Concert review: Morrissey welcomed back to L.A., rock scene

By Miguel Lopez
On-line Forty-Niner

Morrissey proved to be arguably one of the best front men of modern rock along with Thom York of Radiohead, Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode, and Bono from U2 at The Grove of Anaheim last Sunday.

The Grove of Anaheim show was scheduled to be a seated show, but per Morrissey's agent request, the seats were removed due to potential safety reasons. This was a great move by management for safety but also benefited the audience by making the event general admission.

I had never been to The Grove, but the first thing I noticed was how close the stage was from the crowd. The only drawback about the intimate venue was that there were permanent three-foot-walls dividing off five sections, and whatever section was indicated on the ticket was where spectators watched the show and security made sure of that.

At 8:15 Morrissey along with the "boys" Boz, Dean, Gary, Alain and a new face to the band, Mikey, walked onto the stage dressed up in suits and took their place to the cheers of the 1,700 people at the sold out show and promptly began playing "First of the Gang to Die," a song which he first played in his 2002 tour. Once the first song ended he took a quick glance at the band then jumped into a classic Morrissey song "Hairdresser on Fire." He featured "I Have Forgiven Jesus," "I'm Not Happy" and "The World is Full of Crashing Bores," just to name a few songs which will be in his forthcoming album "You are the Quarry" scheduled to be released in May.

Along with the mix of new material he played some fan favorites "Everyday is Like Sunday," "Jack the Ripper" and closed the set with "There is a Light That Never Goes Out." Which brings up the point on how Morrissey closes his shows like no other band. Yes, he did do an encore and played "Irish Blood English Heart," but before that, the band walked out to a deconstructed version of "There is a Light That Never Goes Out." Once the last lyric of the song was sung Morrissey put the microphone back on the stand, took a bow and walked out to just the guitars, bass, drums and keyboard playing "There is a Light That Never Goes Out." One-by-one Boz, Gary, Alain, Dean walked out just leaving the new member Mikey playing the keyboard part of the song. He then followed suit to the cheers of the crowd.

The Grove show sold out in minutes and the upcoming five-day stint at The Wiltern sold out just as quick. If tickets are obtainable I recommend checking out a Morrissey show because soon he will leave for New York, then he's off to England. He will return to the area to headline Lollapalooza this summer.