Scott Steg (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} scottsteg) wrote,@ 2007-10-10 09:41:00 |
|
Moz-Angeles
I'm sure some people have heard this before, but Los Angeles has this obsession with Morrissey and vice versa. This is most notable in recent weeks as he is playing 10 shows in 13 days at the Hollywood Palladium. There was even a special with Ticketmaster/LiveNation where you could buy tickets to all 10 shows for the price of 9 (The Palladium is General Admission), and those offers sold out the day they went on sale.
However, you could still but individual night tickets, and we got 2 for the opening night on Monday, October 1. First, you may ask, what did he play... here's the setlist:
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before / Tomorrow / All You Need is Me / Sister, I'm A Poet / That's How People Grow Up / London / Billy Budd / The Loop / Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? / Stretch Out And Wait / First Of The Gang To Die / Let Me Kiss You / Death Of A Disco Dancer / Disappointed / You Have Killed Me / In The Future When All's Well / I Like You / One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell / Dear God, Please Help Me / How Soon Is Now? // Irish Blood, English Heart
What I've liked about Morrissey over the last 10 years or so is he's made his concerts longer and he plays more Smiths songs. I remember seeing him at The Aragon Ballroom way back in 1997 where he played for 45 minutes (including the encore) and closed with one Smiths song "Shoplifters of the World Unite." This time he plays at least 4-5 Smiths tunes and the show lasts an hour and a half. Much better for the $57 ticket.
In some interviews he's revealed that The Palladium was one of the first US venues The Smiths played and since the building is going under some massive reconstruction, they asked him personally to close their season with a bang, thus the 10-night stand. Unfortunately, 2 of the 10 shows had to be canceled because of plumbing problems so those people got to use their tickets for a different night from the 10 shows.
The Palladium is a great venue on the inside and out and its said problems were invisible to the common public when we went to a second show last night Monday with Brandi's dad. He loved The Smiths and has been to several Morrissey shows, and last night's set was also not disappointing...
London / You Have Killed Me / Billy Budd / The Youngest Was The Most Loved / Good Looking Man About Town / All You Need Is Me / Sister, I'm A Poet / Death Of A Disco Dancer / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / Stretch Out And Wait / The Loop / Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? / Tomorrow / Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before / Irish Blood, English Heart / One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell / Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want / Let Me Kiss You / Life Is A Pigsty / How Soon Is Now? // First Of The Gang To Die
So he still plays some repeats, but man, look at all those Smiths songs. Brandi loved the fact the she got to hear "Stretch out and Wait" on both nights. He even played songs from a new album he plans to record soon after this tour and in true Morrissey fashion, after playing one of them and the crowd's cheer he said something like "Thank you for applauding for a song that you don't know and that you don't like."
Thats another thing with Morrissey, its easy now to take his audience banter and insults with a cheeky grin. He loves his fans and they love him back and as much as we may insult him lightly with his mope-ness, he in turn sends it right back in style with comments like "Thank you for living dangerously, taking risks, being here and being you."
The Palladium is an amazing venue with its googie/streamlined architecture on the inside and out. Some pics here show it some justice. I just hope they don't completely change it to some neutral-like blah architecture malady.
exterior
Moz on full-stage
crowd at Moz with the cool circular ceiling
more interior from a private party
another interior shot with the balcony
And finally, the Latino community LOVES Morrisey, and in LA (where its basically 50% Latino in population) its full-force. Brandi noted to me the "Mexi-Mozzers" who would camp outside his house in Beverly Hills (a 1931 mansion one owned by Clark Gable) before he moved to Rome in 2006. Maybe its the Telenovela-like drama of his lyrics. Maybe its because he's a supporter of the Chivas USA league (as noted when we saw his first show and he and the band came out in full-Chivas uniforms) or maybe its the pompadour...
Anyway, some final notes to send you on your way...
- When it comes to opening acts, Moz has gotta stop choosing newbies. I know.. you gotta give people their big break, but so far Moz is batting at a low RBI cuz I've seen some mediocre stuff (Elcka? Kristeen Young? King Cheetah?). The only good opening act I've ever seen was when we saw him 2 years ago at the Universal Amphitheatre and that was Nancy Sinatra. F-in A, she was great.
- Dude still likes to rip his shirts off when he gets sweaty. He's not necessarily the owner of abs of steel, but he's not doing too bad for man pushing 50. However, I find it interesting that the 2 times we've seen him at The Palladium, he rips his shirt off during "Let Me Kiss You" when he says the line "Think of someone you physically despise."
- There's something to be said of your longevity when you can still get people running up on stage to hug/kiss you as soon as the opening guitar lick for "How Soon Is Now" begins to chime.
- Do Morrissey fans want to BE him or BE WITH him? Some people do find him sexually attractive, but he seems to pass that off. Is he the first paternal rock star?
- I never thought I would come to a day when I could come home from work and ask "Are we doing anything tonight? Morrissey is playing another night at The Palladium, maybe we can buy a ticket at the box office tonight." The guy's gotta be the next Vegas draw soon.
All I can say is stretch out and wait...
I'm sure some people have heard this before, but Los Angeles has this obsession with Morrissey and vice versa. This is most notable in recent weeks as he is playing 10 shows in 13 days at the Hollywood Palladium. There was even a special with Ticketmaster/LiveNation where you could buy tickets to all 10 shows for the price of 9 (The Palladium is General Admission), and those offers sold out the day they went on sale.
However, you could still but individual night tickets, and we got 2 for the opening night on Monday, October 1. First, you may ask, what did he play... here's the setlist:
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before / Tomorrow / All You Need is Me / Sister, I'm A Poet / That's How People Grow Up / London / Billy Budd / The Loop / Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? / Stretch Out And Wait / First Of The Gang To Die / Let Me Kiss You / Death Of A Disco Dancer / Disappointed / You Have Killed Me / In The Future When All's Well / I Like You / One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell / Dear God, Please Help Me / How Soon Is Now? // Irish Blood, English Heart
What I've liked about Morrissey over the last 10 years or so is he's made his concerts longer and he plays more Smiths songs. I remember seeing him at The Aragon Ballroom way back in 1997 where he played for 45 minutes (including the encore) and closed with one Smiths song "Shoplifters of the World Unite." This time he plays at least 4-5 Smiths tunes and the show lasts an hour and a half. Much better for the $57 ticket.
In some interviews he's revealed that The Palladium was one of the first US venues The Smiths played and since the building is going under some massive reconstruction, they asked him personally to close their season with a bang, thus the 10-night stand. Unfortunately, 2 of the 10 shows had to be canceled because of plumbing problems so those people got to use their tickets for a different night from the 10 shows.
The Palladium is a great venue on the inside and out and its said problems were invisible to the common public when we went to a second show last night Monday with Brandi's dad. He loved The Smiths and has been to several Morrissey shows, and last night's set was also not disappointing...
London / You Have Killed Me / Billy Budd / The Youngest Was The Most Loved / Good Looking Man About Town / All You Need Is Me / Sister, I'm A Poet / Death Of A Disco Dancer / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / Stretch Out And Wait / The Loop / Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? / Tomorrow / Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before / Irish Blood, English Heart / One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell / Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want / Let Me Kiss You / Life Is A Pigsty / How Soon Is Now? // First Of The Gang To Die
So he still plays some repeats, but man, look at all those Smiths songs. Brandi loved the fact the she got to hear "Stretch out and Wait" on both nights. He even played songs from a new album he plans to record soon after this tour and in true Morrissey fashion, after playing one of them and the crowd's cheer he said something like "Thank you for applauding for a song that you don't know and that you don't like."
Thats another thing with Morrissey, its easy now to take his audience banter and insults with a cheeky grin. He loves his fans and they love him back and as much as we may insult him lightly with his mope-ness, he in turn sends it right back in style with comments like "Thank you for living dangerously, taking risks, being here and being you."
The Palladium is an amazing venue with its googie/streamlined architecture on the inside and out. Some pics here show it some justice. I just hope they don't completely change it to some neutral-like blah architecture malady.
exterior
Moz on full-stage
crowd at Moz with the cool circular ceiling
more interior from a private party
another interior shot with the balcony
And finally, the Latino community LOVES Morrisey, and in LA (where its basically 50% Latino in population) its full-force. Brandi noted to me the "Mexi-Mozzers" who would camp outside his house in Beverly Hills (a 1931 mansion one owned by Clark Gable) before he moved to Rome in 2006. Maybe its the Telenovela-like drama of his lyrics. Maybe its because he's a supporter of the Chivas USA league (as noted when we saw his first show and he and the band came out in full-Chivas uniforms) or maybe its the pompadour...
Anyway, some final notes to send you on your way...
- When it comes to opening acts, Moz has gotta stop choosing newbies. I know.. you gotta give people their big break, but so far Moz is batting at a low RBI cuz I've seen some mediocre stuff (Elcka? Kristeen Young? King Cheetah?). The only good opening act I've ever seen was when we saw him 2 years ago at the Universal Amphitheatre and that was Nancy Sinatra. F-in A, she was great.
- Dude still likes to rip his shirts off when he gets sweaty. He's not necessarily the owner of abs of steel, but he's not doing too bad for man pushing 50. However, I find it interesting that the 2 times we've seen him at The Palladium, he rips his shirt off during "Let Me Kiss You" when he says the line "Think of someone you physically despise."
- There's something to be said of your longevity when you can still get people running up on stage to hug/kiss you as soon as the opening guitar lick for "How Soon Is Now" begins to chime.
- Do Morrissey fans want to BE him or BE WITH him? Some people do find him sexually attractive, but he seems to pass that off. Is he the first paternal rock star?
- I never thought I would come to a day when I could come home from work and ask "Are we doing anything tonight? Morrissey is playing another night at The Palladium, maybe we can buy a ticket at the box office tonight." The guy's gotta be the next Vegas draw soon.
All I can say is stretch out and wait...
