Birmingham - Barclaycard Arena (Mar. 27, 2015) 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.


Setlist:

The Queen Is Dead / Suedehead / Staircase At The University / World Peace Is None Of Your Business / Istanbul / Kiss Me A Lot / Neal Cassady Drops Dead / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / One Of Our Own / To Give (The Reason I Live) / Scandinavia / Speedway / I'm Not A Man / The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores / Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before / The Bullfighter Dies / People Are The Same Everywhere / Meat is Murder / What She Said // Everyday Is Like Sunday

setlist provided by Famous When Dead.



  • Review by Adrian Caffery (4 of 5 stars) - Birmingham Mail
  • Review by Richard Franks; Photo Gallery by Jonathan Morgan (17 total) - Counteract

    birmingham2.jpg
  • Photo by Jonathan Morgan, Counteract, posted by @counteract / Twitter. Link posted by docinwestchester.

    birmingham.jpg
  • Photos by Daniel Robson (20 total) - A Music Blog, Yea? Link posted by docinwestchester.

    Morrissey-Barclaycard-Arena-Birmingham-Daniel-Robson-1.jpg
  • Morrissey fans help busker - Birmingham Mail - Mar. 28, 2015
 
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What a fabulous night in Birmingham. I can only compare to Nottingham and Bournemouth, but it must rank as a contender for the best show of this mini tour.

Buffy Saint Marie was very good as support, and very well received.

Morrissey's stage entrance was a bit disjointed because the projectionist lit up the image of the Queen almost as soon as Klaus Nomi began.

There was a pretty significant crowd surge at the start of TQID and that set the tone. The crowd was extremely enthusiastic throughout. The WPINOYB material was well received and recognised...either there is a strong Morrissey contingent in the Midlands, or the draw of this being the last scheduled UK show was greater than some anticipated.

Morrissey's voice was strong, his performance full of energy, and his mood seemed quite jovial...I guess like any performer, an early indication of a receptive audience is a great motivation.

The setlist has been reworked a bit since the o2...PATSE sounds really good, and I am now coming round to the opinion that a studio version would be most welcome. Speedway in the middle of the set also lifts things...as does What She Said, Stop Me...and Crashing Bores...good to hear that back and played at a slightly quicker tempo. If you accept that Morrissey is proud of his new work and wants to play some of it...but has also taken note that Earth, Smiler and Kick The Bride went down like a lead balloon (even though I enjoy the last two in recorded form)... then surely there isn't much left to criticise.

He referred to some of the usual suspects. At the end of one song he responded to the applause with something like "well Harvest Records don't think so" and then asked if we could name anyone on their roster. He also put on a pretty good Irish accent when condemning the Irish government for not banning hunting for fur.

And to close..."Thank you to you for all you've given me. It's been incredible. And all I ask is...Remember Me; Forget My Fate."
 
Please God, if You can hear me, please keep the same 3 idiots off this ONE comment thread. Forgive the meek simpletons.
Your will be done.

God sends his apologies he did a gig in Bethlehem last night but today his transport has a puncture, he doesn't fly you know and he's a bit picky about performing miracles as well.

Best

Benny-the-British-Butcher
 
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brilliant!
we led off with a full house at 100 percent
now we are down to 85 percent


do i hear 65 percent?

They brought the stage forward for a start then take into account the complimentary tickets that they handed out on the streets, credit to his runners really.
 
Great show and something of a milestone for me personally, it having been 30 years to the day since I saw the Smiths for the first (and, sadly, only) time. I hope to God last night wasn't my last Morrissey gig.
Smithsticket.gif
 
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What a fabulous night in Birmingham. I can only compare to Nottingham and Bournemouth, but it must rank as a contender for the best show of this mini tour.

Buffy Saint Marie was very good as support, and very well received.

Morrissey's stage entrance was a bit disjointed because the projectionist lit up the image of the Queen almost as soon as Klaus Nomi began.

There was a pretty significant crowd surge at the start of TQID and that set the tone. The crowd was extremely enthusiastic throughout. The WPINOYB material was well received and recognised...either there is a strong Morrissey contingent in the Midlands, or the draw of this being the last scheduled UK show was greater than some anticipated.

Morrissey's voice was strong, his performance full of energy, and his mood seemed quite jovial...I guess like any performer, an early indication of a receptive audience is a great motivation.

The setlist has been reworked a bit since the o2...PATSE sounds really good, and I am now coming round to the opinion that a studio version would be most welcome. Speedway in the middle of the set also lifts things...as does What She Said, Stop Me...and Crashing Bores...good to hear that back and played at a slightly quicker tempo. If you accept that Morrissey is proud of his new work and wants to play some of it...but has also taken note that Earth, Smiler and Kick The Bride went down like a lead balloon (even though I enjoy the last two in recorded form)... then surely there isn't much left to criticise.

He referred to some of the usual suspects. At the end of one song he responded to the applause with something like "well Harvest Records don't think so" and then asked if we could name anyone on their roster. He also put on a pretty good Irish accent when condemning the Irish government for not banning hunting for fur.

And to close..."Thank you to you for all you've given me. It's been incredible. And all I ask is...Remember Me; Forget My Fate."

Farewell again?
One day farewell will really be farewell...
 
Man, he's playing One Of Our Own a lot lately, which makes me question why it was resigned to the second disc of WPINOYB. The french mix was also to be on The Bullfighter Dies single, so he's obviously very fond of the track. Hell, it wasn't on the album proper and is being played live, though Oboe Concerto remains untouched in the live arena. Yet, At Last I Am Bored was played many a time during 2006-2007. The mind continues to boggle.
 
Man, he's playing One Of Our Own a lot lately, which makes me question why it was resigned to the second disc of WPINOYB. The french mix was also to be on The Bullfighter Dies single, so he's obviously very fond of the track. Hell, it wasn't on the album proper and is being played live, though Oboe Concerto remains untouched in the live arena. Yet, At Last I Am Bored was played many a time during 2006-2007. The mind continues to boggle.


The best songs are often B-sides, while the most diabolical tripe seems to end up on the albums. I've always asked the question whether it's a deliberate thing or just bad quality control.
 
My first ever Morrissey gig; absolutely loved it. He seems to have this aura about him where you almost melt into the music. I came out practically unable to speak from belting out the songs all night. Brilliant, and even though I'm not a fan of WPINOYB the songs were much better live. I thought the "remember me, forget my fate" was rather ominous considering he's echoing Klaus Nomi whose fate wasn't great.
 
Morrissey was on fine form at the N.I.A., kicking off with The Queen Is Dead in front of a huge backdrop of Liz giving us all the finger. Played quite a bit of the new, and really rather ace elpee, including the splendid triumvirate of Staircase At The University, World Peace Is None of Your Business and Istanbul.

Sounding in fine voice, Steven Patrick threw in a splendid The World Is Full of Crashing Bores and Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before prior to the penultimate number. Meat is Murder was utterly harrowing with the accompanying heartbreaking video footage of slaughterhouses, halal murder and all-round animal abuse muting the crowd. Sadly, this is reality; Hey Kids, this is where your meat, eggs and dairy come from and it is utterly vile.
Encore was Everyday Is Like Sunday, which was an absolute belter.

Unfortunately, the sound was abysmal for most of the show, too much reverb, too loud but muffled drums and no separation. Maybe the soundman had popped to the pub for a quiet pint?

The Arena itself is still an aircraft hanger of bloody awfulness, despite all the money the new sponsors (It'll always be the N.I.A - ha!) have apparently spent, I couldn't see any difference myself. We were three rows from the back, up in the gods, could barely see the stage and the stench of BO from the crowd was vomit-inducing - far more the the Meat Is Murder footage. At £4 for a small bottle of bland corporate piss and the cheapest tickets starting at £58 (+ booking), it's no wonder it was only about 3/4 full.

Minor gripes aside, still a good gig, here's to many more (hopefully)!
 
Agree with Surface.... The troll knows nothing.
The place was rammed. It was nice explaining to the person next to me that Buffy was 74. They muttered a few remarks, but I did remind them that anything would be better than K. Young wailing! :)
What struck me as an 'old school' fan was how many young people were there and singing before and after the gig WPINOYB tracks.... I don't know if it's an age thing, but they were responding to the 'new stuff' like I did when Peel played Smiths stuff and tbf that's great..
My battery is trying its best to revive. It was nice to see so many nice people make the effort.
Kind regards,
FWD


This younger fan thing.... Before the Dublin gig a group of early 20 year olds were playing a drinking game involving sambucas to the title track in the pub. Was very endearing
 
Suedehead.

The guitar part is all wrong....how typical.

Jesse f***s up every thing he plays (if it's not one of his own dreadful compositions).
 
The best songs are often B-sides, while the most diabolical tripe seems to end up on the albums. I've always asked the question whether it's a deliberate thing or just bad quality control.

Deliberate imho just to demonstrate his contrary awkwardness
 
So, the raging anti-capitalist who, only last year, wrote...

"World peace is none of your business
So would you kindly keep your nose out
The rich must profit and get richer
And the poor must stay poor
Oh, you poor little fool oh, you fool"

...is now giving his unequivocal endorsement to SSE, 02, and Barclaycard.

Brilliant.
 
God sends his apologies he did a gig in Bethlehem last night but today his transport has a puncture, he doesn't fly you know and he's a bit picky about performing miracles as well.

Best

Benny-the-British-Butcher

Ugh,
There's another one. 2 outa 3.
More self awareness.
Poor you.
Buh bye dum dum.
 
2/3 to 3/4 full, stage rolled forward to hide the empty space
'abysmal' sound
jessie playing the parts for one song on another
half of the crowd listless demanding others be seated while the other half is vomiting
stage situated as to prevent the punters from observing the proceedings on it

sounds like a total winner of a gig. brilliant.
 
I've been an avid Morrissey fan for over 25 years and I have seen him perform at different junctures and different venues, including a flight over to Ireland, Cambridge, Bristol and Manchester etc .. Each concert was enjoyable, charismatic with a diverse set list of well chosen tracks. Last night's concert was simply awful. The production with emotionally manipulative videos were depressing and distracting. The Meat is Murder footage was too much - resulting in a crowd member by us in the standing area actually collapsing. Morrissey looked I'll and was in over self indulgent mode, indeed the concert had the feel of a dower funeral before the wake. Morrissey's preaching (although I agreed with what was he was saying) was patronizing, self righteous and simply inappropriate. I actually felt very down afterwards, I really tried to enjoy the concert and clearly by my jaded state this morning I possibly tried too hard. It's a pity Morrissery didn't reciprocate with the same emotional intelligence to his unbelievably loyal fans.

This will be my last ever attendance to a Mortissey gig and unfortunately will be the one I remember for all the wrong reasons .. such a shame.
 

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