Morrissey Archives

Isle of Wight Festival offered Morrissey Phil Collins as stand in drummer in 2005.

Remember when Moz canceled his appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2005? Apparently he told the organizers he couldn't play because he didn't have a drummer. So the festival offered to get Phil Collins to play drums for him. That would have been all kinds of awesome. Sadly, it never happened and Travis filled in for the mighty Mozzer, which in a way in ironic considering they were out of commission for a time after their drummer was almost paralyzed in a 2002 diving accident.

Fran took a small shot at Moz when they played the 9:30 Club last year. You can hear it at the end of the show if you want to give it a listen.

I need one of these STAT.

Last night I finally got to shoot Morrissey. I say "finally" because I was supposed to shoot three of the dates he cancelled back in July. Three! But it was not to be. And after the show last night, I think the wait was almost worth it.

I was incredibly nervous when I got to the venue. I was trying not to put too much pressure on myself to get "the shot" but it wasn't working. I had some serious butterflies in my stomach. About five minutes before Moz went onstage, the promoter led the photogs down to the front of the house. There is no photo pit at DAR, so we had to basically shoot from the crowd. However, the bouncers were nice enough to clear people out of the center aisle which was just enough space for myself and Ryan, the other photog. I was front row! Before I could even get settled, the lights dimmed and Morrissey bounded out across the stage. I took a deep breath and went to work.

We only got to shoot two songs and they went by in a flash(no pun intended). I had both of my cameras with me and would switch between the two whenever the buffer on a memory card would fill up. I had them placed on the stage in front of me, which was very handy. During the second song, while I was putting one camera down and picking up the other, Moz hit me in the face with the mic cord! Awesome.

When our two songs were up, I stored my camera in the production office and then went back out to enjoy the show. Even though the venue was just over half full, Moz was in fine form and looked like he was enjoying himself greatly. He played a great set (although he completely ignored any Ringleaders material - save for the b-side "Good Looking Man About Town") and the crowd was mad for it.

I got my hands on the second shirt that was thrown out but a mad scramble for it ensued and I gave up on it. Besides, what am I going to do with a 1/4 of a sleeve? Moz ended up throwing three shirts into the crowd and it seemed to rile everyone up. There were something like 12 stage invaders during the last song and Moz was loving it. he had the biggest smile on his face. Security was really cool about it, letting people jump up on stage and then back down if they didn't do anything crazy. They had their hands full. Boz threw out a set list right before he walked off stage and I just missed it. Dagger. Even so, I declare my 13th Morrissey gig a success.

Oh, and I got the shot.

Setlist: (via)
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before / Irish Blood, English Heart / Interesting Drug / Death Of A Disco Dancer / Sister, I'm A Poet / One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell / Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? / Billy Budd / Jack The Ripper / The Loop / Stretch Out And Wait / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want / Tomorrow / I Like You / Good Looking Man About Town / The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores / That's How People Grow Up / The Boy With The Thorn In His Side / Dear God, Please Help Me / How Soon Is Now? // First Of The Gang To Die

Artists I'm dying to shoot:
1) Oasis
2) Morrissey
3) Paul Weller
4) The Verve
5) Radiohead

One down.

Ok, real quick. Ram's Head live is like the 9:30 Club with a capacity more akin to that of the Black cat. Only much more sterile and without any charm or personality. House of Blues Lite if you will. Still, I had never seen Morrissey in such a small venue before. The opportunity was too good to pass up and I just put the ticket price out of my mind.

I grabbed a spot stage right about 7 people back from the stage. I had the perfect sightline to the middle of the stage. I chatted with some of the people standing around me, mostly couples, and everyone was nice. I was pumped and ready for a great show.

Then during the set changeover after Girl In A Coma (who were ok, but nothing to blog about), about 10 minutes before the Mozzer came onstage, this visibly drunk older (40+ - just trying to put things in context here) couple tried to push their way through the small group of people where I was standing. This big burly guy (Who was stocky as hell) was having none of that and wouldn't let them do it. They contiunued to fight to get in front of him and a drink got spilled on someone next to the burly guy. He was none to happy and said something to the lady that spilled her beer. She basically said "Fuck off you fucking fuck" which didn;t make burly guy or the other people in the are very happy. A few people said things to older, drunk couple who kept replying "Fuck you, we paid money to be in here too," etc. More words were exchanged in both directions, lots of "Fuck Yous" flying back and forth. Finally the drunk lady said something very nasty and one of the guys that was doing the talking got in her face. She threw her (full) beer on that guy, drenching him and the causing collateral soakage to the poor sap standing next to him (Me!). So the wet guy grabs her, then her boyfriend/husband jumps into action, they grapple and then older dude throws a punch. The crowd was moving all around at that point so I'm not sure if it landed but younger dude was having none of that and he just decked the older guy. Older guy was stunned, more drinks were tossed by the lady and everyone is on their case by now. After another 30 seconds or so, older dude came back at the younger guy but the big burly guy from earlier (now wet) gave him a very hard shove and launched him back about eight feet. Dude got rocked. At that point security came over and took younger dude away. I never saw him for the rest of the night although a few bystanders went over to make sure security knew who started it.

I say all of this because after the melee I lost my awesome spot and had to stand behind this obnoxiously drink girl who (seriously) shouted "OMG! I can't belieeeeeeve it" everytime Morrissey began a song. Every. fucking. time. She sounded like a sick poodle or something. It derove me crazy. After the fourth or fifth song reality has to set in right? At some point don't you have to recognize the fact that you are in a rock club and Morrissey is singing and sound is coming out of the speakers? You have to acknowlegde that at some point, right?

They finally left just before "Tomorrow" and I got to enjoy the rest of the set in piece. All in all, it was a good show, Moz came out dressed in a tux (looking very dapper), with the band clad soleyl in loincloths. Even Boz. It was pretty awesome. Everyone in the band also had something written on their chest in magic marker, Boz's was "Disco Dancer." Moz was in fine form, although "Jack The Ripper" kinda suck because Boz's guitar was turned up too loud and you couldn't hear anything else. Moz opened with "The Loop" and it got the night off to a fantastic start. "The Death of a Disco Dancer" and "Stretch Out and Wait," my first time hearing both, were great as well.

Moz wasn't as chatty as usual (he didn't even mention canceling the July show there) but one standout part of the show was when he opened the floor up for questions and gave the mic to a girl in the front row. She took her time and eventually said"Yes, I'm curious about.." and at that point Moz grabbed the mic back and said flatly, "Stay curious." Awesome.

Can't wait for D.C. on Friday.

The set (via):
The Loop / Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before / Last Of The Famous International Playboys / Sister, I'm A Poet / All You Need Is Me / London / Billy Budd / Girlfriend In A Coma / Irish Blood, English Heart / That's How People Grow Up / Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me / Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? / The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores / I Like You / Shoplifters Of The World Unite / Tomorrow / Stretch Out And Wait / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / Death Of A Disco Dancer / Jack The Ripper / How Soon Is Now? // First Of The Gang To Die

[MP3] Morrissey | The Loop

*dictated but not (proof)read