Wow that was a really, really good gig!
Got to the venue about 8pm and got a reasonably good spot on Boz's side of the stage. Kristeen Young was a bit disappointing; saw her support Moz in Dublin in 2006 where she was much better.. Really missed having her drummer.. It was pointless her even having a keyboard as she just mostly set it to auto and sang away from it to a very unresponsive crowd. Must have been daunting I'm it's own way I'd think.
Imperfect List right on 9pm, Morrissey's voice was the best I'd ever heard it. The sound was a bit crap being festival hall and all, but his voice stood out still. Very impressive set list too giving a great mix of the old and the new. I Know it's over was just stunning... The way he sung the outro was pure perfection. Speedway, Please Please Please..., November and Youngest I thought were the stand outs. LMKY and Paris were probably the "worst" songs.
I don't think the impact he wanted from the Meet Your Meat video was really felt as it was hard to actually see what was going on. The vegetarians were out in force last night, the girl infront of me barely moved all night until that song then she lost her shit and then went back to being a statue afterwards. She was a bit strange, when Moz was handing the mic out and someone got it and said something about vegan I didn't hear it properly (neither did Moz as he asked what she said) but I made a comment to my friend about what I thought it was when this 2 foot 3 girl infront of me turned to me and basically screamed "SHE SAID VEGAN!!" Calm down lady!
More crowd shenanigans happened when Still Ill began a guy came barging through shoving people out of the way to try and get to the front cos he had flowers... I reminded him it wasn't 1983, but he did worse when he shoved this big biker looking dude.. Biker guy had a real go at him but then to flower man's credit he just handed the Biker a flower and the situation just completely resolved lol Biker guy was basically out of moves.
The first shirt that went out caused a big scuffle with security kicking 2 people out (although I didn't see this, my friend that's nearly 7 foot got a birds eye view). The stage invaders weren't many but they got a big cheer when they hugged Moz and security helped them back down gently, nice to see.
Moz wasn't as chatty as when I've seen him before, the "do you know who said this quote" bit was quite funny, prompted a lot of guesses, I said "Tony Abbott" but I heard "Notorious BIG" and "Harold Bishop" directly around me.
But yeah, still gathering thoughts for a proper review but the music, the voice, everything just hit me and it made me realise that even though I don't agree with a great portion of what the man says, even though his newer material isn't as strong as years gone by... He's still my absolute favourite musical artist ever. I just FELT something at that gig I haven't felt in a long, long time at gigs and I see 30-odd gigs a year and seen some incredible acts. None of them made me feel this way when you sing along to every single word. The sad part is now its over, will I ever see him again? In Australia it's very unlikely, maybe elsewhere circumstance and timing dictates. The crowd were a little flatter than I'd have hoped. They ate up The Smiths stuff and early solo songs, some strong voices during certain portions.
The band were great, sound was iffy due to venue, but they were still good. Box was hilarious when he'd come walking up to the front of the stage, arm in sling and just stare at the crowd coldly for ages then toss a bunch of picks out and flash a quick smile.. He did that a couple of times. His arm in a sling didn't effect the sound, impressed he was able to modify how he plays (mostly using the guitar neck).
I planned to take a lot of video since I got this new Nokia phone with incredible camera, but the phone's battery is faulty and it drained so much before I even got in. I got into the arena with 15% left and needed some to get home still. So I got some quick clips which I'm compiling into a mini compilation , the sound is quite good so I'm a bit upset I couldn't take more. Security were stopping people from filming early on in the first 3-4 songs, they ventured right into the crowd to stop people but soon after they gave up.
Abby you remembered quite a lot of specific detail, you weren't on Boz's side too taking notes during the show were you? There was a girl just infront of me who spent a great deal of time writing up quick notes!
Anyways, all in all it was just incredible. It exceeded my expectations.
Oh and who is the girl in the black and white striped top in the picture at the top of this page?? I think I'm in love! Damn she is gorgeous!
Don't get me wrong, I love me some kids, that whole thing is just kinda too forced or something.
Does her friend have a Ghost World tattoo? 
