Here's the set list for Portland...

- I Want the One I Can't Have
- Suedehead
- Hairdresser...
- The First of the Gang to Die
- Jack the Ripper
- Late Night, Maudlin Street
- I Like You
- Mexico
- Sister I'm A Poet
- Alsatian Cousin
- Little Man, What Now?
- Everday is Like Sunday
- The World is Full of Crashing Bores
- Meat is Murder
- Speedway
- November...
=================
- There Is A Light...

Tonight was pretty brutal to say the least! Even Morrissey commented something to the effect that "I hope you like being shackled!" Security was tight... we even had to walk through metal detectors... like we would bring a gun or knife into the venue... huh... I take that back... the Palladium (Hollywood, CA)! That was a isolated incidence that happened outside the venue. During November, several of us tried to get on stage, but the others and I were tackled to the ground... ouch...

Besides security, the show was great. Moz was in great form. The shows keep getting better and better... can't wait for the Las Vegas shows! I can't remeber any quotes right now... I'm slightly wounded, but I'll survive and recover in time for Salt Lake!

Limping onto to Salt Lake... Good Night!

Az Moz Fan

Well the show was great with a couple of exceptions. The sound felt on the verge of feeding back most of the time and there were a couple of bad moments where I thought it might get painful. It was also disappointing to see Moz knocked off his feet by some over exuberant fan who just needed to get on stage. Tho security was a little tight (but isn't it always at the Roseland?) I guess it wasn't quite tight enough on stage. Other than that.. exceptional show!

I want to preface this post by stating this is my third Morrissey show I've attended in Portland, I own all his solo albums, B-Sides, The Smiths albums, and I'm constantly checking Morrissey-solo for news on the man.

Given that, I was pretty let down by tonight's show at the Roseland Theater. Normally, when Moz comes to Portland I'm thrilled. Today I had a hard time getting motivated to even go to the show. Why the apathy this time around?

To be blunt: I don't understand the purpose of this tour. It seemingly is to solidify Morrissey's standing as a viable entertainer and thus assist him garnering a new recording contract. If this is the case: I thought I was all for it. I want a new album badly. It's been five years since Maladjusted was released. Initial reviews of the current tour reported the unveiling of four new songs. We were all thrilled. However, after further review this tact has some major drawbacks. First and foremost, Moz's tours are so rare, when he does come to town one wants him to play the old favorites. The new songs, while exciting that they exist, don't seemingly belong on a tour in which no one in the audience is familiar with them.

Which brings me to the new songs themselves. The most glaring aspect of them is they were "Made in the USA." Life in Southern California has now become the inspiration for Morrissey's latest work. "The First of the Gang to Die" covers some old ground. In "Now My Heart Is Full" Morrissey makes reference to a fictional Brighton gang in Graham Green's novel Brighton Rock, in comparison the new song sounds pedestrian. "The World is Full of Crashing Bores" seems to take dead aim on Britney Spears et al. a fairly easy target no? "I Like You" was a nice pop song, period. "Mexico" clearly is the real gem; an illustrative and passionate work.

On the topic of Morrissey's appearance. The majority opinion from this tour seems to be: the master is aging gracefully. But the obvious fact is: he is over forty now. As for the king of style, the black cardigan sweater he wore to start the show did not make him look any younger. I was happy to see Moz discard the sweater early on, but even the white shirt button up shirt he wore was only so-so. What happened to the shiny shirts? The boys club shirts, etc.? The one band member whose generally appearance was, let's just call it "not good" was Boz. That plaid blue shirt he was wearing needs to be found and burned ASAP. No really, I'm serious. I was hoping for a more little style from the band. In addition, I understand Moz is a master of self-deprecation, but the *constant* reminders of his age and his mention of his reduced vocal range seemed only to draw attention to the fact he is getting older.

Finally and perhaps the hardest aspect to report on was the corny nature of parts of the show. The gong prominently on display. Morrissey's choreographed masturbation. Moz commenting, "There's a dog loose in the theater," which was later followed by recorded dog barking sounds *during* one of the songs. What on earth? Also, while I delight in Moz's penchant for changing lyrics in concert, during tonight's show he often wouldn't sing certain verses, opting instead to insert a, "Blah, blah, blah." Not his precise words but he was seemingly goofing off rather than bother to sing certain lyrics - and it was more than his usually playfulness. This was especially true on "Alsatian Cousin" and "What Now, Little Man?" This may seem like an insignificant point but a musician shouldn't denigrate his own words, particularly a gifted lyricist such as Moz.

Quite a night,eh? So am I still a fan? Would I buy a new album if it were released? You bet. I think this tour suffers from a case of purposelessness. I sat in my seat wishing Moz would just release his new songs for sale via the internet or sell a new mini CD single at the tour. Something/anything to get new studio material in the hands of his fans. I'm sorry to say of this waiting game: this joke isn't funny a

Read the rest of this comment...

...And it's so lonely on a limb..

Morrissey would be 100% better WITHOUT:
1. his current band (get some new blood in there, PLEASE)
2. the same setlist night after night
3. the same musical direction (in terms of songwriting - see #1)

The Portland show was a truly wonderful event. I went to the Seattle show, the Eugene show and the Portland show, and they just kept getting better. The crowd was undeniably into him, and he apreciated that, and fed off of it. Couldn't you see it in his face?

What could be better than seeing him in such a packed place with a bunch of lunatics going crazy?

I think this show was near perfection, and some of the other postings have been a little too critical to be taken seriously.

Some people really make me a sad old man.

Thankyou for the blessings.

X X X

WoW.That's all I can say!! WOW!! Any of you detractors that said lastnight's show was bad OBVIOUSLY weren't at the Seattle show. It was absolutely the WORST show of ANY band i've ever seen period!! The fans stood around like Zombies as if they had no idea who they had come to see that night,and it completely reflected in morrissey's performance.(refer to the comments of the Seattle show) On to lastnight's show...

>>>It was PURE MAGIC!!!! The instant Moz appeared onstage,we all went INSANE!!! it was so beautiful..and you could really see the pleasure and suprise in Steven's face,and then he commented something like'Now THIS is what we came for..' After such a depressing show in Seattle,It was a huge breath of fresh air to see that there really are still TRUE Morrissey fans out there!!
Thank you guys SO much for making the four hour trip to Portland totally worth sitting through the horrible show at the Paramount.

>>>To all of you loser Zombies that were at the Seattle show,(and you know who you are)THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STAYING AWAY!! The absence of your shiftless bodies and your bizarre willingness to stand there like Zombies when Morrissey is singing his life to you really added to the show! And I think even Moz would agree with this statement-To the Detractors: PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM ALL MORRISSEY SHOWS IN THE FUTURE-you don't deserve to call yourselves Morrissey fans!=(

My name is Tom. I posted anonymous because for some reason I can't log in right now..bummer

I haven't seen him since 97, but I must say the song "mexico" (which I listened to on MP3)has impressed me greatly. Some of you have said he has not entered anythingthing new in terms of song direction??!?!?!?!?! Are you CRAZY? Haver you heard mexico yet??? I mean really..... I don't understand why more people aren't connecting this whole "Moz is a racist" craze in the early nineties to this song....Come on!He has gone from singing the national front disco to skinheads to singing "If your rich and your white, youll be all right, I just don't think this should be so" to a large base of latino fans! It completely invalidates his "Racism" detractors...and he has done it on his own terms. Not to mention the song is quite beautiful and probably one of his BEST!
So I say, keep writing music Morrissey...and I will keep listening..
-Jonathon in Ithaca NY JH283@cornell.edu

Did anyone else see Morrissey crying during Maudlin Street?

He started the song off normally, but then when he got to the part where he says "I could list the details of everything you ever wore or said, or how you stood the day as we spent the last night on Maudlin Street," his face went a little longer, and his eyes were wetter than they had been. Throughout the rest of the song he seemed a little choked up, and then he recovered during the applause, and was OK getting into I Like You.

Perhaps this was just part of the act, but he was fine during this song in Seattle and Eugene. It was like he started remembering who he was singing about.

Did anyone else notice this?