Live Review - The Smiths

The Smiths
Irvine Meadows Amphitheater
06/29/1985

When I graduated from high school in 1985, my parents gave me a round trip plane ticket to California so that I could visit a friend who had moved there. I noticed that The Smiths, a band that I had grown enthralled with during my high school tenure, would be playing there during the time I was visiting. My friend, who was also a fan, picked up a pair of tickets to see them.
Irvine Meadows Amphitheater was located in the suburbs of Orange County. Typically reserved for heavy metal acts that had no trouble filling the outdoor venue, it was reserved on this night for a British band that only had two records available domestically. It seemed like too big of a venue to be for our heroes.
Indeed, Irvine Meadows was probably only half full this night, whereas today it wouldn’t be able to hold all of The Smiths’ fans that would want to see them live. Funny how twenty years of influence, particularly addled by a too-short an existence, can change things.
Our seats weren’t particularly good, but when you’re young, you tend to look for ways to improve your situation even if it means doing so through extraordinary attempts.
The first goal was to get to the lower level. To do this, we located some fellow fans already lucky enough to have tickets in better seating. We explained our plan and exchanged tickets, using theirs to get by security and into the better section. After exchanging tickets, we repeated this formula until we were about 15 rows away from the stage. Not wanting to press our luck, we camped out at some unused seats, moving to other rows when they were claimed by their proper owners.
It was summertime in California, which meant that dusk was just starting when the sounds of livestock omitted from the speakers. The Smiths took the stage and began their set with the title track from their latest album, Meat Is Murder.
It was, admittedly, not my favorite track on the album (what song about not eating meat is?) and probably not the best song to begin a show with.
Thankfully, things got into high gear with the rest of the set which included several of their more upbeat numbers and plenty of their most popular cuts. The band was note perfect throughout and Johnny Marr’s guitar playing was stunningly precise. “What She Said” seemed even faster than the album version and “That Joke Isn’t Funny” paired with “Stretch Out And Wait” was incredible.
Throughout the performance, Morrissey teased the audience causing a few to throw up flowers which he promptly spreads throughout the stage. Soon the floor is covered with petals with Moz galloping through them, carefully paying attention to both sides of the stage.
The set ended with their most popular song at the time, “How Soon Is Now.” The entire crowd stood and danced along to Marr’s pulsating Bo Diddley beat; it felt good to finally be in the presence of a crowd that appreciated what many back in the Midwest considered to be “weird.”
The Smiths gave us not one, not two, but three encores. The first ended with the wonderful “Reel Around The Fountain,” and I was sure that this would be a perfect way to exit. They came back to play two of my favorites, ”William, It Was Really Nothing” and “This Charming Man” along with another one before leaving the stage once again.
The crowd of about 4,000 people began cheering just as loud as you would hear at any other typical rock concert (which struck me as being strange) and the band was obligated to return for a final song.
“Barbarism Begins At Home,” one of the band’s funkier numbers, began and they performed it as an extended number. While the band was jamming, a member of the crowd found a hole in security and climbed up on stage. A couple of members of the event staff went to intercept him, but he managed to reach Morrissey and give him a hug. As security began pulling him off, Morrissey stopped them. He then went to the edge of the stage and requested more of the crowd to join them. While the rest of the band continued playing, the crowd surged forward as the stage grew with audience members. Morrissey danced, occasionally being interrupted by the hug of a fan, weaving in an out of the makeshift discotheque. A well-endowed blonde female audience member draped her arms around Morrissey and gave him a hug. When he moved to attend to another fan, she turned to the crowd and lifted her shirt to expose her breasts. Morrissey didn’t notice it, but bassist Andy Rourke did and he smile in approval. This was probably the most “out of place” moment in the entire evening; while an exposure like this is to be expected at a metal concert, I never imagined that it would happen at a Smiths concert. At least it gave me a story to relay back to the Iowa folks who would give me a puzzled look when I explained to them that I saw a band called The Smiths during my visit to Cali.
After a 15 minute “Barbarism,” the band left the stage for the final time. Prior to this show, my live concert experience consisted entirely of hard rock and metal shows. A lot of this was do to the nature of who toured in the Midwest, but the reality was that I never paid close enough attention to look for alternative shows around my area.
Seeing The Smiths changed this, and in the process of discovering music beyond the mainstream I got a chance to see a band that remains on one of my "best live shows ever" list.
Here’s a video clip from the same tour immediately followed with the setlist for the Irvine Meadows show.

Setlist:

Meat Is Murder
Hand In Glove
I Want The One I Can't Have
Nowhere Fast
Shakespeare's Sister
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
Stretch Out And Wait
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
What She Said
Still Ill
How Soon Is Now?

encore

Jeane
The Headmaster Ritual
Reel Around The Fountain

encore #2

William It Was Really Nothing
This Charming Man
Miserable Lie

encore #3

Barbarism Begins At Home