since the 90s but without songs on the radio, most people (especially at arena concerts) with at least a passing interest in him or the Smiths won't have bought it. It's still available in most HMVs as it sold so few it didn't matter that the record company didn't distribute a second batch.
If Staircase was released, the album would sell tons more as all the vaguely indie radio stations (and Radio 2) would play it to death, but as it stands, it's a great lost album...
 
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Absolutely no flipping chance!
100% of the audience know all the Smiths singles and the 5 or 6 big Morrissey singles that get decent airplay (from Bona Drag and YATQ).
Probably about 50% know most Smiths songs and have a couple of Morrissey albums (Viva Hate and YATQ are the only ones that sold in decent numbers).
But a very small percentage at an arena show will have bought World Peace. It has sold a tiny amount - probably 45,000 compared with Quarry's 400,000 - despite glowing reviews.
It was the first Morrissey album since Maladjusted not to get a big Radio 2 playlisted single which makes a massive difference.
It is a really good album - his best since the 90s but without songs on the radio, most people (especially at arena concerts) won't have bought it. It's still available in most HMVs as it sold so few it didn't matter that the record company didn't distribute a second batch.
If Staircase was released, it would sell tons more as all the vaguely indie radio stations (and Radio 2) would play it to death, but as it stands, it's a great lost album...

You may be right. I've always thought of Morrissey fans as a unique breed. It's all or nothing. You either get it or you don't. I didn't think casual Morrissey fans existed. But I suppose when you consider how many people these arena tours attract, they can't all be devotees or Morrissey would be selling a lot more records than he does.
 
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oh theres for sure a demographic of moz fans. theres those who know him for the music and those that know him just as a public figure with no idea who the smiths are and those that just know his name equals unnecessarily sad.
 
You may be right. I've always thought of Morrissey fans as a unique breed. It's all or nothing. You either get it or you don't. I didn't think casual Morrissey fans existed. But I suppose when you consider how many people these arena tours attract, they can't all be devotees or Morrissey would be selling a lot more records than he does.

The casual Morrissey fans are usually the teenagers obsessed with the smiths who know a bit of Bona Drag. It's awful being next them at shows but if you are up front in the pit it's not a problem since the hardcores are the ones in the queue.
 
You may be right. I've always thought of Morrissey fans as a unique breed. It's all or nothing. You either get it or you don't. I didn't think casual Morrissey fans existed. But I suppose when you consider how many people these arena tours attract, they can't all be devotees or Morrissey would be selling a lot more records than he does.

Yeah, it's a media cliché that Morrissey has got a large, fiercely loyal fan-base who lap up everything he does unquestioningly. Could hardly be more wrong.
I've got about 9 or 10 friends/colleagues who love the Smiths and would consider going to see Morrissey live hoping he would play mainly Smiths and early solo. The only 'new' album of his they've bought since the 80s is YATQ, which they thought was a bit rubbish (which it is compared with the majesty of the Smiths) and haven't bothered with anything since.
But I understand exactly how they feel. I'd like to see The Cure but don't know (or have any interest in hearing) anything since Friday I'm In Love back in 92 or whenever. The same for me would apply to the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Billy Bragg, Lloyd Cole, Paul Heaton etc - there are loads of indie-type people who I used to really like and would still go to see, but am not just not bothered about their recent stuff.
If I heard a brilliant new song of theirs on the radio (or read rave reviews for new album) though, that might tempt me.
 
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Yeah, it's a media cliché that Morrissey has got a large, fiercely loyal fan-base who lap up everything he does unquestioningly. Could hardly be more wrong.
I've got about 9 or 10 friends/colleagues who love the Smiths and would consider going to see Morrissey live hoping he would play mainly Smiths and early solo. The only 'new' album of his they've bought since the 80s is YATQ, which they thought was a bit rubbish (which it is compared with the majesty of the Smiths) and haven't bothered with anything since.
But I understand exactly how they feel. I'd like to see The Cure but don't know (or have any interest in hearing) anything since Friday I'm In Love back in 92 or whenever. The same for me would apply to the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Billy Bragg, Lloyd Cole, Paul Heaton etc - there are loads of indie-type people who I used to really like and would still go to see, but am not just not bothered about their recent stuff.
If I heard a brilliant new song of theirs on the radio (or read rave reviews for new album) though, that might tempt me.

That's a really good point. I, like most of us here I'm sure know every word to every Morrissey/smiths song. But I have been to lots of gigs of other artists and there are usually a couple of songs, usually a b-side or a song from an early EP that I've never heard before.

But if I was going to see an artist that I hadn't seen for a while or kept up with I would automatically assume there would be some new material in the set list, especially from their latest album. And I would probably make an effort to at least listen to some new material if only to enhance my own enjoyment of the gig. But I suppose some people expect Moz just to Go on 'Greatest Hits' tours and disregard everything he's written post-Quarry.
 
I was at the Hydro on Saturday, my first Moz gig since WPINOYB was released. And although I had read reviews, complaining about the set list being too WPINOYB heavy and feeling a bit flat in those areas I was shocked at how little atmosphere there was in the crowd whenever a WPINOYB song was played.

I hadn't heard any of these songs live so I was loving it and thought some of the songs sounded even better live. But from where I was standing I appeared to be the only one.

I appreciate the album is no longer available but surely 99% of the audiance already own a copy. I just find it hard to understand why an album, only released last year and considered to be one of Moz's best by the majority of fans, seems to have translated so badly in the live arena.

Are the audiance tired of these songs already?

I think the album is very ambient-sound heavy which doesn't translate well live perhaps?
 
I was at the Hydro on Saturday, my first Moz gig since WPINOYB was released. And although I had read reviews, complaining about the set list being too WPINOYB heavy and feeling a bit flat in those areas I was shocked at how little atmosphere there was in the crowd whenever a WPINOYB song was played.

I hadn't heard any of these songs live so I was loving it and thought some of the songs sounded even better live. But from where I was standing I appeared to be the only one.

I appreciate the album is no longer available but surely 99% of the audiance already own a copy. I just find it hard to understand why an album, only released last year and considered to be one of Moz's best by the majority of fans, seems to have translated so badly in the live arena.

Are the audiance tired of these songs already?



i think you're wrong about this. my opinion is majority knows only his "best of opus" and songs from 'wpinoyb' are fresh to them.
 
This is why I believe I'm Not A Man and Smiler With Knife were dropped from the set list in Leeds last Friday, and in my opinion this resulted in a significant improvement.

Respectfully disagree. I was at Leeds and was absolutely gutted he did not do I'm Not A Man, or Speedway.
 
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