Morrissey – Manchester Arena 20th August 2016

Morrissey has returned to his home town, on his last tour he uncharacteristically ignored Manchester, this time he’s ignoring the rest of the country as this is the only UK date on his current world tour. Morrissey is obviously best known as the singer in the iconic Manchester band The Smiths, but it is often forgotten that he was involved in the fledgling Manchester punk scene, alongside the likes of Buzzcocks, Joy Division and The Fall, when he regularly played The Electric Circus with The Nosebleeds.

I’m not usually a fan of arena concerts, I find they lose the intimacy of the smaller venues, frequently the acoustics don’t do live bands any favours and the venues are not designed with music in mind, they are better suited to Disney On Ice, wrestling or stand up comedy and they are often populated with people who rarely go to concerts,and spend the evening in their seat filming the show on an iPad. However, there are certain artists that just can’t logistically play the small and medium sized venues I usually haunt, it’s either here or a football stadium, given this is Manchester and the summer weather is predictably cold and damp, for once I’m glad he chose this venue as opposed to shivering on a football pitch.

As I received late notice I’d be attending tonight I arrive seconds before Morrissey takes the stage, whilst he might divide opinion he has a die hard following and his arrival is greeted with mass adulation. He opens with Suedehead and this gets the reception you would expect, as he heads into Alma Matters his gladioli waving devotees down the front seem to be bordering on religious ecstasy. Early in the set we get a few of my personal favourites, All You Need Is Me and You Have Killed Me, both sound rawer and heavier than the recorded versions and despite him now being in his late fifties he can still surprise, which he does as he plays Ganglord next, a b-side from ten years ago. There have been iconic images projected behind the band during the early part of the set, during Ganglord we get a montage of extremely disturbing images of police brutality that underlines the lyrical content of the song.

Speedway, Istanbul and I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris, which is accompanied by a stark image of a French flag, are played continuing the feeling that Morrissey has chosen a set list that pleases himself. Prior to World Peace Is None Of Your Business he relays an extensive list of things that don’t cause wars, including badgers, cows and hairdressers, before he announces that “governments cause wars… and they love it”. As you’d expect he makes his opinions clear on things, he has never been a shrinking violet when it comes to speaking his mind, and The Bullfigher Dies and Meat Is Murder are accompanied by harrowing images. This is particularly prevalent during Meat Is Murder, he announces “fuck the farmers” prior to the song starting, the stage is lit blood red and a horrific set of images of animal slaughter are displayed, these are so disturbing it makes many people unable to look at the stage during this classic number from his days with The Smiths.

The idiosyncratic set continues mixing rare material with an occasional well known single, Jack The Ripper, It’s Hard To Walk Tall When You’re Small and Ouija Board Ouija Board are followed by Everyday Is Like A Sunday and The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores, which to my delight is accompanied by projected images of the Duchess Of Cambridge and Prince William, Me and Morrissey are clearly on the same page on this subject. We get one more song from The Smiths, a rapturously received What She Said, also from the Meat Is Murder Album, before they briefly leave the stage and return for a triumphant Irish Blood English Heart. At this point it appears that the early curfew at the Manchester Arena has disappointingly bought the evening to an early close, much of the crowd stand around for a good five minutes in the hope of a further encore before they head out into the damp Manchester night.

I’ve seen Morrissey a few times in the past, notably when he was touring the superb You Are The Quarry album, and also back in the mists of time with one of the most iconic Manchester bands, The Smiths. He is never going to play a crowd pleasing set, Morrissey will play, do and say exactly what he wants and tonight’s show could be summed up as a self indulgent set that was superbly executed. The list of songs I’d have liked to have heard is extensive, but Morrissey will never play his greatest hits. He has come a long way from those early days with The Nosebleeds, and the brief and massively influential lifespan of The Smiths, but he still remains confrontational, challenging and outspoken, and I hope he doesn’t change as there are few people who have remained as uncompromising, controversial and individual as Morrissey has over the last forty years.

Live Photography is by Paul Husband, Paul is an award winning Manchester based photographer, his website can be found here