words & photos by Tim Griffin

Morrissey @ Bass Concert Hall

After a bumpy start (visa issues caused the the 11/10 Chicago show to be postponed), Morrissey began his North American tour in San Antonio, TX on Monday, and played the Bass Concert Hall in Austin the following night, last night, 11/15. He performed a mix of songs from The Smiths, as well as many from his solo career, to a full house at the Austin show. You can take a peak at the full setlist at the bottom of this post.

Kristeen Young, who has made amends with Morrissey since their previous tour which didn't go so well, opened the show with a short set.

Morrissey (with a bandaged right index finger due to his unfortunate encounter with a dog) opened with The Smiths' "I Want the One I Can't Have", setting the tone for the night. 26 years have passed since since its original release (1985), but it didn't show as Moz flexed his vocal prowess and delivered flawlessly.

His band (the bass drum was labeled 'ART HOUNDS') all wore matching Money t-shirts, and is the same lineup we've seen on previous tours: Boz Boorer, Solomon Walker, Matt Walker, Jesse Tobias, and Gustavo Manzur. Both Tobias and Manzur are from Austin.

Highlights included the between-song banter, as well as the alternative lyrics for Meat Is Murder: "Kill. Eat. Murder." After "I Know It's Over", a short break brought Morrissey back on stage with the band (and a changed shirt) for the finale, "Still Ill". The shirt was then thrown into the crowd, devoured, and never seen again.

Here are some Morrissey quotes from the show:

"I heard somebody laughing. It was me."
"To look at me you wouldn't really think it, but I'm much younger than that. You wouldn't really think it but action is my middle name."
"You may be very surprised to hear I have long horns of my own."
"I am one for whom there is no name."
"Do you have any comments? Well wait til you're asked!"
"Are you ready for a new president? Are you? I think most people in the hall are not ready for a new president. This is because the options are so bloody awful. Maybe the age of the president its dead."
"For God's sake whatever happens: Keep Austin Weird."

Continue reading "Morrissey now on tour, played Austin's Bass Concert Hall (pics, setlist & updated dates)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Morrissey, the wry British icon of modern rock, tipped his hat to New Jersey by warbling the chorus of Bruce Springsteen's current single as he walked on stage at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair Monday night [3/16].

"I'm workin' on a dream," Morrissey crooned, with just the right combination of mockery and respect.

To hear Springsteen's optimistic line emanate from Morrissey, who tends more toward the Oscar Wilde/Joe Orton school of narrative, was flat-out funny. The brevity of the parody made it that much more effective.-[from Asbury Park Press]

Morrissey's physical language was mostly refined and small and practical: a raised hand for emphasis, some delicate cross-stepping five feet to the right or left. Twice he took off his well-fitting dress shirts, and both times he threw the shirt to the audience: an impressive expense for Montclair, on the 11th night of a 78-show tour. He was telling us that he sympathizes with anyone flighty enough to worship a pop star. He was also telling us, perhaps, that he has calculated his own worth.-[NYTimes]

More NJ Morrissey pictures below...

Continue reading "Morrissey @ Wellmont Theater in NJ - pics & setlist"

NYC-area Morrissey tickets are going on sale Friday. Bowery Ballroom (21+), Webster Hall (18+), and Wellmont Theatre (all ages) go on sale at noon 11:00. Carnegie Hall's sale also starts at 11am (also all ages). All four shows are presented by The Bowery Presents. Ticket prices are above. All dates are HERE.

Continue reading "Morrissey tickets on sale Friday: Bowery Ballroom & Webster Hall ($75), Wellmont Theater ($45/55), Carnegie Hall ($75)"

Umbrella Head (by Neil101)

Tickets are on sale for a March 26th show at BB King's called "Morrissey Afterparty-The Sons & Heirs-Tribute To Morrissey +The Smiths". March 26th is the day Morrissey is supposed to play Carnegie Hall which is the day after he's supposed to play Webster Hall which is four days after he's supposed to play Bowery Ballroom. All dates HERE.

Morrissey will release "Years of Refusal" in the US February 17, 2009 on Attack/Lost Highway. "Years of Refusal" will be Morrissey's first studio album since 2006's UK #1 "Ringleader of the Tormentors". In February, Morrissey will begin the US leg of his world tour that includes rare intimate club dates. ...

...Fans can pre-order "Years of Refusal" and get the opportunity to buy tickets through Ticketmaster 24 hours before they go on sale to the general public. On sale for select dates begins this Friday December 19.

Continue reading "Morrissey - 2009 Tour Dates (BOWERY BALLROOM! WEBSTER HALL! CARNEGIE HALL! OTHER PLACES!)"

Krallice in Brooklyn (more by Leia Jospe)

Ryan Adams' Top 9 Albums of 2008

Testament, The Formation of Damnation (Nuclear Blast Americ)
Krallice, Krallice (Profound Lore)
The Killers, Day and Age (Island Records)
The Smiths, The Very Best of The Smiths (Rhino)
Metallica, Death Magnetic (Warner Bros.)
Mariah Carey, E=MC 2 (Island)
Coldplay, Viva La Vida (Capitol)
Fleet Foxes, Sun Giant EP (Sub Pop)
Ihsahn, Angl (Candlelight)

Continue reading "Ryan Adams - 2009 Tour Dates, top 9 Albums of 2008"

words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Chris La Putt & Zach Dilgard

RS by Chris La Putt

RS by Zach Dilgard

After running up and down the stairs of the Knitting Factory to run an errand for the band, I ran backstage and caught a huddled Rival Schools preparing for their set. Whispering back and forth for a moment, the four of them ran up the stairs and hit the stage.... to be greeted by cheers & applause. Definitely a moment that I won't soon forget. I quickly headed upstairs to the balcony in time to catch the band tear into the day's, and United By Fate's, opener "Travel By Telephone". Over the next half hour or so, Rival Schools graced the BrooklynVegan day (now night.. we were a little behind) show with the first six tracks of United By Fate (closing with "Used For Glue") (video below), a cover of The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" (made famous during Walter Schreifels' stint in Quicksand), as well as revealing a few new arrows in their quiver ("Big Waves"). All in all, it was what you would expect to see from a Rival Schools show... the Schreifels pogo, Sammy Siegler bouncing up and down on his stool like it was spring-loaded, well-executed start-stop dynamics, and a good-time-by-all.

My only complaint was the mix... I was able to catch the band at Rebel a few days prior (with Trail of Dead and Margot & The Nuclear So & So's), and what I enjoyed the most about that set was how well it highlighted Ian Love's effects-heavy guitar flourishes, something that was lost in the outward mix at the Knitting Factory.

As Walter kindly pointed out on stage, you can check an interview with the band right HERE (part one anyway). Try and catch them in Novemeber at Mercury Lounge and Maxwell's if you can, but if not (both shows are sold out), Walter promised they'd be back much more including with a new album. More pictures, including one of the setlist, and a video from Knitting Factory below...

Continue reading "Rival Schools @ Knitting Factory (BV CMJ) -pics/setlist/video"

Johnny Marr as a Modest Mouse member (more by Ryan Muir)

The Cribs - complete with Johnny Marr as part of their line-up - have revealed that they plan to release a new single this year during an exclusive video interview with NME.COM. The band had already revealed that they will record a full album in early 2009, but made the single revelation while speaking to NME.COM at the Leeds Festival on Friday (August 22).

"We don't know when it's going to happen, but we'll try and do that [release a single before the year ends]," said Marr.

(most) photos by Eric M. Townsend

Stipe, Buck, Mills, and their two amigos came out whaling and they never let up. Playing only a couple of ballads, and everything being short and sweet, R.E.M. made the case for arena rock to live on just a little bit longer. The hypnotic goings on behind the band - a series of screens that relayed the scene on stage as if it was an already edited and produced performance video - were not only beyond impressive, they were actually distracting. At one point, it was even safe to wonder if the show would have been half as interesting without it. But the ferocity of "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and "Bad Day" easily silenced that. Other highlights included the Mike Mills-led "Don't Go Back to Rockville", the Johnny Marr-joined "Fall on Me", "Losing My Religion", "Supernatural Superserious", "The One I Love", and "Man on the Moon". Michael Stipe did something I never thought he did...ever: He smiled and laughed a lot. In his dapper striped suit, the ever chatty, chrome domed Stipe had his usual political things to say but had even more to say in the field of being friendly, open, and inviting. Like the band's music.
[Sonic Parthenon]

Continue reading "R.E.M. @ Madison Square Garden, NYC - pics & setlist"

I'm running a little behind again today...

Bigmouth has struck again and, heaven knows, he’s miserable now.

Morrissey is suing the NME and its editor for defamation after the music magazine quoted him on its cover this week as saying: “The Gates of England are flooded. The country’s been thrown away.”

The magazine lambasts the former Smiths frontman for taking a “naive and inflammatory” stance on immigration by employing language that “dangerously echoes” the British National Party’s current manifesto.

Morrissey’s reported comments come 15 years after the NME accused him of experimenting with racist imagery in some of his solo songs and by draping himself in a Union Jack at a gig in Finsbury Park, North London. The singer, 48, says that his words have been taken out of context and now, after one of the most intense relationships in British music, Morrissey and the NME could be heading for the High Court. [TimesOnline]

Morrissey played his third of five NYC show at Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC last night (Oct 26, 2007). Photographer Eric M. Townsend was on hand. More photos by Eric, and the setlist, below....

Continue reading "photos from Morrissey in NYC (night 3)"

Morrissey @ HB, NYC - Oct 23, 2007 (CRED)

Andy Rourke of the Smiths is playing with an English band called Polytechnic at Mercury Lounge in NYC on November 16th. Morrissey of the Smiths played his second of five shows at Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC last night (Oct 23, 2007). Set List below..

Continue reading "Morrissey played again, Andy Rourke NOT playing Merc"

DOWNLOAD: Morrissey - I Like You (MP3)

Morrissey @ Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC - Oct 22, 2007 (CRED)

Morrissey began his 5-night stand at Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday night with an energetic and powerful performance. Clearly understanding the disappointment at his cancellation of the June concert, Morrissey said “our little donkey finally made it to New York City, thanks for your patience, thanks for waiting” after the third number. He proceeded to deliver a set tight with recent numbers and weighed heavy on the back end with Smiths favorites, including the rare “Death of a Disco Dancer” from Strangeways. [NYCTaper taped it]

Continue reading "Morrsissey @ Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC (night 1)"

* Andy Rourke of the Smiths will be @ Pianos on May 3rd (tix)
* Johnny Marr will be will be in Philly that night
* Morrissey will be on the West Coast
* Andy Rourke raises $$ to fight cancer
* Johnny Marr writes Crowded House track
* Morrissey snubs Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame
* Morrissey tickets on sale Monday