the Heritage Sign outside the Palladium, just feet away from the band's equipment lorry
(sorry it's a bit blurred, but it was dark, and thiswas the best one of the bunch)
The Palladium always had a Beatles connection for me - they played there several times, most notably 13 October 1963, after which the papers coined the term "Beatlemania" to describe the scenes of fan mayhem before, during, and after the concert. In particular, it was at the Palladium where the Beatles played the Royal Command Performance for the Queen and various other royals; this concert has been documented in many Beatles documentaries, so it's like...wow, I'm here, and I'm looking at the royal boxes in the distance that I saw on all these videos I used to watch back in the day, when the Beatles were my first - and only - musical love. Nearly 20 years ago. Note: If you ever need to go to the Palladium, be warned that the huge white sign with blue lettering and arrow for the place is only one side of Oxford Street, so you may pass Argylle Street and not notice the alleyway you need to go down.
When I happened to be at Oxford Circus one day, after taking a bus from Maida Vale (checking out Abbey Road Studios, naturally), I figured it wouldn't hurt to find out exactly where the venue was. Before this gig, me and two friends and a friend's hubby had been at Portobello Market, but then went to Ben Crouch's Tavern for supper, not far from the venue. I had the best fish and chips ever there, how fitting the last night of my stay in London. So I go up to the will call window to go get my tickets, and the guy asks me, "did you sort this out with Seetickets first?" I was like...wha-? I paid for my tickets, what "sorting" needed to be done? Another note: Seetickets wasn't communicating right with the Palladium before my concert, so it took some last-minute workings by the people at the front desk to sort out my will call tickets. So I don't have a real ticket from the concert, just a hastily-scribbled one on a scrap of paper. My concert companion for the night was my friend Jennie, who I've known about 4 years. She's a Duranie like me, knows some Smiths stuff (though she nor anyone else but me recognized "Shoplifters of the World Unite" playing at the tavern while we were eating), has a sister-in-law who loves Moz, but doesn't really know anything about Morrissey's solo career. I'm trying to make her into one however, because I figure Morrissey is more likely to tour some smaller venues in England in the future than any small venues in the U.S., so at least I'd have a ticket-buying and gig-going buddy!
The rumors have been that Morrissey was not prepared to play this concert and did not do a soundcheck before this show. It wasn't until later on in the show that there was a palpable feeling that Moz was not 100% interested in this concert. He didn't finish lines or the ending to "On the Streets I Ran," which was disappointing, and I'm sure the people around me were rolling their eyes internally when kept singing, "the stillborn...the newborn...the infirm..." when it was clear he wasn't going to even finish the song. If there *were* problems, he and the band should have handled it professionally, by apologizing - briefly - to the audience that they needed to work out some bugs to the setup, fix them, and then go back. I've been to a Duran show where that happened, and the music improved 100-fold after they fixed what needed to be fixed. That's the most professional way to handle it. Not ditching the show after "At Last I Am Born."
Jennie and I were in row F up in the upper circle. Poor Jennie, she's more afraid of heights than I am, I thought for a moment she was swaying a bit from the elevation! For the 4 England dates I attended, I had a good combination of being on the Jesse-Mikey side for 2 gigs (Apollo, Bridgewater), but I was on the Boz-Gaz side for the Manchester Opera House and this night.
Here's the setlist from mozzolo.
You Have Killed Me / How Soon Is Now? / First Of The Gang To Die / I Will See You In Far-off Places / To Me You Are A Work Of Art / In The Future When All's Well / Girlfriend In A Coma / The Youngest Was The Most Loved / Let Me Kiss You / Life Is A Pigsty / On The Streets I Ran / Still Ill / Trouble Loves Me / Ganglord / I Just Want To See The Boy Happy / At Last I Am Born
Security did check bags but I'd stuck my camera in my front trouser pocket, and they never looked there. However, I'm warning anyone coming to the States for the North American leg of the ROTT tour, it's not uncommon for security to frisk you before you enter a venue, so unless you're crafty on hiding your camera, leave it at home. Once we were in the venue, I saw lots of people taking pictures, and security didn't bat an eye at the Pally, so I tried taking as many as I could - given the guy with the bald head in front of me. (I would have cropped his head out of these pictures, but then the picture didn't look right, with Moz way at the bottom of a photo, so I left Mister Baldy in the following photos.)
the best one of the bunch - don't you just want to have that around wrapped around your shoulder?
kinda blurry, but you get the general idea
you can catch Matt and part of the "TORMENTORS" gong in this one
Morrissey came out in black shirt and black trousers - not the tuxedo that he wore when he graced the Palladium a week later. He switched later, probably after "Pigsty," to a white shirt. Notice that all but the first of my pics were taken after the shirt change, as I decided that if guards didn't care that everyone else was snapping away, I'd try to take some too. One thing that really bugs me is that when you're trying to line up the perfect shot, you end up missing the show, so I've decided that unless I've got some really ace seats on the North American tour this fall, I'm not going to bother with the camera, it's just going to make me miss stuff. Same with taking notes. It sucks not being able to have a good account of the show to share, but considering the $$$ I've spent, I'd rather have a better experience for myself!
"Let Me Kiss You" almost made me cry, I just love that song. When I first bought Quarry 2 years ago, it had been several months after my dad had died, and I listened to that and thought about the 2-year relationship that I would soon be ending. So the song is very personal to me.
The poor guy had his index finger bandaged up. He said the f-word once and apologized, saying that he shouldn't swear on the stage where so many notable musical acts had performed. When asking the audience if he should swear more often, he said, "oh f-f-f-f-f-f..." into the next song (which escapes me now). Why he was talking about the late Floyd Patterson (the American heavyweight champion), search me, this isn't the Boxers tour!
It seemed like the audience was pretty vocal this night (especially during the Smiths' numbers), but I've heard that people were saying that the stalls were like the night of the living dead. Too bad, because I'm sure they had a good vantage point. It sounded pretty noisy up in the circle, so I can only presume that the people down in the front stalls weren't really fans because it was obvious Morrissey got bored with them. Even banter with an American fan seemed tired:
Moz - Can I ask where you're from?
Fan - Long Beach.
Moz - How can you afford to come to *every* show? How much has it cost you? Go on, share it with everyone...
Fan - A lot.
Moz - Typical American answer...evasive!
I think the Brits are just cheesed off by some of the Americans, but hey, they've spent their money and gotten here, do you want us to slag YOU guys off if you come to the States to see Moz? The Long Beach guy *probably* got a kick out of being mentioned at a gig - heck, I don't even think Julia got a mention at this one.
Then...a topic not to be missed...the missing encore. It was not professional, I think, to skip the encore, as everyone just sat there, blinking, and then Frank Sinatra singing, "That's Life" came on and the lights went up. Massive booing ensued. Jennie thought there might be a riot and suggested we head the hell out of there. While I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, she was still worried. (When I left the Apollo the previous Saturday, two guys had gotten into a fistfight on the pavement outside and one sustained a long cut down the side of his face, oozing with blood.) Considering it all, t'was the Londoners who made a big stink out of Newcastle, because he didn't do an encore there, and all the Londoners on mozzolo said, "you f'in Geordies don't *deserve* an encore!" This makes me wonder if he was reading (or heard about this) and decided to give the Londoners a taste of their own medicine. Or maybe not. Just a theory...
When we finally made it out of the Palladium, we realized we had taken a door on the side and that's where I snapped that photo of the plaque. We ended up right next to the equipment lorry, and you could tell a lot of people were hoping to see Morrissey or the band members. I'm sure as soon as the last song ended, he was away in a waiting car. And I really doubt the band put their amplifiers in the lorry, it's all the roadies, so it's like, "nothing to see here people..." There was a lamppost nearby the lorry that had 6 ROTT posters on it, and one really nice - and tall! - guy managed to rip all the posters off and hand them to other people. I thanked him profusely when I got 2 of them stapled together. It didn't occur to me *how* I was going to get them home, because obviously they weren't going to fit in my suitcase! (I ended up asking for a bin bag at reception and getting them in there...it was a pain however to move those posters with all my luggage and through the London Underground, not fun! But they're back with me now. I'm thinking about framing one and selling one. It's actually cardboard, versus the soft paper ones I saw posted up in tube stations.)
It was, of course, great to see Morrissey again for the 4th time on my England trip. But I think it was a slightly sour note, as he wasn't happy with the performance, the audience, or a combination of both. Regardless, he shouldn't have taken it out on the ticket-buying public, because we're the ones that buy the albums, and he gave his all at Reading a couple days later, why couldn't he have gotten his act together for the Londoners?
I wonder what it will be like to see Morrissey in America again. Maybe this fall? It's definitely NOT going to be as fun, that's for sure. I thought I'd cured myself of not wanting to be up front, after Bridgewater, but I'm warming up to the idea of being up front in the standing area *if* I can go with people I know and trust who will protect me from the pushing and shoving. Any takers? :)
originally posted 05/28/06
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