Morrissey has a massive Mexican following, so it should be no surprise that a group of Mexican musicians from various bands have joined together under the moniker Mexrrissey to play Spanish versions of songs by Morrissey and The Smiths. Tonight Belinda and I attended the first date of their Australian tour at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Opening up the evening was another tribute act: The Thin White Ukes. This three piece band played David Bowie songs on the ukulele, including "Ashes To Ashes," "Space Oddity," "Golden Years," "Let's Dance," "Heroes" and "The Man Who Sold The World." The female member also wore an amazing silver jumpsuit.
Mexrrissey emerged on the stage in all black and launched into "First Of The Gang To Die." It's very interesting knowing all these songs and wanting to sing along, but not necessarily knowing the Spanish lyrical translations. Members took turns singing lead, which included the Morrissey tracks "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get," "Everyday Is Like Sunday" and "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys." Considering how conservative a venue like the Melbourne Recital Centre is, it was great that a few songs in the band got the majority of the crowd to stand up and dance along.
The band had some stunning visuals on the large screen behind them, which gave the show a bit of a pop art feel. One of the best was Morrissey hitting a Trump piñata with gladioli while they played The Smiths track "Panic." Other Smiths songs in the set were "Still Ill," "Girlfriend In A Coma,""Ask" and "Bigmouth Strikes Again," which closed the main set. For the encore they started with "Mexico" on trumpet and guitar, and were then joined by the rest of the band for "Suedehead" and "How Soon Is Now?" to close out the night. This show was so much fun and great to hear a different take on these songs I've known for years.
Here is Mexrrissey doing "Estuvo Bien" ("Suedehead"):
The last time I saw Morrissey live was in Berkeley in 1991 on his Kill Uncle tour, so it's been a very long wait between gigs for me. I was overseas when Morrissey was last in Melbourne a couple years ago, but thankfully he returned tonight for a sold out show at Festival Hall.
The evening began not with an opening act but a montage of music videos from his favorite artists. Then after the screen at the front of the stage dropped, Morrissey and his band emerged, bowed to each other and took their positions. They started the set with "Suedehead," his first big solo hit. Morrissey's 2014 album World Peace Is None Of Your Business featured throughout the night as they played the tracks "Kiss Me A Lot," "Istanbul," "World Peace Is None Of Your Business" and "The Bullfighter Dies." Other highlights included "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris," "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores," "I Will See You In Far Off Places," "All You Need Is Me" and "You Have Killed Me." It was also amazing to hear some older songs that I wasn't expecting them to play such as"Alma Matter," "Everyday Is Like Sunday," "Ouija Board, Ouija Board," "You're The One For Me, Fatty" and The Smiths track "How Soon Is Now?"
Morrissey's voice sounded fantastic and he did his microphone cord flicks and worked the stage. When he reached out to fans in the front row, two of his crew members would come out onto the stage ready to grab him in case he got dragged into the crowd (it was quite funny). The visuals throughout the concert were great as they utilised photos and videos on the backdrop to better illustrate the songs, none to more effect than videos of the treatment of animals in abattoirs for The Smiths track "Meat Is Murder," which closed the main set.
For the encore Morrissey came back out in a red version of the shirt he had been wearing earlier and they finished the evening with The Smiths song "What She Said." Morrissey then ripped off his shirt, threw it into the crowd and departed the stage. For a man in his late 50s he's still in pretty good shape. Although the show was only a bit over an hour and a half long it was fantastic to be able to see Morrissey play live again with such a powerful performance.
Here's the video for one of my favorite tracks, "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris"
