Moz at his best - brillant night - atmosphere much better than troxy. Moz seemed to enjoy it as well and again quite a few Smiths numbers. Wish I had tickets for Tues and Weds now

Great show - opened with This Charming Man, and did tons of Smiths stuff (Ask, You Just Haven't..Yet Baby, Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others, How Soon Is Now (very early!), Girlfriend in a Coma).

Most of the other stuff from the last two albums, plus 2 new tracks (well, I didn't recognise them). Very tight gig - only minor disappointments were a lack of the usual between song banter, and that they only did a 1 song encore (First of Gang - a barnstormer).

Great night.

I completely agree with the first poster. Absolutely brilliant, great atmosphere. I think this audience were more london based because we were all singing along to pigsty
(he did a great version of it at wireless last year) wheras at troxy people didn't really pay
attention to it as much.
He performed brilliantly and full of energy and I too want to go the next two nights. lucky lucky people who are!

and because of my poor education,brilliant night,the best for along time viva moz

The new song being mentioned was actually a cover of Moon Over Kentucky by The Sparks.

can someone tell me?

Looks like a boxer perhaps?

Great gig. Fab atmosphere. Mozza's voice was on top form. Two shirts were thrown and "No place like Rome" got one....a whole shirt. The lucky sod ;-)

Thanks for the setlist provided by a lovely Swedish fan Joanna who got it after the gig:

This Charming Man
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
Black Cloud
How Soon Is Now?
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Ask
When I Last Time Spoke To Carol
Mama Lay Softly In Ihe Riverbank
You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby
Moon Over The Kentucky
Girlfriend In A Coma
Because Of My Poor Education
I Keep Mine Hidden
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Life Is A Pigsty
The Loop
I'm OK By Myself
The First Of The Gang To Die

It was million times better than Troxy!
Two new songs were added, Some Girls and Mama were really welcome back.
'Good Evening, we're Doll and the Kicks'was the first words from Morrissey.

I'm still too excited and need some time to clear my head.

Morrissey was teasing us to say 'would you like me to hand the microphone?'

Congratulations to the forum user No Place Like Rome who got Morrissey's black shirt which will be auctioned for Hillsborough charity.

Woah. Haven't posted on here in a long time.

Great night! Amazing atmosphere and Moz on top form!

So happy that he played Some Girls...and well...just wow.

Truly fantastic night! (Though I spent most of it on tiptoes, trying to see over the already 6ft woman that also saw the need to wear high heels. Curse me for being short! :P)

Excellent sound quality at the Brixton Academy- really crystal clear. Up in the circle tonight and security were stopping the punters from standing but if you're going in subsequent nights then there is a great view standing at the very back of the circle with plenty of room to dance. Note, if you're going tomorrow, that Morrissey is on stage before 9 and some people arrived late and missed some top Smiths songs.

New songs were great. Two shirts thrown to the crowd. Looked like he was wearing the same jeans as yesterday. Voice sounds in good form. He asked the crowd if we would like the microphone to which many responded yes. Morrissey then said "I never follow the masses" and carried on with another song!

Great night!

tonight sounds so good. im going on wednesday to brixton, i hope its like tonight.. otherwise damn i missed out. long live mozzax

Excellent, excellent show. The atmosphere was far better than at Troxy yesterday, to my relief, and the crowd seemed to be more into it.

Morrissey and the band were on top form, and there were a few changes to the setlist. As mentioned previously, Moz covered Sparks' 'Moon Over Kentucky', performed 'Because Of My Poor Education', and bought back 'I Keep Mine Hidden' and 'Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed'. Coming back for the encore, Moz introduced 'First Of The Gang' by saying "This is a song called Anyone Who Had A Heart" (for those of you who haven't heard it, I heartily recommend it).

Again Morrissey wasn't too chatty, but he joked "We're Doll and the Kicks". He teased the audience with the microphone, asking if he should pass it out to the crowd. The crowd yelled 'yes' and he resonded by saying something along the lines of "I have never been one to conform" before lauching into 'This World Is Full Of Crashing Bores'. Towards the end of 'Life Is A Pigsty' after Moz came back from changing his shirt he playfully pressed a few keys of Kris Pooley's keyboard. He also commented at some point "Do I look happy? Well, I am. I'm very happy. Very, very happy." or something along those lines. There weren't too many handshakes at the beginning of the show but quite a few were given out after despite the larger than usual distance between the barrier and the stage. Two shirts were thrown out, one black and the other I can't remember.

That's about it. It was a good show and I enjoyed myself. Looking forward to the next shows.

Oh, Doll and the Kicks. I think they played the same songs as they did yesterday. Doll still sounded a bit iffy during 'He's A Believer' but I'm starting to doubt my sanity and think that perhaps she always sang it like that. At one point she also told a story about Matt the guitarist being sick at Brixton Academy when he was once there. Their set was good as always, I really like this band.

Anyway, that's enough from me.

morrissey asked "Do I look happy?" to which we shouted YES! He replied, "That's because I am happy,I am happy, I am happy"

good on yeah Morrissey, wonderful concert, great security too. I love The Sparks cover, he was brilliant.
I was with No place when he caught the shirt(he also got a hand shake)and tried it on later(beautiful)The best night so far

This truly was an amazing show. However, who was the thug at the end who kept running across the stage and diving onto the crowd? At first I thought he was an enthused fan, diving into the crowd... then I realised he must have been some form of American football loving security man.

Great gig! Life is a Pigsty was the highlight for me. Brilliant prformance

A group of friends had tickets. One couldn't go so I stood in. The night can best be described in one word, Dirge. Why is this guy so revered? The Smiths were wildly overated and rather than insperational they were simply depressing. All the songs trot out the same formula of similarly sounding guitars and his annoying airy vocal. Virtually every note he sings has the same extended emphasis. It really is a case of you've heard one you've heard the lot. Utter tosh delivered by a self indulgent weirdo.

Anyone pay attention to what time Moz started and more importantly finished....just so I can panic and wonder if I will catch my last train home.

Brilliant! Now that was a Morrissey show! Troxy just didn't work compared to this, even though I enjoyed standing so close there as opposed to sitting upstairs at Brixton. Hopefully Tuesday night will be as good as tonight.

Also, I am not one for recording crappy live recordings of songs on my phone....BUT I instantly thought of all the doubters on here who wouldn't believe Morrissey ACTUALLY played something different in the set...

So if anyone wants to see my crappy phone recordings of Moon Over Kentucky and Because Of My Poor Education, then I have uploaded them onto YouTube for all the world to see...BTW missed beginning of both as I didn't see it coming! Nice surprise.

See links below:

Moon Over Kentucky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk8J3RiqSic [youtube.com]

Because Of My Poor Education
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ0Ve7w4gdA [youtube.com]

CR x

Can anyone tell me what Morrissey was saying (he repeated it a few times) towards the end as he shook hands with some of the audience?

Bloody great gig .... want to go again...

Morrissey at Brixton is always a perfect combination for me. It was the first place I saw him and I've always liked the venue. Unlike some others (Ally Pally for example) it seems perfectly suited to live music and unlike others (Wembley Arena, Earls Court) its not so hideously huge and warehouse-like.

I got there at about 7.45. Years of generally hating Morrissey support bands had made me less bothered about seeing them but I actually really liked Doll and the Kicks.

Mozzer came on earlier than I expected. I was disappointed by the reaction to This Charming Man. The crowd didn't get going as much as I thought. I have noticed this trend a bit in recent years of people getting there early, standing at the front and then not moving a lot when the band starts. Each to their own and everything, and personally I would never dream of pushing anyone around and am always the first to ask anyone clearly in trouble if they are okay, but standing near the front you should always expect a bit of movement and that's what a lot of us like. Standing in neat rows is really never going to happen.

However, after the inevitable surge forward eventually happened things picked up very quickly and I have to say the actual performance of the songs was faultless and the set list was great. Whenever it is played The Loop is always a highlight for me and it was again. It was nice to hear Some Girls are Bigger than Others too.

Morrissey himself seemed unusually quiet, which was a shame, and the gap between the crowd and the stage seemed bigger than I remember it in the past, so not a lot of handshakes. Indeed, that's probably what accounted for the flurry of 'stage attempts' towards the end.

I know there have been a few comments on here but I personally thought the crowd were in good spirits generally and saw no problem with security (I was just by the barrier on the side directly in front of Jesse, not sure what it was like the other side).

Overall, although I have seen better Moz shows I certainly have no major complaints. Perfect way to spend a Sunday evening!

I suppose all experiences depend on the individual's mood, general disposition and location within the crowd, etc but I found myself feeling quite bored last night. I was close to the back and when songs like Moon Over Kentucky, Because Of My Poor Education, I Keep Mine Hidden, and even Life Is A Pigsty were played you could feel the unease in the audience, many people would just chat and use the time to get another drink. Personally, I find it hard to go along with a set that is almost all Smiths (never thought that would be a problem) and post-2004 and only one other song (a B side!) from the 17 years between.

I saw him in Cambridge in May and I suppose the same accusation could be made (10 or 11 songs from Refusal that time) but it was a new record and the gig felt more well rounded (inclusions from Vauxhall and Southpaw). There was certainly more banter from Moz on that occasion (remember the Julia birthday heckler?) and so for me was a much better gig, even if Brixton is the better venue.

I remember the Theatre Royal in Feb 1995 (my best Moz gig) and the Palladium in 2006 as being incredible, almost religious experiences but last night for me felt like just another gig. I'll simply end by saying that an accompanying friend told me seeing The Killers recently was by far the better experience.

Who were the band in the movie clips that played before the show. Black and white band with about 4 male members and one female memeber in a fur coat I think? They were walking in a park in a cold scene.

I have been browsing these pages for years now, and have seen the man a handful of times, but seeing as Passions Just Like Mine is sow on the updates I thought I'd post a more in-depth synopsis of last night for anyone who is interested.

Like most, I'd followed the setlists so had a fair expectation of what he was going to play, little did I know I was going to be lucky enough to hear the live debuts of two songs, plus the return of a few more not played for a while.

Morrissey walked on stage to the instrumental part of 'You Were Good In Your Time' and pointed to the backdrop and said 'can you see the black cloud?' (this should clear up the debate as to the words spoken in the intro sample of this song)

This Charming Man - Expected this one to open, very punchy, but perhaps the audience could have responded more warmly seeing as he opened with arguably the most well-known Smiths song.. alas..
  I Just Want To See The Boy Happy - not my personal favourite from ROTT but nice to see this album better represented than as of late. Kris Pooley picked up the trumpet for this one..
Black Cloud - One of the highlights, excellent voice and the band were incredibly tight.
How Soon Is Now? - I welled up during this one. Very intense.
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris - He mentioned something about France being the home of the book.. in the intro.
  Ask - One of my favourite Smiths songs, good to hear it.
  When Last I Spoke To Carol - Stellar, Pooley played trumpet on this (so the computer had a rest!) - good to see Moz making use of the multi-instrumentalists, it means he can have a more broad set (even if his set-lists are slated on here frequently!)
  Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed - First heard it last year in Camden and it's a personal favourite from YOR - Boz and Kris came to the front of the stage and played their own drums at the end.
You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby - Although I prefer the Kirsty MacColl version it was great to hear another Smiths song.
  Moon Over Kentucky - LIVE DEBUT! A surprise! Excellent Sparks cover, very strong vocals, the audience seemed to enjoy it too.
  Irish Blood, English Heart - Standard late-Moz fare.
Girlfriend In A Coma - ANOTHER Smiths song, we were treated well. Vocals pristine, sounded much better than other recent live versions, more like the studio version?
Because Of My Poor Education - LIVE DEBUT! - Sounds much better than the studio version, much more alive.
I Keep Mine Hidden - Another rare Smiths song, not my favourite, but can I argue after hearing 2 songs live for the first time? NO.
  The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores - One of my favourites, a well-deserved fixture in the set.
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others - One of my favourite Smiths songs but I don't understand why he changed all the lyrics in the middle to the calendar bit.. The original with Antony and Cleopatra was much better IMO.
Life Is A Pigsty - THE HIGHLIGHT! - Contrary to what has been said this wasn't a time when people 'went to get a drink' or 'chatted' - The vast majority of people knew all the words and were delighted to hear this one. Band were incredible on this. The first time I heard it was on Boz's birthday in 2006.. brought back some memories.
  The Loop - Fan favourite, showing off the full talent of the band.
I'm OK By Myself - On the live versions I have heard the keyboards seem very high in the mix but not so tonight, very aggressive. // First Of The Gang To Die - Somehow it never gets old..

Some other general comments: The security at the end seemed to be spearing/rugby tackling a hell of a lot of people, it was interesting not to hear Moz make any reference to this (visually/otherwise)

Matt Walker really is a superb drummer, he seems to be getting better and better and most of the songs tonight were really 'made' by him.

Kris Pooley is totally undeserving of all the criticism that's been thrown at him on these pages over the last

Read the rest of this comment...

Any guesses whether the setlist will be the same on Tue & Wed gigs?

As mentioned earlier the internet does boil the excitment a bit as everyone already knows what to expect.

Wow, I am so happy to read the wonderful comments about last night's show. So jealous, yet still very happy for those of you who were in attendace.

Hope he realizes that that just mixing up the set list by at least a couple of songs every now and then can make a world of difference.

I agree that he should play more from his solo catalog(there are sooo many great songs to choose from), but stop complaining about the Smiths' songs. A couple of years ago so many of you were whining that he never played them.
Although I've been a fan for about 20 years, I never got to see The Smiths live, so it's a treat to hear them.

It is nearly impossible to please everyone all of the time. Maybe you've been to too many Moz shows if all you can do is complain. Go see a few Britney Spears shows or something--then you will once again be able to appreciate a Morrissey show.

MORRISSEY PLEASE COME BACK TO LOS ANGELES, WE MISS YOU--NEED TO SEE YOU SOON.

-k

My first Moz gig, and it was bloody great! It was quite bizarre at the beginning - I couldn't quite believe that I was seeing Morrissey, perform live, 20 feet away from me.

Very good set list, his voice was outstanding, and it was just a brilliant gig.

Highlights for me were This Charming Man, How Soon Is Now, Life Is A Pigsty, and First of The Gang To Die.

Brixton is a class venue as well.

The inclusion of "Moon of Kentucky" was intriguing! Although the band did their best to murder the song (as they usually do with every song), even their incompetence couldn't camouflage the fact that Morrissey at least tried to do something different for a change. Huge kudos to him for that! Let's hope the song stays in the set!

The Brixton Academy reminded me of the Hotel Russie, very roomy and Italian in structure. The sense of expectation was tangible and there was a very festive mood.

I am doubting myself now due to other posts but I thought Morrissey pointed to the white screen at the beginning and said, do you see the WHITE cloud behind me? Also I misheard the comment about being the Doll and the Kicks as 'we are the Monkeys'?

I'm not sure if an interview with Lou Reed in 1974 in the introductory videos is new since the Troxy show - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2pF5oMdP4 [youtube.com] .

The crowd was wildly responsive from the first song This Charming Man - even before that really, showing much respect for Doll and the Kicks. Morrissey was exceptionally complimentary to the band members when introducing them and of himself added, I don't have an identity, and I don't want one either! Morrissey's vocals on the Sparks song were out of this world, speaking of which its inclusion coincides closely with the 30th anniversary of humans landing on the moon. The lyric is lovely - http://www.lyricstime.com/sparks-moon-over-kentucky-lyrics.html [lyricstime.com]

The information about the first book hailing from France is obscure, but might be something to do with a different moveable type printing developed before Guttenburg? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2pF5oMdP4 [youtube.com]

I think it's fair to say that Morrissey's survival is intertwined subtly with that of many people in his audience and what this gig demonstrated is how untrue it is that 'nobody needs [his] love, nobody wants [his] love'. Instead the plea is, 'linger on you pale blue eyes'. : )

but this was my 45th Morrissey show and I actually left thinking it wasn't great. The sound was like a sports hall and I felt Morrissey wasn't into it at all. Whereas the night before he was playing along and handing the mic to the fron row etc I felt this gig he ws in a bad mood. I also felt the crowd at the front was very much a London based crwod who only seemed to know his popular Smiths songs. For example, I was at the front in St Petersburg and people were singing along to stuff from his new album, last night people only got going when he did Ask, but they all pushed and shoved everyone as if to make a point of it. One bloke actually shouted, "this is going off, it's going to get fucking tasty now" and just shoved everyone who was near him.
A persoanal feeling I know but having followed this tour since New York in Mach I thought it lacked something.
Anyone else?

so where are the pictures of this amazing gig? please!

the show was okay but not much more in my opinion. I keep reading a lot about Morrissey looking bored and i think that was true to a point but my real observation was that a lot of the songs he does not seem to sing with as much passion and conviction as he used to. please don't bombard me with abuse as it is only my opinion but I feel being a huge fan and having seen the man solo about 10 times and the smiths twice I have the right to say what I think. the whole show just seemed tired to me. I also have to agree that the set list was a bit rubbish, I'm not so bothered even about hearing smiths songs but NOT ONE song was played from any of the pre Quarry albums or comps. what is that about? there is so much great stuff to choose from, i don't get why he would ignore those records totally. Morrissey shows used to be more important than life or death for both the performer and his audience, i honestly hand on heart can't say last night would come under that at all. i'm not slagging the man, I actually really like the new album a lot but come on?

"Morrissey shows used to be more important than life or death for both the performer and his audience, i honestly hand on heart can't say last night would come under that at all."

I see what you are saying. I noticed that his mood during some live performances has changed a bit since the earlier years. ....But so has the audience. I noticed that a lot of the audience doesn't give that "love" back to him like before. Before, you could feel the excitement and tension at a concert before he would even come out on stage. During the show, you could tell that everyone was there to see him and could barely take their eyes off the stage. There was a sense of solidarity and happiness to be around others that felt the same way you did about Morrissey.
Nowadays..People talking to each other, leaving to go get drinks,shoving and being rude to each other, standing around not even paying attention to the performance (why do these type of people even bother going to the concert?, go to a bar or club)

The "devoted" fans that follow him to several gigs are always complaining about the same set list, so your disappointment --when you know the order of the songs with no surprise --, the disappointment probably shows on your faces.

A lot of you are always complaining about what you see on stage. Stop to think for a while what he is seeing from his side.

I know, I know....If he's tired of seeing it he should stop touring..blah blah blah.

Well maybe he misses the old times just as much as some of us do, too, so he keeps on going in hopes that "tonight will be the best show ever". OK I'm getting corny now, but maybe you see what I mean...

I think that audience needs to start giving back more, too.

Just humble my thoughts.

I think 99% of fans would rather it be Speedway and Sunny or something along those lines than an average (at best) new B Side and a cover of a song by a horrible band.

Yesterday I was having heart palpitations and chest pains - thousands of miles away in California... It must've been because if I were actually at the show, my heart would have exploded out of my chest when Morrissey covered such a wonderful Sparks song... I knew that he was a huge fan, and had them recite "Kimono in My House" for that music festival thingy, but to cover something off of "Woofer" is absolutely awesome - seriously almost inducing tears as a huge Sparks/Morrissey fan.

If you haven't yet - or have tried but just couldn't do it the first time around - check out Sparks... I think that they are seriously one of the mose underrated bands of the past century, and especially for a Morrissey fan, you will find more tongue-in-cheekiness & profound genius from brothers Ron and Russell Mael than you will ever find from anybody else... You will understand why you love Morrissey so much, and why he loves them!!!!

- tom

Sparks - they are a total hoot and one of the best bands to come out of the USA. First became aware of them as a kid when they had a cameo appearance performing 'Big Boy' in a fun movie about a crazed guy who goes around blowing up things and plants a bomb on a roller-coaster at a fun fair. Anybody remember what the movie was called?

Morrissey was brilliant, show was great. Much better then last weekend in Vienna. Worth every mile I travel to see him.

I went to the troxy on the 18th, thought moz was fab. their were a few people there who didnt seem to enjoy the gig, one kept looking around like a sore thumb. but i loved the show, my friends were pushed nearer to the stage. lucky gals! well am going to be at Brixton on wednesday.. i will be there so if anyone wanna go see moz, i have an extra ticket.. i will be in the queue at 6pm.. just give us a shout "damo" and we'll meet

i cant wait.. morrissey! morrissey! morrissey!

you were with two other friends near the front middle, one of your friends had a pink cowboy hat..you: tall,cute, checked shirt & great quiff!!!I was sorta behind you, black mozz tshirt and smiled a few times...

sorry people i know this isnt a dating site!!!

I know moz gigs get a bit rough and this is only my second one, first being at the roundhouse last yr, but really some of the thuggs pushing and shoving and not paying any attention to the great man himself...why are you there ???

http://www.thefinalword.co.uk/content/view/834/35/ [thefinalword.co.uk]

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