Morrissey at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium

James Dean and Richard Davalos in dress rehearsal footage from East of Eden
Another shot from Las Vegas.


I seriously thought it was a misprint when I read that Morrissey would play Riverside. I figured if I can brave the traffic out to Ventura that a trip to the Inland empire can't be that bad. After two hours in traffic that is stopped for no good reason at all, I arrived to a sweet parking spot in front of the venue.

Kristeen Young gave another solid performance, yet the crowd in Riverside was not as forgiving. The Morrissey chants increased as she continued to play her forty minute set. Kristeen Young thanked the few members of the crowd that weren't chanting as she soldiered on. The funny part was that everyone seemed real eager to get a free drumstick when Jeff White(Drums) threw them out to the crowd.

After the amazing performance at Ventura, I was hoping for a repeat performance. The Riverside Auditorium is an old theatre that held an open floor for about 600 people with roughly 900 seats behind the floor area. The Auditorium looks like an old mission and had a decent soundsystem but it was not as crisp as Ventura. I could have taken a camera in but figured the pit would be too rowdy. My suspicions were correct as multiple fights broke out in the surrounding areas. I didn't take too many notes because I was busy fending for my life. "The Queen is Dead" is one song I would love to hear on a desert island for the rest of my life and still sing along every time. If you are unfamiliar with any Smiths material, check out "The Queen Is Dead". I have given up hope though that I would ever hear "Cemetary Gates". "Ganglord" is a great song live that features Morrissey changing up the lyrics to "Get your scrawny ass back to the ghetto". Jessie Tobias was sporting his Fender Starcaster most of the night which features an interesting headstock. The real highlight of the night was "Lucky Lisp" was perfomed which happens to be a song I had not seen performed live yet. It was performed gracefully just like I imagined. "All You Need Is Me" was performed in seemingly record time as the band blazed through the quick number. The transition between the end of "Life Is A Pigsty" into "How Soon Is Now?" features an interlude of "Auld Lang Syne". Morrissey later teased the audience with "To Die in Riverside is such a heavenly way to Die" leading 80% of the crowd into thinking he was going to play "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out". Morrissey fooled everyone again but led the crowd into "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side". It didn't occur to me until later that Morrissey may have been foreshadowing to the Hollywood Bowl.

Morrissey Setlist for The Riverside Municipal Auditorium (6/6/07)
(Max Capacity 1,950)
"The Queen Is Dead"
"The Last Of The Famous International Playboys"
"Ganglord"
"The National Front Disco"
"Let Me Kiss You"
"Lucky Lisp"
"The Boy With The Thorn In His Side"
"Irish Blood, English Heart"
"All You Need Is Me"
"Everyday Is Like Sunday"
"Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want"
"You Have Killed Me"
"In The Future When All's Well"
"That's How People Grow Up"
"I Just Want To See The Boy Happy"
"Disappointed"
"I Will See You In Far Off Places"
"Life Is A Pigsty"
"How Soon Is Now?"
"You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side"