Morrissey’s performance is perfectly set up by the beautiful summery grooves of The Magic Numbers, whose laid-back charm is exactly what you want on a chilled-out August evening. Moz himself, backed by identically dressed band members (wearing red and white striped shirts and white trousers) opens with the classic ‘Panic’, his arch wit perfectly encapsulated in that oh-so-foppish line, “Hang the blessed DJ”.
Unfortunately, the material from Morrissey’s most recent solo albums, while still containing the clever lyricism that is his hallmark, is missing one vital element – Johnny Marr – and so is musically generic, undistinguished and at times just downright boring. Also, the singer’s whinging about Irish hacks not writing nearly enough articles about him comes across as ill-judged and petty; there’s a few perfectly good reasons we can think of, including the fact that he hasn’t exactly been profligate with his interview time. Still, the Smiths tracks that are performed (‘Girlfriend In A Coma’, ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’) sound as brilliant as they ever did, while the cover version of the New York Dolls’ ‘Human Being’ is a wonderful surprise.
A brief version of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ during the encore segues into the familiar opening chords of ‘How Soon Is Now’, a song which still has the power to send a shiver down the spine. It climaxes with howling guitars and the drummer repeatedly smashing a gong, a splendidly chaotic spectacle which just about secures Morrissey an injury time victory.