Emily's Albums A to Z

Listened: Thursday September 2

I love that Moz has released a live album, but unless you can see him whipping the mic cord around and interacting with the audience, it’s just not quite the same! So much of his performance badassery is physical movement and flirting with the audience.

His stage presence is what I imagine Frank Sinatra’s to have been. Very professional, but at the same time much more interactive than “cool” bands usually are. Many bands don’t seem comfortable enough to relax and accept being a professional musician. They want to project an image that they’re just normal people who happen to be singing or they’re too insecure about being cool enough that they spend their time being aloof. With Morrissey, there is none of that. He knows he’s a goddamn singer, in the best way.

I’m glad he did a cover of Redondo Beach – it’s so appropriate for his style I didn’t realize at first it was a cover; I thought it was a b-side I didn’t know about.

I remember back in 2002 before Morrissey’s modern comeback a friend and I kind of randomly decided to go see him in Fresno and then in Berkeley. To this day, the Fresno show was the most surprising show I have ever been to. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t what I got. I knew his singles from the radio, but I didn’t realize how crazy his shows can be, what with the stage crashers trying to get a piece of him. Also, it was one of the more diverse crowds I have ever been in, especially odd in a place like Fresno. There were straight people, gay people, old people, young people, goths, punks, nondescripts, white, black, Asian, Latino (the cult of Morrissey is writ large amongst Latinos)… everyone was there.

I’ve seen him quite a few times since, but nothing has matched those memorable first shows. Morrissey is the man, and I wish I had known that sooner.