Chimpomatic

Morrissey

London Palladium

Due in part to my near death experience during the last Morrissey gig at Alexandra Palace two weeks ago I felt a bit cheated and wanted to see him properly in a smaller, more intimate and civilised environment. The Palladium fits this description perfectly and was a specific request by the man himself as a venue to perform the last 3 shows of his tour.

It all started off so well. Our seats were in the Royal Circle and we had a perfect view. As is customary on this tour a version of You'll Never Walk Alone is played at top volume to signal the imminent start to the proceedings. Hands were already in the air and I could barely contain my excitement. As expected, the reception was rapturous and the show kicked off in style. A few songs later came the riff heavy How Soon Is Now, which was greeted with utter delight and simply rocked. Morrissey seemed to be really enjoying himself - indulging in plenty of banter about how Radio 1 refuse to play his single and that The Palladium felt like home to him as he played here 20 years ago. However, it soon became evident that he was experiencing some difficulty with his earpiece and started to not finish songs, saying how terrible the sound was - despite us telling him it sounded fine. At one point he even asked the crowd "please someone, say something encouraging." The sound problems really seemed to be rocking his confidence and it soon appeared like he was just going through the motions and wanted to get off the stage as soon as possible. As a result he decided not to come back on for the encore and the disgruntled crowd booed as they left the venue.

Despite the great start and an excitement that is rarely found at live performances I left with a deep feeling of disappointment. The sound problems were clearly not his fault and were a cause of some distress to him but I would have thought a performer of his magnitude and experience could overcome this and not give the audience the impression that he was bored and we weren't doing enough to entertain him. After what I thought was a fantastic version of Life Is A Pigsty he asked us why we were clapping. I thought the sound was fine. Vocals are often an element that can get lost at rock gigs but his voice is always so clear and this was no exception. The crowd's excitement was killed by the obvious look of frustration and anguish coming from the man we had paid a lot of money to see. I guess he can just chalk it up as a bad day at work, but for the two fans I spoke to in the pub afterwards who had paid £190 per ticket it was a disaster. I haven't given it a rock bottom rating as the first 45 minutes were awesome and the venue was fantastic. I also have a new favourite track; Ganglord. This B-side to the new single is a classic in waiting.