Morrissey at the Hollywood Palladium (10/13/07)

Morrissey in Las Vegas back in June


All good things must come to an end.

Morrissey capped his eight night run at the Hollywood Palladium on Saturday night to a maximum capacity crowd. The parking situation in Hollywood was dire as every spot seemed to be occupied as there were multiple shows going on in the area. I managed to park in a structure and catch the end of Kristeen Young's set.

Kristeen seemed happy to be ending her run as she pounded out her final Los Angeles set. Kristeen thanked the crowd for putting up with her for two weeks and that some of the audience will get it in 2050. Kristeen played a shorter set then her prior outings.

Morrissey and the lads were clad in black shirts when they arrived onstage looking morbid and dashing at the same time. The lads had fake black eyes which I thought was a tongue and cheek send off to the audience. After receiving the surprising encore of "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" at the Hollywood Bowl, I was under the pretense that we may get a special treat tonight to cap his eight night run. The opener of "How Soon Is Now?" brought back flashbacks of Morrissey's show at Universal Amphitheatre back in 2004. The band was extremely sharp as usual.

The setlist was solid with my favorite run of songs being "The Loop" Jack The Ripper", "Sister, I'm A Poet", "London", "Tomorrow", "Human Being" and capped with "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?". The live version of "Human Being" is exponentially better then the recorded version and is played twice as fast.

Since it was Saturday night and the last of Morrissey's run, the Hollywood Palladium was packed. I wasn't on the rail on this particular night and it was easy to see the quizzical looks from the audience when Morrissey played "One day Goodbye Will Be Farewell" and "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris".

Morrissey did make some cracks throughout the night including comparing Los Angeles to Utah. There was also an extended gift shopping time with Morrissey as he worked the front row picking up presents moving from the right to the left.

It was a good show but a tad less energy then Thursday's show(10/18/07). The security was beefed up on this particular night and not many people made it onto the stage. The boys reappeared for the encore wearing their Chivas uniforms and managed to throw their shirts into the crowd after "The First Of The Gang to Die". The usual brawls broke out for the shirts as I left the Palladium. I didn't get a shirt but felt fortunate to survive seven nights of Morrissey


Morrissey setlist at the Hollywood Palladium (10/13/07)
"How Soon Is Now?"
"In The Future When All's Well"
"The Loop"
"Jack The Ripper"
"Sister, I'm A Poet"
"London"
"Tomorrow"
"Human Being"
"Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?"
"The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores"
"I Like You"
"Death Of A Disco Dancer"
"Billy Budd"
"Shoplifters Of The World Unite"
"All You Need Is Me"
"One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell"
"Irish Blood, English Heart"
"Stretch Out And Wait"
"I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris"
"I Will See You In Far-off Places"
"First Of The Gang To Die"

Morrissey at the Hollywood Palladium (10/12/07)

It started to feel like Groundhog day as I pulled up to the Hollywood Palladium. I was still buzzing from Morrissey's performance the prior night and was hoping for some more surprises.

Kristeen Young gave another gutsy performance that was marred by some off color comments from the crowd. Kristeen had some feedback problems with her set and I was hoping that this would not carry over to Morrissey's set. It seemed like Kristeen used a phaser pedal on her keyboard more during this performance for a trippy effect. She unfortunately replied to the people making the lewd comments therefore provoking them more.

The lads of Morrissey appeared on stage wearing their milkmen outfits at a few minutes after nine. Morrissey asked the crowd if they knew where their parents were as they started playing "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before". Morrissey seemed to be in a good mood as he was performing his trademark microphone whips across the stage. Morrissey also pointed to the drum head and stated "Some of us are turning nasty".

I believe I heard Morrissey change the lyrics of "You Have Killed Me" by mentioning "Visconti is me!". Morrissey was having some monitor problems again as he mentioned something about the stage being an operating table. "Irish Blood, English Heart" was as sharp as ever with its delayed opening guitar notes. Morrissey also spoke that some of the crowd may be Mexican blood, American heart or Mexican blood, Mexican heart.

"Disappointed" was enthusiastically received by the crowd and Morrissey changed the lyrics again to his usual "Your friends would rather die then sleep with you". Mikey Farrell was also using one of Jessie Tobias's Fender electric guitars for this track. Morrissey handed the microphone to a crowd member who smartly asked what was Morrissey hearing on stage that he didn't like to which Morrissey replied that encouragement is for ponies and children.

"Girlfriend In A Coma" was outstanding and the crowd gasped as the band deftly launched into the song. Jessie was using his capo again on the 1st fret of his guitar for "Sister, I'm a Poet". "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" was preceded by Morrissey stating he has been around for 32 years and can attest that the world is full of crashing bores. "Death Of A Disco Dancer" is amazing live and gets me everytime Morrissey hits the falsetto portion of the song.

"Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" was probably the best version of the song that I have witnessed. The crowd reacted very strongly and was singing along at the top of their lungs. "Ganglord" had Jessie using an E-bow on the opening of the song. "Stretch Out And Wait" had Morrissey change the lyrics to "Eskimo blood in my veins". Morrissey closed the night with threat of if you don't come tomorrow night I will "whup your ass". I didn't think Morrissey condoned violence.

After the barrage and assault from the audience on the prior night, security was noticeably added to prevent an stage invaders. The show was high energy but may have rivaled the prior night if some people got up on stage. I wonder if Morrissey will pull out an surprises for the final night.

Morrissey setlist at the Hollywood Palladium (10/12/07)
"Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before"
"You Have Killed Me"
"I Just Want To See The Boy Happy"
"Tomorrow"
"Irish Blood, English Heart"
"Disappointed"
"Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?"
"The National Front Disco"
"Girlfriend In A Coma"
"Sister, I'm A Poet"
"The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores"
"I Like You"
"Death Of A Disco Dancer"
"Billy Budd"
"Jack The Ripper"
"Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want"
"Ganglord"
"Let Me Kiss You"
"Stretch Out And Wait"
"Dear God, Please Help Me"
"How Soon Is Now?"
"First Of The Gang To Die"

Morrissey at the Hollywood Palladium

I was lucky enough to catch four out of five nights at the Wiltern Theatre when Morrissey did a mini residency a few years ago. The idea of ten Morrissey shows was intriguing to me. It wasn't a matter if I would go. It was the matter of what do I talk about for ten nights?(ed. note...now 8 nights)

The Hollywood Palladium is not really known for having a stunning soundsystem. I have been to a lot of concerts at the Hollywood Palladium in my lifetime and can honesty say it was one of the best sounding shows I have attended at the Palladium. I think Morrissey brought in his own soundsystem and sound engineer.The one thing the Hollywood Palladium is world renowned for is their annual check up you receive entering the venue. After getting a clean bill of health from the security guard, I settled in to the historic venue.

I only caught the last few moments of Kristeen Young as she was pounding on her keyboards. Some of the Morrissey fans have been mixed on her live shows, but she does give it her all and Jeff White(Drums) is a solid drummer. I will talk about her more on some of the other shows.

The boys of Morrissey looked quite dapper as they were clothed in green Morrissey 101 t-shirts as Mikey Farrell played the piano riff to "Hooray for Hollywood". Morrissey started the evening with a shimmery version of "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" from the Smiths era. I was relieved to hear the song as I had missed it in Santa Barbara . Boz Boorer (Guitars) was playing the acoustic guitar melody and Jessie Tobias (Guitars) worked out the solo on his Fender Guitar. "Tomorrow" was just as dynamic as I remembered in Santa Barbara and featured the lyric change by Morrissey of "Useless Body". Morrissey welcomed the fans to his lifetime residency at the Hollywood Palladium that had some the fans chuckling in the audience. During "All You Need Is Me", a female stage invader clothed in a leopard skin print charged on stage and practically raped Morrissey to which he later commented that she must have be siphoning gasoline from a 747 airplane. I think the whole audience busted up at that point.

"London" was simply astounding and played at twice the tempo I remembered from the Smiths live recording "Rank" with Jessie adding extra harmonics throughout the song. "Billy Budd" had the phasers going in full effect that made me forgot about the wah drenched guitars on the recorded version. The song even included the spoken word sample at the end of song. Morrissey had worked up quite the sweat at that point as he changed into a fresh purple shirt. Solomon Walker (Bass) pulled out the upright bass to perform the toe tapping bass line to "The Loop" with Morrissey banging the tambourine. Morrissey proceeded to introduce the whole band saving himself for introduction as "I'm plain Nasty!".

When it came time to turn the microphone to the audience, one crowd member wanted to remind Morrissey that Marc Bolan celebrated his birthday recently. Morrissey replied with a "Very well said". One other audience member had mentioned they came from Japan to which Morrissey replied that the only Japanese word he knows is "Kabuki". "Stretch Out And Wait" had Boz back on the acoustic guitar. During "Let Me Kiss You" Morrissey changed the lyrics to "zig zagged all over Los Angeles".

Another humorous point in the night came while Morrissey was singing the suggestive song "Dear God, Please Help Me" that had elicited some cat calls from the audience. Morrissey managed to quickly tell the crowd "It's A Serious Song" before effortlessly going back into song. The epic tremolo intro of "How Soon Is Now?" had the lights synced up with the guitars that was the auditory/visual experience of the night.

For the encore of "Irish Blood, English Heart", the boys were clad in Chivas Football jerseys. Morrissey was wearing number 14 and seemed to have autographed the shirt before dispatching it in the crowd. I think Boz had "Boozer" on the back of his number 6 Chivas uniform. Will they do this every night? Stay tuned.

Morrissey Setlist for the Hollywood Palladium Night #1 (10/1/07)
"Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before"
"Tomorrow"
"All You Need is Me"
"Sister, I'm A Poet"
"That's How People Grow Up"
"London"
"Billy Budd"
"The Loop"
"Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?"
"Stretch Out And Wait"
"First Of The Gang To Die"
"Let Me Kiss You"
"Death Of A Disco Dancer"
"Disappointed"
"You Have Killed Me"
"In The Future When All's Well"
"I Like You"
"One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell"
"Dear God, Please Help Me"
"How Soon Is Now?"
"Irish Blood, English Heart"