Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
By Michael Twomey | Photo: Michael Hussey (YoughalOnline.com)
Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
Love him or loathe him once you accept Morrissey into your heart you can always forgive him, and there is always something to forgive. Such is the treasure of his back catalogue you don’t know which gem you want to choose. All Morrissey gigs are tinged with regret and this performance at the Marquee on Thursday evening was no exception, only because he can’t possibly play all your favourites.
Morrissey On Stage At The Marquee- Cork City 2008
A people pleasing dynamo he is not, that’s Bruce’s job. How many gigs have you gone to where the performer can hold the crowd in his hand singing ‘life is a pigsty’? Morrissey’s ambivalent love affair with himself and his audience was captured in essence when he called us ’sophisticated’ and then asked ‘what, what did I do now? I’m just trying to sing a song.’ It was all taken in good dark humour. For those with sensitive eyes, and a few elders with even more sensitive ears, the evening began in blinding fashion with a strobe lighting assault synched to the frenzied drumming from ‘South Paw Grammar’. The manic intro heightened the sense of expectation and the momentum was maintained with ‘The First Of The Gang’ from the brilliant album ‘You Are The Quarry’. Smiths fans (those not too shy to come out for the evening) were then smiling innately when the band chimed out ‘Ask’.
Morrissey
The set list moved uneasily, almost without planning, as if Morrissey simply picked up a few cds ‘mmmm…yes….no….no…yes….oh yeah…no, impossible’. There was new material on show and it sounded great, that’s great in its actual form as in bloody very good. The band, as ever, were typically unassuming (no mock hysterics) but sharp as a quiff and tight as a Morrissey shirt. He swooned, he rocked, he charmed like a boy with a thorn in his side, from the swathing beauty of ‘Stretch Out And Wait’ to the darker advice of ‘Why Don’t You Find Out For Yourself?’ to the rockabilly stomp of the ‘The Loop’ and the punk infused ‘Billy Budd’. Morrissey paused for breath fidgeting with the most famous head of hair since Einstein (and an equally modest brain). ‘Is my hair alright? That’s all that matters’ he stated with the concerns of a man who has nothing to declare but his genius.
There were unexpected treats such as ‘Sister I’m A Poet’ and ‘I Just Want To See The Boy Happy’ but as much as I begged for ‘Jack The Ripper’ he never turned up, ah well. The highlight of the evening culminated in a trip down the darkest and most heartbreaking recesses of Morrissey’s mood. ‘Life Is A Pigsty’ with its tired refrain of ‘it’s the same old s.o.s’ ended with its moribund chant and a curious/off kilter rendition of ‘happy birthday’. What came next was uplifting to the point of spine-tingling. If you were not moved by the hydraulics of the opening guitar from ‘How Soon Is Now’ or at least had tears threatening from the pathos of its message then you are probably an Eagles fan. It was mind-numbingly brilliant as in something that shines brighter than anything else, and Morrissey knew it. He went off of course and came back of course to rip into ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’. ‘There is nothing in this world I’m afraid of’ he sang, yes, we know. When the lights came on Sinatra sang out ‘That’s Life’, a little message to all those who love and loathe Morrissey.
Click on gallery below to start slide show
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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- Morrissey At The Marquee Cork City
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Comments
* All comments are moderated before publishing.This writing by DMurphy is mindless. Bruce and Moz are incomparable. Good review. Excellent gig and better than the Dublin one.
Good review. Morrisey still has it and still very relevant when you consider what’s about today. Fantastic mixture of old and new stuff but it didn’t really matter what he played in the end.
Great pics too.
[...] am an obsesso-face, self proclaimed Smiths fan and went to witness Morrissey in Cork in June 2008. I had just gotten to know The Smiths in the previous months which led me to [...]
saw the write up on the morrisey show in cork city.the photos were very strong….good to read something by someone that gives a damn, and imports in a very real sense the power and meaning of this great man.the writing is impassioned and exact……it was bruce springsteen that single handedly showed every one how to do it from badlands to 41 shots….i am sure these two men have met and shared a common integrity…morrisey walks a stage already trod by bruce and many more in all places and stages and times.this writing by michael twomey is thought provoking current and timeless dmurphy