He is a real rock star, with a traditional two-guitars-bass-and-drums backup group. People go to his shows with religious devotion and stack flowers and messages on the edge of the stage like he is the Dalai Lama or something. Chris, what does this have to do with audio, you may be asking …

My perception of Morrissey, from being his monitor mixer for the first Coachella festival and a few warm-up shows two years ago, is that he is secure in his art form. He is not trying to establish a career. He is not worried, I don’t think, about the house payments. I doubt he needs to work another day in his life. I could be wrong, but I think he actually performs because he loves the connection that he has with his audience. I’ll say this, he certainly appears to.

Every night, he would walk past my desk to start the show with a smile on his face. Hey, guys? That’s a leader. No fear, no fury, just purpose and confidence and the stamina to deliver his unique vocals. So, a guy like that? I did what I know how to do - put up a stagewide vocal, as loud as each day’s system could produce - center wedges, sides, and some nights a pair of buttfills that I shoved up against the drum riser. I took out the frequencies that honk and the ones that stab.

And Morrissey went out and did his shows. One wired Beta 57a, and another 57a spare coiled up standing by. No grimacing. No hollering and gesturing for more. Sometimes at a soundcheck I would get nervous and ask him if everything was okay. He would just smile and nod, and that night his voice would actually gain strength. Soaring over the arrangements, it made a total fan of me, someone who had never heard any Smiths records, only some punk band in San Francisco sing “Morrisssey Rides A Cock Horse.”

Well, I’ll tell you what. When he steps on that stage, Morrissey is a real man. So is Jerry Jeff Walker and so is Jonathan Richman. They are there to play. And I can work with that.