The Smiths, 1986, Milwaukee & Chicago
The Smiths are my all-time favorite band, and when they toured in support "The Queen Is Dead". I gave away my waiter shifts for the entire weekend (when you make the most tips) so I could see them first in Chicago and then the next night in Milwaukee. In Chicago, the sold-out crowd at the Aragon Ballroom had pent up anticipation so when the opening band finished their last song, the crowd surged toward the stage, toppling folding chairs set up as floor seating and crushing people up against the stage. My friends and I balanced on top of chairs -- I'll never forget Morrissey draped over a floor monitor thrashing gladiolas as he sang "I'm alone, I'm alone, I'm alone, and I never ever had nobody ever". The crowd was crazy.
Milwaukee's performance was at the Performing Arts Center, a stark contrast to the Ballroom setting in Chicago. Red plush velvet seats in an acoustically perfect, modern venue. We had seats 11 rows back and I wanted to be closer, much closer. After their first song, Morrissey said "Please don't be shy, come forward" and with that I climbed on top of and over seats and made my way right up against the stage, which had no bouncers in front of it (they were at side stage). I was wearing a Morrissey t-shirt a friend brought back from London for me, which had a picture of Morrissey holding a typewriter in the air. The show was amazing of course, but what made it for me, an impressionable lad in his early twenties was Morrissey shaking my hand during the set. After their final encore, Morrissey was walking off the stage, stopped, turned around and came up to me (and only me!) and said "Thank you" and shook my hand again before departing the stage. Envious fans around me looked at me wondering what made me so special. OMG - Morrissey shook my hand not once but twice. There is no better high than seeing your all-time favorite band perform live up close and personal during the height of their career.
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Really sad I missed The Smiths in Atlanta on the same tour. They canceled their concert that was to have taken place at The Fox Theater. I remember the weekend they were supposed to play it was a stream of cancellations: Eurythmics at the Omni, Elton John, and The Smiths all canceled shows for one reason or another.
ReplyDeleteI have seen Morrissey a few times in San Francisco.
I would have been seriously depressed if both Eurythmics and the Smiths canceled their shows. I worked with a guy who was at the Smiths' final show (in Florida).
ReplyDeleteI did manage to get out to Berkeley for that Eurythmics tour, 2 nights at the Greek Theater, so all was not lost. It was my first trip to the Bay area, and little did I know 11 years later I'd be living in Berkeley only one street over from where I stayed during that week.
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