King of Pain: Morrissey at the Uptown

Morrissey. Wednesday, May 23, at the Uptown Theater.

Concert Review by Jason Harper

No one can say that Morrissey went about things the wrong way last night at the Uptown.

Arriving on stage in a dapper blue suit, which the nearly 50-year-old singer rapidly shed as his sweat glands kicked into fifth gear, the Moz looked like a suburban father home from a hard day at work and violently in need of a cocktail. All the chaps in the band, including guitarists Boz Boorer and Jesse Tobias, were clad in identical getups of candy blue vests and trousers and red Oxford shirts with the sleeves rolled up past the elbows. Given their youth (with the expection of Boz), they looked as if Morrissey had hand picked them from some Irish boys’ bugle corps academy — an impression that was cemented when one of the musicians blasted out a couple of solos (erring on the flat side) on trumpet and trombone. And then there was the backdrop: two giant, tiled photos of James Dean. There was a lot of lad on the stage that night.