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The Birmingham Post

Morrissey Birmingham Academy

By Neil Connor

It's seven years since Morrissey last performed in the city and although his career may have nose-dived his stage presence reached new heights at the Birmingham Academy.

With no record contract and no manager, Morrissey may have been written off by many people in the music industry, but as he rounded off a highly-charged set with two Smiths classics - Hand in Glove and There is a Light That Never Goes Out- it was apparent to many of his fans that no-one can ever take his impressive back catalogue away from him.

What makes a concert by the ex-Smiths front-man is the exuberance displayed from his devoted followers - and the crowd at the Academy was no exception.

Many people sang along to new songs such as The World is Full of Crashing Bores, The First in the Gang to Die, and Irish Blood English Heart, even though the tracks have not yet been released.

It is perhaps a sign of the times that music lovers can keep up to date with their icons through the Internet, even though Morrissey's heyday was in a age before the dot.com revolution.

And it was the 1980s classics such as I Want the One I Can't Have, Meat is Murder, Every Day is Like Sunday and Suedehead which really saw Morrissey in his element.

Gone are the days when he would prance around the stage clutching flowers, nooses and placards. Built more like a night-club bouncer than the scrawny box-bedroom rebel he was 20 years ago, he now punches the air with a heart-felt defiance in a two-fingered salute to his critics.