The Pope of Mope. The Mozzer. Mozz. Steven Patrick Morrissey to his mum, but even at 50 a demi-god of sorts to a certain subset (or subsets) of the population (full disclosure: I border on being one of those). A quarter of a century following The Smiths' self-titled debut, he's managed to age gracefully, for the most part, his star recovering from a lull in the mid to late 90's thanks to the popularity of up and coming bands who wore his influence on their sleeves this decade, not to mention the recovery of his own work to a respectable level beginning with 2004's You Are the Quarry.
A quick web search reveals that it's been over seven years since Morrissey's coif has graced the Rose City-- August 24, 2002 to be exact-- and while the post show reviews were mostly on the positive side for a performance that included Smiths classics like "I Want the One I Can't Have" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," as well as at least one preview of a song we'd later come to know ("Last of the Gang to Die"), let's hope that the Roseland's securtity goes a little easier on the unfortunate chaps risking life and limb to scale the stage (they're just Morrissey fans, after all. They're more likely to give him a flower than anything else). As one 2002 attendee described it:
"Tonight was pretty brutal to say the least! Even Morrissey commented something to the effect that "I hope you like being shackled!" Security was tight... we even had to walk through metal detectors... like we would bring a gun or knife into the venue... During 'November', several of us tried to get on stage, but the others and I were tackled to the ground... ouch..."
In any case, Morrissey returns to the Roseland Monday night following a tour featuring recent incidents that left future dates in doubt. The U.S. Tour of Refusal begins tomorrow night in Seattle. And the countdown begins in earnest....
1984 Interview with Morrissey and Johnny Marr
2006 Interview with Morrissey
2009 British TV Performance
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