“Some people don’t have a sense of humor. I don’t. Why should I?” Morrissey pondered from the stage, at about the halfway point of his performance Tuesday night.
In what could have been received as just another barb from the sardonic and sometimes self-deprecating Moz vernacular, the comment instead seemed to come from a different place. Having already delivered a sizeable portion of his return engagement to St. Petersburg’s Mahaffey Theater, following a sold-out appearance in 2014, the singer and performer seemed calm, at ease, and dare I say playful in his demeanor and his swagger throughout the evening.
This was not the Steven Patrick Morrissey that typically gets lambasted for his unsteady attendance record for his own concerts or takes on controversial, political topics in his normal rhetoric; this model encapsulated the unique essence of the sometimes enigmatic and intriguing side of the British performer and those in attendance seemed to adore every minute of the night.
On the final night of his jaunt through Florida, having already made stops in Orlando and Hollywood, Morrissey emerged onstage just a little after 9 pm and following a 30-minute pastiche of films that appeared on the large projection screen onstage before the dimming of the lights.
Clips of some of the singer’s favorite musical artists like Roxy Music, Eddie Cochran, and Visage were intercut with clips of classic films as to almost give a glimpse into some of the artists’ greatest influences and as to what made the man, we were about to witness who he is today. When the stage lights darkened, the man of the hour emerged along with his five-piece band. Clad in smart black blazer and slacks, Morrissey, now 64, looked dapper, fit, and stately.
Opening with “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful,” the lead single from arguably the finest release from his solo catalog, 1992’s Your Arsenal album, Morrissey instantly portrayed a commanding and in-control frontman and showed off his truly engaging and affable side. In fine voice and recreating the song in faithful fashion, one couldn’t help but reconnect with the sentimental, nostalgic side of being a longtime follower and admirer of this sometimes-confounding figure who has been a mainstay on the turntables for most alienated, disaffected kids who grew up in the 1980s.
For his 40 Years of Morrissey tour, as it’s been dubbed, the understood idea is that the former lead singer and lyricist for one of the most vital and important bands to surface in the ‘80s, The Smiths, would revisit his long back catalog and deliver a collection of treasures dating back to his previous band’s 1983 debut recordings. What fans got was just that, a glimpse into Morrissey’s past triumphs along with a taste of his most current projects and offerings.
Without sticking to any type of linear timeline, the singer crisscrossed periods in time and gleefully performed nuggets from the Smiths’ songbook as well as from his lengthy solo output. Following a note-perfect reading of Stop Me if You Think You’ve Heard This One Before, the brilliant Smiths single from 1987, the singer joked “Some of you look quite normal” as he gazed into the audience. Interjections like this and the many that followed throughout the evening made it clear that Moz was in fine spirits and was geared for a strong performance.
The singer seemed to soar and reach into the depths of what has always set him apart from his contemporaries for several numbers. The pure drama and bombast of I Wish You Lonely, a song from his 2017 Low in High School album, was captured brilliantly thanks to moody lighting and Morrissey belting passionately throughout. It’s safe to say that the singer only got better and more appealing as the night wore on, which seemed to delight the crowd and possibly give them the chance to release a few sighs of relief.
At no other point did Morrissey’s vocals reach the absolute pinnacle he arrived at when delivering a gorgeous version of Darling, I Hug a Pillow from his last studio album, 2020’s I Am Not a Dog on a Chain. Warm, full-bodied, and dripping with passion, the song’s impassioned lyrics gave Moz the perfect vehicle to emote and wring every drop of pain from his soul. When he belted the repeated line Why can’t you give me some physical love from this gem, it would be hard to imagine one person in the venue not feeling the depths of unbridled passion Morrissey conjured with that one line alone.
Seemingly feeling comfortable and at ease, Morrissey made his way from side to side of the stage, shaking hands with front row fans, allowing one to speak a few words into his mic, and signing an autograph within the pages of his self-penned Autobiography someone in the first row had in hand. Draping his blazer over his forearm for a spell, Moz resembled the dressy, cool, chic Frank Sinatra channeled in the mid-60s and looked every but the part of the slick lounge lizard. In true unpredictable fashion and straying from the set lists his other Florida shows boasted earlier in the week, Moz and his ensemble unleashed a stupendous version of country music legend Waylon Jennings’ 1975 single Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way, a song that, upon its release, lambasted the glitzy machine the country music had genre had become in the mid-70s. As a vintage picture of Jennings appeared on the screen behind him, Morrissey did the song and its message proud.
A glimpse into his newer, and as of yet unreleased songs, revealed one of the night’s top highlights. The Night Pop Dropped unveiled a different side of the singer: what sounded like a funk or soul-inspired song, built upon a sturdy, chunky bass line, found the singer showing off a side of his vocal prowess that hadn’t been tapped into for the duration of the 95-minute, triumphant show.
“I’ve had a fantastic night, so, thank you!” Morrissey spoke before closing the main set of the night, and his words sounded to be coming from a true and sincere place. For his encore, the singer revisited what’s know as his former band’s magnum opus, the moody, alternative club dancefloor staple, How Soon is Now? which benefitted again from dramatic lighting, fog, and atmosphere. One fan managed to make their way onto the stage during the night’s closing number only to embrace Morrissey for a few mere seconds before being escorted back to their front row seat.
With this stellar performance, that hug symbolized what every single other person in the venue wanted to do to show their gratefulness and appreciation for this memorable show: hug the man who has provided the soundtrack of many of our lives for the last forty years.
