Is Alain back? What's wrong with him? Poor Alain.

Absolutely BLINDING NIGHT! Gene, then Moz, then more Gene! I'm exhausted! Then his black Jobriath tshirt (as worn for Irish Blood at end) just flew straight towards us in Row F!!!! And we had been cursing not standing at the front! It smells heavenly! Absolutely one of the best nights of my life! XXXX

As I sit here and finish up my work day in California, I know that you lucky bastards are heading home after what I hope was a excellent event. Can't wait to read about it...details, details, details!
Thank you.

What a great night! A fortnight ago the rfh show was okay - alain going sick was a bit of a downer but the lads managed to pull it off. Tonight though was quality. They started with don't make fun of daddys voice which was a bit of an odd choice and followed up with Shakespeares sister which sounded superb. The setlist has really been moved around and there is a light got played mid set which went down a treat with numerous people getting on stage. The main set finished with I'm not sorry with irish blood being played as the encore. Lots of banter from moz about the meltdown festival and the odd dig thrown in about Will young just for good measure!! No hairdresser or a rush.... but I've only just realised typing this up. The sound quality seemed a lot better than the previous show.

The most bizarre experience after the show was gene playing a full on electric set in the foyer at the rfh! They sounded pretty good actually. There was also a worry amount of people wearing red hot chilli pepper shirts milling around victoria after the show. Were they playing London was well?? Oh well, I know where I would have rather been.

Roll on tomorrow night for the final installment with the East End's favourite sons as support. Cockney Rejects, oi oi!

Was right at the front tonight - but thwarted in my attempts to climb up onstage by the biggest, most evil bouncer in the world - am a bashed and bruised girl ... still, a brilliant night. Think Morrissey may be deaf tho' as we SCREAMED to get him to reach out to us, but no luck ... well done to those who made it on stage, and thank you to the lovely guy who lifted me up to get a better look. Morrissey fans are THE BEST!!!
- Heidi

Wow! What an amazing evening!

Rather than give a sequential account I'll post separate points.

* Barry was still playing in the band, Alain had not returned. He was introduced as 'Little Barry' during the band introductions. Some people shouted 'how is Alan?' but Morrissey did not respond.

*The standing arrangement was changed from that of the 11th. There was no barrier between the stage and the crowd. Many people were allowed to stand in front of the stage. I had tickets for stalls row U but I was standing two rows back, had an amazing view and was THE FIRST TO HOLD MORRISSEY'S HAND out of the whole crowd, this was during 'I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday' :-). Made me very happy. Many others held his hand. There were many stage invaders, about 10 people made it onto the stage but not all managed to hold Morrissey or touch him, so were dragged away. Morrissey's 'shadow' patrolled the pit in front of him. Morrissey seemed to want to diffuse the situation towards the end, and stopped trying to touch people. Most of the stage invasions occurred during 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out'. After that they sent a few more security guards in and security got tighter, though I think others made in onstage after that one. We cheered madly when people got on the stage.

*Setlist: opener was 'Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice'
'Shakespeare's Sister' was played.
encore was 'Irish Blood, English Heart'. The other Smiths songs played were 'Rubber Ring', The Headmaster Ritual', 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out'. 'All The Lazy Dykes' was played, 'Such A Little Thing...', 'How Can Anybody...', 'Crashing Bores', 'First Of The Gang...', 'I Know It's Gonne Happen...' 'No One Can Hold A Candle...', 'I Have Forgiven Jesus', 'I'm Not Sorry', 'Subway / Everyday Is Like Sunday', 'Let Me Kiss You', were all played. I probably missed some.

*Morrissey introduced 'Let Me Kiss You' as 'a Nancy Sinatra song'. He asked us if we had been to see Lypsinka, The New York Dolls and Nancy, at various points of the evening.

*He said something like 'old songs can still have meaning' before The Headmaster Ritual, but afterwards he said 'but that one doesn't'. He also changed the lyrics in that song to 'bruises AS BIG AS dinner plates'. Observant fans will note that in the Q Smiths special Johnny Marr said that he had made the suggestion of that lyric change to Morrissey. A coincidence, or had Moz recently read the article?

*Linder was Moz's support act. She was wearing a ball dress and appeared very glamorous. She played 'Breaking the rules' second to last, and the track on the NME compilation last. She said we would know these ones.

*Morrissey was looking trim and healthy, was on friendly form, frequently responding to shouts from the crowd, and leaning down to touch quite a few hands.

*Somebody shouted 'where's Julia?' I didn't see her and I don't think Moz mentioned her, but I might have missed it.

I had a great evening, it was amazing to stand so close after thinking I was going to be in the stalls row U. I danced to every song, and I and those around me really had a great time singing along to every word and jumping around. Top gig, with a re-jigged setlist.

Amazing show!!! can't wait to see him again tomorrow!
Here some images i took and two clips of Rubber Ring:
http://www.alinkarel.plus.com/MozPics/
Enjoy!

Karel

....Nah, no sign of Alain. Moz didn't mention his absence, but Barry got a big cheer.

I was sitting pretty much in the same seat as the 11th - but this time there were LOADS more stage invaders - especially during There Is A Light and Everyday Is Like Sunday. I felt so sorry for some of those who struggled to scale the stage and got chucked off by the bouncers before they even got a chance to touch Moz. Moz was being evil at one point - one poor sod was flailing about on the floor of the stage as he struggled to get beyond the bouncers and touch Moz, and Moz just turned and stood with his back pointedly to him! One girl got on stage and came at Moz from behind, throwing her arm round his neck and kissing him on the cheek. It might have been me but I thought Moz looked a bit pissed off when she kissed him, and he swiftly wiped his cheek afterwards.

There were these two fairly elderly Northern ladies sitting behind me and they were just sat there open-mouthed and enraptured, gazing adoringly. It was so sweet!

Moz looked lush as usual - he was wearing the same jacket as Dublin, and threw two shirts into the audience. I thought he looked cuddlier than two weeks ago but didn't seem to sweat as much. He seemed to enjoy writing around on the floor rather more this time too.

GUESS WHAT?! No dialogue with Julia tonight! Maybe she wasn't there....Though I thought I saw her at Nancy Sinatra and Lypsinka.

Quite a lot of chat with the audience - answered several questions, including "How was Sweden?" (to which he replied, "Fantastic?") and "How's your mum?" to which he replied (after asking "Why do you want to know?"): "She's wonderful!". He announced that Meltdown had been fantastic, although he wasn't sure who was repsonsible for curating it, he would like to thank them. He asked us if we had been to see Nancy, who he pronounced 'sensational'. He also mentioned James Maker, but not Linder, even though some people were shouting her name. Someone in the audience yelled: "Why didn't you mention Alan Bennett?". And Moz said "Ah, so you *noticed* that I didn't mention Alan Bennett".

After introducing the band, he pointed to himself and said "And I am someone who you really, really wouldn't want to know". Moz, you daft sod, of course we do!

Introducing FOTGTD he said, "This is the next single...which is released July 12th and, if Keane don't mind, should be a hit".
He also remarked that Quarry had gone up the British chart.

He also mentioned an award ceremony he had attended the other day, where "Will Young was declared Artist of the Year. So that's it. Will Young is the. Artist. of. the. Year".

He opened with 'Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice' and I could have sworn he changed 'something got stuck in his throat' to 'somebody got stuck in his throat', but maybe that's just my deviant mind playin tricks on me.

Setlist was all chopped and changed about. There Is A Light was in the middle, and Irish Blood the encore. Shakespear's Sister was added, and Hairdresser On Fire ommitted.

Gary Day was looking very dapper in an aquamarine suit! Sorry I can't remember more about what Moz said but I am pretty exhausted. I also missed Linder because it was my friend's birthday and I had to put in an appearance at her drinkies do in the West End. But the bloke next to me said she did the same as her pre-Sinatra set - except she wore a white dress. He also said she still didn't manage to sing in key!

So this is the last Meltdown do for me - although I have a Gold Pass, I am going to Spain for a week tomorrow morning so I will miss tomorrow night's gig, which I am well gutted about. I am really pissed off at missing the Cockney Rejects - as an East End-born lifelong West Ham girlie I have a huge sentimental attachment to them and am heartbroken to be missin em.

Not so gutted about missing Glastonbury because I couldn't deal with all the bloody mud and hippies. Us Essex Gel's are pretty high maintenance, you know. But I can feel the wit

Read the rest of this comment...

I had a spare ticket which I'd been trying to off-load all week with no success. I stood outside the Festival Hall for about 2 hours and couldn't sell it. I bumped into lots of people (not touts) trying to sell extra tickets that their firends had left them holding. There were 5 touts I could put a face to now. One guy seemed to have a carrier bag with dozens of tickets. There was no one queuing for returns at the box office. I eventually went into the venue and asked if the RFH would credit me with the value of the ticket but they said 'no' because there was no demand for tickets. I gave my spare ticket to PETA, (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). I was, as it turned out, very happy about that. At the start of the gig there were at least 12 empty seats just in front of me. Perhaps the touts got left with the tickets? I stayed in my place in the front terrace until 'Everyday is like Sunday'. I then HAD to go to the loo. But when I came back to the auditorium I waltzed past happy ushers and let the 'Le Shark' security people inspect my ticket even though they didn't know what they were looking at and *hey presto!* I walked down to the front of the stalls and was the closest I've ever been to Morrissy after 10 gigs in 13 years. I couldn't quite believe it. As I arrived he changed his stripey shirt for a checked one. It was not crammed at the front and I had a great time. I was so close that I felt he overlooked us at the front to communicate with everyone further back - which of course he should! Lovely, lovely, lovely. So close I could see the his neck quivver as he sand. My advice: No ticket? - no problem, just turn up. The rest of the UK is at Glastonbury or at the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in Hyde Park this weekend. You'll get a ticket. Pay no more than face value. Good luck! And to the French folks who may take a EuroStar, Bon Chance!

Intro: Imperfect List

Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice
Shakespear's Sister
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
Let Me Kiss You
I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday
The Headmaster Ritual
Such A Little Thing Makes A Big Difference
I Have Forgiven Jesus
(Band introductions before...)
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
First Of The Gang To Die
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
All The Lazy Dykes
No One Can Hold A Candle To You
Rubber Ring
Subway Train/Everyday Is Like Sunday
I'm Not Sorry

Encore:
Irish Blood English Heart

----
Some random thoughts:

Much better than the gig on the 11th. Moz in great form, with some really good banter between songs.
Barry seemed much more relaxed, and he played really well. No mention at all of Alain.
All The Lazy Dykes is far, far better live than on record.
Linder is slightly mad, and her band were a bit Sunday-night-down-the-Nag's-Head. A couple of her songs made me want to unearth some of her records, while a couple of others were just terrible.
Gene's set in the Foyer was excellent - better than their gig at Islington Academy earlier in the year.

It was very, very easy, there were quite a few returns. The demand for Moz has been diluted by the UK festivals so if you want to go tomorrow you'll easily get in.
Touts wre selling tickets for £20, I got mine for £30 off the box office, a great seat near the front but I stood at the very front with all the others for most of the show.
The show was fantastic. First of the Gang was amazing. Moz is dead chuffed at going up the albums chart which shows he's as obsessed with chart positions as ever!
Little Barrie was ever so sweet! Smiled quite a lot, seemed to be having a great time. The crowd went bonkers for Irish Blood in the encore. Funny to hear Moz moan about Keane, he doesn't mind them really!
All in all a great show. I wasn't even intending to go tonight but I turned up too late for Gene and they just said, you can get a Morrissey ticket instead! Was between a journo from the Independent and the legendary Amy Lamé!
Cheers.
John, England

I hate to sound trite and cliched but OH MY GOD absolutely the best Morrissey gig I have ever witnessed ever (and this is my fourth). Just about all my dreams of years of being a fan came true, touching his hand (twice), coming home with a piece of his shirt. If I only would have made it to the stage... but I can honestly say that if a double decker bus would have crashed into me last night (or this morning), I would have died a very very happy boy. Amazing set, even all the Lazy Dykes was enjoyable. Such a Little Thing fantastic live (and not one my favourite tracks to be honest). And the Smith tracks, Rubber Ring etc, well I almost wept, literally. IBEH encore, to use another intensely naff turn of phrase, rocked. Paid a ridiculous amount of money on ebay for stalls seats but stood at the front... fantastic. Beg borrow or steal to get a ticket for tonight, and get down to the stage, you will never regret it. I will stop gushing now (rather undiginified). Surfice to say that I went expecting to be under-whelmed, my aging idol fading into a parody, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Smith are dead, long live Morrissey.

In response to all the comments about Julia not being there nor getting a mention, she was, and she did!!

She was on at the very front (of course) and obviously struggling to see over the stage (being small, like me!) so he went over to her and went 'ohhhhhh, Julia....' very sweetly pittyingly and knelt down to take her hand! Was I the only one to see??!!

This was my second Morrissey gig and I found it to be far less enjoyable than my first.

The setlist was poorer, slightly predictable and I would have liked to have heard more off some of the older albums rather than the majority of You Are The Quarry.

A lot of it was probably that I was up on the balcony, where, at first, security guards told us to sit down. During There Is A Light That Never Goes Out people began to get up onto their feet and didn't really sit down after that, which made things much more enjoyable. I didn't see many die hard fans up there, which was disappointing.

Irish Blood English Heart was the encore and I didn't think that worked as well as There Is A Light... but it was alright.

One minute clip of TEENAGE DAD ON HIS ESTATE, NOW ON youarethequarry.net

audio, password if needed is hector

takes a few listens to get into

This was the first time I have seen Morrissey. Despite having started seeing bands in 86 (am now mid 30s) I somehow managed to avoid ever seeing The Smiths (one of my only real regrets in life). Spent a year in the States in the late 80s and got really into all the Smiths stuff. Bought Viva Hate when it came out and really liked it. For some reason I pretty much ignored Moz for the next 12 years. I guess I just assumed the stuff he was producing was no good. About a year ago a mate told me I needed to get some of his other solo stuff, so I did, and have been listening to it pretty much non-stop for the last year or so. I still cann’t believe the quality of albums such as Vauxhall and Maladjusted. Anyway, I was obviously pretty excited in anticipation of last night.

Had a couple of drinks on one of the boats on the river before heading over to the RFH at 8ish. Another couple of drinks and a sarnie before heading into the hall at 10 to 9 ish. Got inside and simply couldn’t believe what a great venue it was. I think we had the best seats in the place, central stalls, 7 rows back. It’s quite tiered, so on that row you’re about stage height, but still really close to the stage. Because loads of stalls people go down the front its really relaxed actually in the stalls seats, loads of space etc….Anyone who has seats at the back of the stalls can easily just wander down to the front, no problem. Before he came on I couldn’t sit down I was so excited.

Lights go down, nothing for a few minutes, and then that Imperfect List thing. I know some people hate it, but I thought it was OK. It certainly didn’t dampen my spirits. As soon as Moz came on everyone was on their feet, and that’s the way it stayed (in the stalls anyway) throughout the gig. The rest is pretty much a blur for me. A few points to note :

• Headmasters Ritual – although really good, it was plodding compared to the Meat is Murder album track
• All the YAQT tracks were great (apart from How can anybody…which I don’t like) – First of the gang was amazing
• Noone can hold a candle and Don’t make fun of were both brilliant
• Going to the loo, and getting the beers in was really quick and easy, so you didn’t need to worry about missing too much although….
• I returned from a lightening trip to the bar to find him in the middle of There is a light (fatal timing) – it was really good, and the stage invaders really got going during this song (although there was a fair few all night long really)
• He was quite chatty – seemed to be having a good time – lots of chat about the festival
• I found myself crying during Everyday is like Sunday – which is weird because I never cry…
• Was looking round quite a lot – everyone seemed to be having a great time – from the stalls the place is amazing – if going tonight, you need to get down to the stalls somehow
• Took quite a few photos, they’re not bad, but a bit dark – security stopped me after a bit, but they didn’t seem too bothered
• The Jobriath T-shirt was heading in my direction – if he’d have put a bit more effort into the throw I’d have got it – the girl who caught it was absolutely made up – I think she stuffed it down her pants and legged it immediately !
• Irish Blood as a one song encore was a bit disappointing, but then I guess he’s not well known for pleasing the crowd

Met a couple of RHCPs fans on the train on the way home – they were very young but had had a good time in Hyde Park – the girl was a bit clueless, James Brown had been supporting and she had no idea who he was ! Anyway, nice enough couple, probably bored stupid by me going on about Moz no stop.

All in all an amazing evening that lived up to (impossibly high) expectations. Have got tickets for Move, but am worried that it will inevitably be a disappointment after last night.

I’d love to go again tonight but cann’t make it – looking forward to reading the review though….

Really quite terrible quality, but regardless...

Shakespear's Sister and All The Lazy Dykes can be found here:

http://www.jmstacey.net/tracker/

You'll need bittorrent to download it, but as it's only 6.0Mb for both tracks, people on dial-up connections should be able to get hold of them reasonably quickly.

As a long time follower of The Smiths and Morrissey I read some of the rapturous comments with a sense of disbelief.
Rubber Ring, IBEH, There is a light and Crashing Bores were great, but..
Headmasters Ritual was very lame with neither guitarists on the same page, hence Morrisseys withering comment at the end, he is far too portly nowadays to be tossing shirts into the crowd.
When people got round the gorilla's he waltzed away whenever possible to avoid too much contact..my how times have changed !!
Having seen The Smiths many times and Morrissey a fair amount in the past few years, this felt very much like a perfunctory performance devoid of any real empathy for the fans.

took my missus along.shes not a fan at all.she loved it!.easy to get beers,free poster from time out lovely! We where up on the balcony, not a bad view I thought. Good night!

the best morrissey show i've ever seen!!!
i was just too lucky on that night. got a ticket through coincidence and just moved down to the stage for some reason...
i can't describe the atmosphere, it was sooo great

Has anyone got a recording of the show, if so I would be interested in getting hold of a copy. You can contact me at daviddrinkwater1956@hotmail.com