On This Glorious Occasion

Finally, after 10 years of waiting I saw Morrissey in Chester. Since I happen to be studying in Manchester this year (I'm originally from Finland), I missed my chance of being in the middle (well, in the front ;)) of the Finnish Moz crowd. Anyway, I knew that this would be a real Moz experience after what I had heard about the Helsinki gig.

I took an afternoon train to Chester and arrived "somewhere" around 5pm. There were about 20 fans already and I joined the one and only Morrissey queue in the front of Northgate Arena. Some of the fans had been there since early morning. The weather was fantastic - rainy and windy, so we all were feeling more or less hypothermic, not that we would have cared, really. Someone had a bunch of flowers. Every now and again I would check to make sure that I had my ticket and my letter for Moz with me. Some people walked by and asked who's going to perform. And when we replied "Morrissey" they said "Morrissey??... hmmmm". I bet they were wondering what band that was.

The doors were opened soon after 7pm and I managed to get to the front row. Northgate Arena is sort of a sports hall but what's worse was that the barrier was very far away from the stage (3-4 meters) which no one was happy about. What would happen to my tea party invitation? IMO it's totally insane to put a barrier so far away from the stage at a Moz gig. Because one of the main points is that people can be close to him. And that he can be close to the fans. Right, but enuff complaining...

Hmm, I reserved a place in the front row and went to do some Moz shopping. You see, Morrissey fans seem to be very kind people since I still had my place after I had bought the "Satan Rejected My Soul" tee-shirt. :) Lovely! And then, everyone was just waiting while music by Debussy was flowing to our ears. Elcka started to play at 8.15 and did a half an hour's set. The drummer was hilarious and to be honest, I concentrated on him more than their music... Well, to be exact, I sort of tried to figure out what kind of miking they had on the drums. Very interesting indeed.

Also, I managed to follow my friend's advice and did not faint before the beginning. We did some Moz chanting and then, around 9.15 there was smoke and the lights started to flash on the stage and then... the drum solo from "The Operation". The moment when they came on to the stage was incredible. Morrissey was the first one and greeted us "Goodbye Chester" which made us smile. He was wearing a dark green silk shirt and dark grey slacks and seemed to be in very good shape. Boz was wearing a suit, Alain had a very sexy tiger patterned shirt but otherwise, I didn't pay too much attention to the band. Oh, but Alain was playing his guitar by his mouth sometimes.

The first song was "Do Your Best And Don't Worry" followed by "The Boy Racer". I've never liked those songs very much, but live they sounded so brilliant. Or is it just Moz's charm? ;) Anyway, from the beginning of "Do Your Best" I started to wave the letter in my hand. Moz noticed it and sort of winked to me and asked me to throw it to him. Yes, he looked straight into my eyes. But I was a bit disappointed because the distance from the barrier to the stage was too far and it would have been impossible to hand him a letter or even touch him. "My only mistake is I'm hoping". So I threw my letter for him when he finished "Do Your Best". And what the heck! My letter didn't reach him, I screamed "oh no" and the crowd on the front row sighed deeply. I don't know if it was just my imagination, but I think Morrissey looked a bit disappointed as well. My note flopped right next to the security guard's feet. I was so mad. I begged him to give it back to me or give it to Morrissey three times but he never did.

Soon after I tried to get my invitation to him, someone threw him a bunch of yellow daisies. They were the only things thrown to the stage (as far as I know) which I'm quite surprised about. Otherwise the crowd was very enthusiastic. They played 14 songs in an hour. "Now My Heart Is Full", "Billy Budd", "Spring-Heeled Jim" and "Speedway" from Vauxhall & I; "Do Your Best", "The Boy Racer", "Reader Meet Author" and "Teachers Are Afraid" from Southpaw Grammar; "Trouble Loves Me", "Alma Matters", "Roy's Keen" and "Satan Rejected" from Maladjusted. Smiths' songs were same as usual, that is, "Paint A Vulgar Picture" near the beginning of the set and "Shoplifters" as an encore.

Since I was in the front row I almost panicked after the first two songs when people started to push us more and more against the barrier. Nevertheless, I felt surprisingly well after the gig and have only couple of bruises on my hip. Never mind the bruises. :) To my surprise, more than 20 people managed to touch Morrissey! I don't know what happened but when he started to sing "Trouble Loves Me" (which is SUCH a beautiful song) someone "stagedived" through the guards and was helped by Moz. We cheered for him but then soon after there was someone every 10 seconds or so who wanted to reach him and I didn't find it so enjoyable anymore. I mean, I couldn't really enjoy the music and performance while there were so many people fighting with security men. Or am I just being jealous!?? My body was too tired to even try take a big step.

All in all, Morrissey's voice and movements were excellent and the band's sound was surprisingly good even though I was standing (or better, flattening) in the first row (you know what I mean... it didn't depend on my position, I hope ;)). I didn't get everything he said between the songs, but at least he asked us "Are you bored?" to which we yelled "NOOO" and got a reply "Why not?". He certainly seemed to be in a good mood also. And before "Satan" he mentioned, "We're going to release a x-mas single". I think he also welcomed everyone from Merseyside and somewhere else. And in the end, he said "I love you". Everyone knew it was over after "Shoplifters" - sweating and smiling I left the place. And now, my heart is so full.

Taina Viitamäki