There’s a lot to be said for getting up on stage and spilling your guts in front of an audience. But there’s a huge difference between being a disaffected youth fronting a cool band and the original real deal. Since the early eighties when Morrissey fronted The Smith’s, his angst and wit helped define a politically charged and socially aware style of singing that sounded somewhat like Frank Sinatra yet darker, much, much darker. Speaking of which, the DVD starts off with an ode to “Old Blue Eyes” with “My Way,” then quickly goes into “First of the Gang to Die.” Dressed in black, twisting, and turning, he projects himself as the angry young man he’s always been but with a sarcastic and dry humor that make him fun to watch. The crowd eats it up, and why wouldn’t they when it’s not just recorded live in his home town of Manchester but it’s his birthday too.
The DVD is a generous portion of songs off the new album, You are the Quarry, as well as one or two past catalogue hits from his solo and Smiths albums. Most of the band backing him are at least a generation younger but play the songs like they’ve played them over and over in their rooms. There are of course people like long time guitarists Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte making Morrissey sound great here.
One thing you’ll get out of this DVD is the fact that Morrissey has a keen sense of playing really melancholy music so upbeat that you can’t help but smile at his wit. I mean only he can write a song called “I Have Forgiven Jesus.”
A Morrissey concert is the equivalent of witnessing a session with a psychologist. “How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?” is a scathing rants on how no one can relate to him because they aren’t him, which may be true but he seems more comfortable in his shell. “Irish Blood, English Heart,” is a song where he pretty much picks apart the British government. But it’s the band who do a great job of driving his lyrics to the point. He’s sly, putting very upbeat music against his rather introverted and neurotic lyrics. But then again, it wouldn’t be a Morrissey song if he wasn’t playing with his audience, and it wouldn’t be a visually interesting DVD to watch if there was no Morrissey twisting and turning rather fidgety as his band smoothly performs like a well oiled machine. It wouldn’t be Morrissey to go with the flow and that is why we love his music and it has gotten us through, at least through high school!
The DVD is loaded with a whopping 24 songs including live extras and three videos from the new album. If you have the stomach, check out the extra featurette called, “Meet Your Meat,” a pretty nasty look at the way animals are raised to be slaughtered for food and narrated by Alec Baldwin. If you’ve ever wondered where your meat comes from or thought about going vegetarian then this film will make you want to right quick. It’s pretty gruesome yet makes its point and I’m pretty sure that’s how Morrissey wanted to make it. |