MalloryBV

I saw Morrissey last night, at the Warner Theatre in Washington DC! For those of you who don't know anything about Mr. Moz, he is touring it up in the US of A currently in support of his newest album, Years of Refusal, which is fantaaaastic, by the way. Okay, so this was my first Morrissey show, just putting it out there.
My mother and I got into Washington just after 5 pm and we went to eat at this place called Ollie's Trolley, which is a kind of old fashioned 'Burgers N Fries' type of thing. I had a Vanilla shake that was delightful and my mom had what she said was a very delicious veggie burger. Then, we went across the street to a giant Barnes and Noble and pretended to read books. Well actually, my mom may have very well been reading books, but I was too busy watching the giant white tour bus parked right in front of the window, watching it like a hawk. Some man did come out of it, but twas not Moz.
So then, mother and I made our way just down the block to the Warner Theater. The weather was terrible, raining and clouding and FREEZING, in true English spirit for Morrissey. There were about 20-25 people waiting outside. It was a seated event, if it wasn't people would have been lined up all day! So as the line grew a little, some man went up the block shouting, "MORRIS-SEY! MORRIS-SEY! MORRIS-SEY!"
Everyone looked at him as if he was mental, and he just responded that none of us were real Morrissey fans. Okay.
So then the doors opened, weee! They searched everyone though I had my camera hidden. They didn't even want people bringing cell phones in, for fear of people TAKING PICTURES with them. They yelled at people for text messaging through out the show. Right in the lobby area there was the Moz merch table. There were quite a few shirts to choose from, but I ended up buying the regular Years of Refusal Tour Shirt , which was also the only one that came in a small. I really liked the Irish Blood, English Heart shirt, but it totally would have enraged my Irish father. So, as we were making our way up to our balcony seats, we stumbled upon a PETA table, that Morrissey had apparently insisted upon. They just gave us little thingies about being a vegetarian, but as a 15 year veteran of vegetarianism myself, this was old news. My mom was just happy that Morrissey is such an animal rights activist and such. We waited around and people watched for a while, and then went into the actual theatre. The Warner Theatre is a very old and very pretty one with intricate paintings and whatnot.
We went to our seats which were in their own little section in row DD, in the "secondary balcony". They were surprisingly good! I mean, I would have prefered orchestra seating obviously, but the view was very good.
It started to fill up, and then the opening act Red Cortez came on. I had never heard of them before this, but I was very impressed. The front man played the guitar and/or bass, the piano, and the harmonica, all in addition to singing obviously. He had a great voice! The rest of the band was also very energetic, and they had a great sound in general. They were just...really good. My mom really liked them too! They played for a while, and then they were off and thanked us all and such. The crowd response was really good, Red Cortez was enjoyed.
So then, the roadies and the techies and the whoever else came out and started setting up for Morrissey and his band. During this time, a series of strange music videos were projected on to the back drop. They consisted of many Shocking Blue ones, The New York Dolls (of course!), and some other films from the 1940's and 50's, and some footage of what was probably a drag queen singing. I can only assume these videos were picked by none other than Moz himself.
Then, Morrissey came on. The setlist went as follows:
This Charming Man
Billy Budd
Black Cloud
Let Me Kiss You
How Soon Is Now?
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
Ask
Seasick, Yet Still Docked
Something Is Squeezing My Skull
Death Of A Disco Dancer
You Say You Don't Love Me (Buzzcocks Cover)
It's Not Your Birthday Anymore
The Loop
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
Best Friend On The Payroll
I Keep Mine Hidden
Sorry Doesn't Help
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
I'm OK By Myself
First Of The Gang To Die

This show was actually probably too wonderful for me to put into words, but I will do my best for you to sum of the highlights...
Obviously opening with This Charming Man was a highlight. It was totally energizing and greeeeaaaat to hear. Everyone was up and dancing in their seats and singing along loudly. After Billy Budd, he "warned the Warner", for not really any reason, because there were no stage invasions. None. There was some kind of security problem.
Then, during Let Me Kiss You, Mozzy predictably and fantastically ripped off his shirt. The crowd went into hysteria, per usual, and when he threw it off a fight errupted down below. This is all normal.
He put on a new shirt and played How Soon is Now? It was also great to hear! The best part though was at the end of the song when he went on to the floor. God, I love Morrissey. Some more songs went by, then they played Ask, then he ranted about the Immigration Officials at the Atlanta airport. He determined that the requirements to become said Official were, "To have an IQ of 1, to be incredibly rude, to have no people skills, and to be quite big". Ah yes! I suppose he was harrased upon entering the country. More songs...then he introduced Something is Squeezing My Skull as his next single in England. It is a really enjoyable song! Then, came Death of a Disco Dancer, which basically put everyone into a trance like state, it may have been my favorite song on the set list, just because he sounded so great. Then he covered The Buzzcocks, for some reason. It was an unusual choice, but again, a surprise none the less! Then, It's Not Your Birthday Anymore, my favorite song off of Years of Refusal, probably. The absolute highlight of the show came up on The Loop, when Morrissey happily played the tambourine and danced around. Oh, it was just delightful! More songs...then he played I'm OK by Myself, another good one. He ripped off his shirt, yet again and went off stage. He came back on for the encore First Of the Gang To Die. Wow, wow, wow! This show was just the BEST! Morrissey's voice was actually perfect, I don't think he missed even one note and his whole band sounded SO good! My mom loved him! She thought he was very funny and was highly entertaining.
This was probably my favorite concert of the few I have been to so far. I have not had the pleasure of seeing AFI yet, but if they're going to top this, they've got their work cut out for them. Absolutely great. I hope you enjoyed reading this. Also...

Sorry it's super blurry, but I had to keep the flash off if I didn't want to get thrown out, I loved the lighting though..


Hahaha. Morrissey doing his zombie pose I guess. Again, sorry for the blur.