"It is as if his past two decades of inflammatory political activism hasn't hurt his reputation. What's more, things will soon pick up, he assures us, because his morphine has just kicked in. A smatter of laughter. Probably joking? Opiate allusions aside, the between-songs narrative is a classic tour-de-Moz. He stumbles from self-hype to castigating jealous bitches and his customary bete noire, the cancel culture that has so thoroughly deplatformed him."
"Though its insinuations appear lost on the crowd, his alignment with far-right talking points comes to the fore on recent single Notre-Dame, a repugnant synth-pop lament seemingly based on debunked (and broadly Islamophobic) conspiracies that arsonists started the 2019 fire at the Paris cathedral. We know who tried to kill you, he sings, addressing the cathedral itself."
"The Smiths songs seem beamed in from another timeline altogether. The night's first, A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours, takes on a psychedelic grandeur, while the elegiac I Know It's Over is accompanied by images of his late mother. But the moment is lost in the flat live arrangement, his mighty croon single-handedly dragging the band up the ballad's emotional peaks."
Morrissey performed at a sold-out O2 Arena with his five-piece band, delivering classic Smiths material alongside recent singles. Between songs, he employed his characteristic narrative style, alternating between self-promotion and complaints about cancel culture. His recent single Notre-Dame promotes debunked, Islamophobic conspiracy theories about the 2019 Paris cathedral fire. Classic Smiths songs like A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours received psychedelic arrangements, while I Know It's Over featured images of his late mother. Throughout the performance, Morrissey maintained his provocative persona, making cryptic statements about community safety while presenting politically charged material with theatrical staging.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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