Morrissey - Capital FM Arena, Nottingham, 13/3/2015

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 18 / 4 / 2015

intro

Anthony Strutt watches Morrissey, despite promoting his album from last year ‘World Peace is None of Your Business’ which is now impossible to buy, play an impressive set at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham on his first UK tour in four years

Morrissey, oh Morrissey, where are you? It's been a while since I have seen Steven Patrick. He last toured Europe in November/December, but with just one UK date in London. Tonight is the first date of his first full UK tour in years, and fortunately he doesn't cancel as he did some gigs in Holland just before this show. As of late, Nottingham is my new London. It has better gigs than my new home of Leicester, but it's a bit strange being here because I always followed a band for whatever reasons, and now, rather then play to their audience, you see whole families being dragged along. You can just imagine parents saying, “Well, I loved them back in the day so you must see him.” It is odd if you ask me. As I arrive at this Arena show, there is further oddness. There are no touts, no big queues and hardly anyone here at all, an hour before he is on stage. I find my seat which is at the back, having sadly missed out on a standing ticket but that's okay. Beforehand a compilation of rare film footage, including some live film of the New York Dolls is shown, all building up to the time Morrissey walks onto the stage, before a now suddenly packed arena and tells us, “Now is the time, the time to go nuts.” The set lasts 97 minutes and for me it is a decent enough set. You never know with him what mood he is going to be in and what you are going to get, but tonight's he is in a good mood. He opens with ‘The Queen is Dead’, the first of four Smiths songs he plays during the evening, and then goes straight into his first solo single, ‘Suedehead’, which causes screams even as far back as I am. From here onwards we pretty much get most of his most recent album from last year, ‘World Peace is None of Your Business’, as well as two tracks from the bonus disc version. It is a great album which I loved, but if you are not a fan of his recent work then sadly that is the bulk of the set. The new album features a lot of new touches like some beautiful acoustic European- flavoured guitar and even the titles are European, which is a far cry from Morrissey from singing about the downtown Manchester of his youth. When the band do finally get introduced, everyone is given an exotic background bar Boz Boorer whom just comes from The Rose and Crown. He also criticises the Brits. Why does it exist? But for the most part he is on fire. This tour also sees the 30th Anniversary of ‘Meat is Murder’ from which we get ‘What She Said’, and a most graphic version of the title song which is delivered with a film that nails home the point. ‘Everyday is Like Sunday’ receives loud cheers, while ‘Stop Me, If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’, which ends the first set, is given a 2015 lick of new paint and sounds as wonderful as ever. As usual it's still only a one song encore, for which we get ‘Speedway’ mixed with a bit of ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’, mostly sung by the audience. On the whole, a good night out in Nottingham, even if Morrissey was promoting an album you can currently not buy.

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