Post-Tour Notes from Moz

[Midnight]

That was a nice letter! I enjoyed reading it muchly.

I felt the same too - it was refreshing in comparison to the last entry he made at TTY. It was especially lovely to hear him speak about his experiences on the tour and how he spent his time in the various European countries he visited.

The fact that he's hinted at an American tour gives me hope that he'll eventually make it to the Southern Hemisphere at some stage!

 

[Vic Strangeways]

UK residents, please purchase at REAL, WALK-IN SHOPS.... Like Virgin or HMV. These are the only purchases that count for the British record charts.... Archaic, but true.[/I]

What? Downloads have been counted since March.

 

[ellekari]

What a beautiful letter. Made me happy to read that he's able to deeply enjoy an experience of nature, that's an important thing. I'm a romanticist underneath..
If only he would write books.

 

[mjp]

And BTW, I understand where he's coming from when he says that a certain performance sucked because people in the front rows were not interested in his music.

However, I somehow feel for others that were there and that gave their best to support him every step of the way. It surely isn't pleasant to read that he hated the gig you've been to ... at least I know I would feel quite sad to see him bashing a gig I've attended. Luckily that didn't happen but I can honestly feel for those who have been there and did their best so I would rather see him stick to the performances he most liked. That's always a good read and leaves me happy, whether it's the performance I've attended or not.

DeliciousDemon, yes I'm glad you said this, I was there, fourth row doing my very very best to make up for the apathy infront of me, I sang and shouted myself horse; I could barely talk for days. There were others too, but not enough I'm afraid to make enough difference.

I think the reason he brought up Gateshead is because there was a lot of criticism of that gig at the time. He didn't do an encore and there was loads of speculation about it. He's just explaining himself. Though I think in these situations he'd be better off explaining at the time rather than running off in a sulk. The same thing happened with the first Palladium gig. I think sometimes he expects people to be able to read his mind.

Danny, yes you are right, he's picked it out because of the speculation but I wonder how he gets to hear about the moans afterwards.....

I stayed behind for 5 minutes after the lights went up just in case it was a joke to rid the hall of the knitting brigade before treating us to an exclusive intimate encore. Then I woke up in my cornflakes.....

Eitherway, I loved the letter, again very personal and witty and charming, just like a classic Moz song.

 

[lnathan]

Interesting!
Although I am abit bored at the talk about chart placings...it just doesn't interest me. But I think it was wonderful to read how he liked Scandinavia. He's right it's so beautiful in Norway and Sweden.

And I totally understand what he says about the Gateshead gig. It must be a weird feeling performing for people who clearly aren't interested. I don't blame him for not wanting to do an ancore.

 

[Jon]

"and although our 'In The Future When All's Well' was #6 in over-the-counter sales in the UK, once downloading sales were added we found ourselves marooned at #17. The same had happened with our previous single 'The Youngest Was The Most Loved' which was #3 in physical sales, yet not even in the top ten once downloads had been counted. No doubt these absurd new chart rules will change soon, and it's worth remembering that they were introduced on the week that 'You Have Killed Me' entered at #3, so you can't blame me for thinking that someone is out to dislodge me. The song that ended up at #1 wasn't even buyable in any record shop at the time! A very fair system ...."

I don't think moz can get his head round physical sales and downloads. A download atually is a physical sale, people phyiscally pay and virtually download. whats the difference? If he is suggesting that downloads should not count (which I fear he is) this would be a totally unfair system, and would not take into account a massive percentage of the record buying public. There is absolutely no logic whatsoever in what he is saying here. If the song that entered number 1 at the time was not available in a record shop, what is the problem with that? He seems to want to create his own rules about how things should be counted to benefit himself. Singles charts positions barely matter nowadays anyway, there will be no UK singles charts in the next few years, just like other countrys.

I am sure the record industry are not out to dislodge you Morrissey, that is paranoia taken to the extreme. Perhaps your marketing stratergy should take into account more that people love buying downloads, and perhaps put more effort into doing more deals with online record stores to make your songs more visible on those portals, instead of moaning about some bullshit conspiricy theory about things that do not matter and about people being out to get you....its kind of a reflection of where his head is at (ie firmly up his own arse).

 

[Jones]

There is a point that downloads are a hell of a lot cheaper than the actual CD so if you are getting most of your sales on downloads you can be a lot higher in the charts than if you are selling CDs with b-sides. Therefore it's much cheaper to hype a song into the charts with downloads and you can bet your life it's happening.

 

[Jon]

There is a point that downloads are a hell of a lot cheaper than the actual CD so if you are getting most of your sales on downloads you can be a lot higher in the charts than if you are selling CDs with b-sides. Therefore it's much cheaper to hype a song into the charts with downloads and you can bet your life it's happening.

totally agree.

 

[Chartres]

Nice too see that he likes Scandinavia so much, hope that means he'll be back many times. Fun comment about Truman's (or Hoffmann's) voice, maybe we might hear anything about him cause he's perfect with the voice, character, life/death and crime story.

Inathan, Denmark is really beautiful too .

 

[lilybett]

However, don't make fun of Truman's voice. It's easy to arrange a story into loving myth once all the central characters are dead, and I'm not even sure if Truman was a writer at all, or just someone who sneaked around and watched. But he was funny. When I put him on the cover of the Smiths single 'The Boy With the Thorn In His Side' a certain member of the Smiths (who unfortunately is still alive) said, "is that Ernie Wise?" .... dear God ...

Ahahaha

On the nighttime drive from Karlstad to Oslo I felt surprised, amazed and privileged to be alive. The scenery was tearfully breath taking; full moon on still lakes. I'm humbled by the beauty of Scandinavia, and by how the people and the press are so open and welcoming. During the afternoon of the Oslo festival I walked through the center of the city and sat in the park. A lone British voice said "'ullo Morrissey" but otherwise I went unnoticed and felt securely at home. I sat on the grass in the park and, when the sun struck at a certain angle, I felt that life really wasn't that bad. This moment passed quickly.

What I want to say is "don't ever change!". But as if he ever would <3

 

[wolve]

It's great to have another letter from Morrissey, and it seems like the tour won't be over soon!! I hope he accepted the invitations to play in more cities here in Belgium!

 

[DeliciousDemon]

Just to clarify, I wasn't reffering only to Gateshead, I was also reffering to some previous letters where he was bashing gigs at Imola, Bologna (quoting "Bologna was a stinker") and, in the Q&A section, he had some comments about audience in The Netherlands being a mistery to him (probably thinking that they weren't die-hard enough)

 

[Jones]

I'd prefer him to be honest myself. I hate these artists who suck up to their fans and pretend everything in the garden is rosy. If he were to pretend that a crap gig you were at was wonderful you'd be wondering if you were at the same gig. It's obvious to everyone when things don't go well so why pretend? It's not like he's blaming anyone. He's just acknowledging that sometimes things go wrong. Leave it to other artists to pretend to their fans that everything is perfect.

 

[Kewpie]

I'd prefer him to be honest myself. I hate these artists who suck up to their fans and pretend everything in the garden is rosy. If he were to pretend that a crap gig you were at was wonderful you'd be wondering if you were at the same gig. It's obvious to everyone when things don't go well so why pretend? It's not like he's blaming anyone. He's just acknowledging that sometimes things go wrong. Leave it to other artists to pretend to their fans that everything is perfect.

I can't agree with more, Jones. In some people's eyes Morrissey is an arrogant primadonna, but to me he's always very honest and sincere to himself and his fans.
It's impossible to please everyone and it must be excruciating to be on stage despite his best effort when things don't go his way.
Some countries like Japan there are too many restrictions and regulations. Morrissey has less freedom in there when he's on stage, but we're very grateful to him and the lads for travelling to play for us.

 

[MrRoboto]

What a facinating read. It seems like he writes these things on Julia's site in such an off-the-cuff manner; the casual style is really unique and endearing. And finally - a date in the US!!! No where near me, once again, but this time I'm not going to let the opportunity pass me by like I did with Oklahoma :-(

Keep the letters coming, Moz!

 

[Worm]

If only he would write books.

I will of course rush out and buy whatever he publishes (and he will, I think), but...just my little opinion here...if he thinks Capote "wasn't really a writer" he ought to stick to making pop music.

 

[DeliciousDemon]

If he were to pretend that a crap gig you were at was wonderful you'd be wondering if you were at the same gig. .

I never said that he should lie or pretend, I merely said he should refrain from naming "the worst gigs" because that does nothing for the truth really and only hurts feelings of true fans who mostly go out of their way to attend gigs. My friend crossed 3 countries and paid hundreds of euros to attend Bologna gig just to find out it was, in his opinion, a "stinker". And, to bring things closer to home, I'm sure MJP didn't feel all that good about Gateshead being "the worst on the tour".

I just think naming "the worst gigs" is absolutely unescessary and somewhat disrespectful - however, no one needs to agree, I've said it was a personal feeling anyway so I rest my case.

I can't agree with more, Jones. In some people's eyes Morrissey is an arrogant primadonna, but to me he's always very honest and sincere to himself and his fans.

Now I have to ask myself - is he, really?
Because, we always hear about the venues, sound, audience, press, radio, record company and others being to blame about something and we never really get to hear him say that he, too, bares some sort of responsibility for what goes on in his career. So far I've never heard him admit that something went wrong because he fu*ked up. He claims to be a human being so I find it's almost impossible that there's not a single bad gig or chart failure resting solely on his shoulders. I don't mean to slam Moz but being honest and critical means being honest and critical towards your involvement as well and this is the element of honesty I somehow miss in his letters.

I'm still happy that they are there, though. It's nice to hear that we'll have a busy front page in november.

 

[Worm]

Because, we always hear about the venues, sound, audience, press, radio, record company and others being to blame about something and we never really get to hear him say that he, too, bares some sort of responsibility for what goes on in his career. So far I've never heard him admit that something went wrong because he fu*ked up. He claims to be a human being so I find it's almost impossible that there's not a single bad gig or chart failure resting solely on his shoulders. I don't mean to slam Moz but being honest and critical means being honest and critical towards your involvement as well and this is the element of honesty I somehow miss in his letters.

I'm still happy that they are there, though.

Agree 100%.

 

[Jones]

I never said that he should lie or pretend, I merely said he should refrain from naming "the worst gigs" because that does nothing for the truth really and only hurts feelings of true fans who mostly go out of their way to attend gigs. My friend crossed 3 countries and paid hundreds of euros to attend Bologna gig just to find out it was, in his opinion, a "stinker". And, to bring things closer to home, I'm sure MJP didn't feel all that good about Gateshead being "the worst on the tour".

I just think naming "the worst gigs" is absolutely unescessary and somewhat disrespectful - however, no one needs to agree, I've said it was a personal feeling anyway so I rest my case.



Now I have to ask myself - is he, really?
Because, we always hear about the venues, sound, audience, press, radio, record company and others being to blame about something and we never really get to hear him say that he, too, bares some sort of responsibility for what goes on in his career. So far I've never heard him admit that something went wrong because he fu*ked up. He claims to be a human being so I find it's almost impossible that there's not a single bad gig or chart failure resting solely on his shoulders. I don't mean to slam Moz but being honest and critical means being honest and critical towards your involvement as well and this is the element of honesty I somehow miss in his letters.

I'm still happy that they are there, though. It's nice to hear that we'll have a busy front page in november.

There was plenty of self criticism in that letter if you care to read it properly. One example is his decision to play the Roxy song. He's admitting he made a mistake there. I don't see how he can take the blame for marketing though.

Personally, I want to hear what he liked and disliked about the tour. I want to hear about what pissed him off and what he especially enjoyed. I want the truth, otherwise what's the point? If he's just gong to send us a missive about how wonderful we are and how every gig was a delight I don't think I could be bothered to read it.

If your feelings get hurt because he didn't especially like your gig I think you're being oversensitive. He's not there to bolster your self esteem. It's just a gig.

 

[ellekari]

if he thinks Capote "wasn't really a writer" he ought to stick to making pop music.

but then I'm not 100% sure I understand the meaning of this ("wasn't really a writer", as you say, actually is "I'm not even sure if Truman was a writer at all, or just someone who sneaked around and watched").
I don't think that sounds like "he was no good as a writer" but rather like "at the bottom, he was something else". After all, watching other people has always been a major source for stories and material to write about. So maybe "he was just someone who was good at observing other people and had a talent for putting that into words rather than taking all creative imagination out of himself"??
I know too little about Capote.