Fiona Dodwell: "From Morrissey to Marr: Why THAT Open Letter Was a Long Time Coming" (January 26, 2022)

[Viva Las Vegans]

Setlist: Morrissey, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, UK, 12/22/1988

1. “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”
2. “Disappointed”
3. “Interesting Drug”
4. “Suedehead”
5. “The Last Of The Famous International Playboys”
6. “Sister I’m A Poet”
7. “Death At One’s Elbow”
8. “Sweet And Tender Hooligan”

Personnel for this show: M Joyce on drums, Andy Rourke on bass and Gannon on guitar. This was a one-off concert. True solo tours began with Kill Uncle.

To defend Dodwell (for once), perhaps she means Morrissey does not play majority or exclusively Smiths tracks during shows? Most Smiths songs in a gig I've seen is maybe 5 songs out of 18.

 

[Shakespeares Sister]

• 'Dodwell writes an article praising Morrissey's Open Letter and how wonderful it is. This piece then gets shared on Central next week.'

'Please , Please, Please Fiona, tell us like it is.'

• 'Dodwell writes an article praising Morrissey's Open Letter and how wonderful it is. This piece then gets shared on Central next week.'

'Please , Please, Please Fiona, tell us like it is.'

f*** me. Bet she couldn’t get to that typewriter quick enough. Bore off love for the love of god.

 

[Shannon90210]

You didn’t see him on the Kill Uncle
or Arsenal tours?

Bravo!

 

[Anonymous]

This woman is such a mindless sycophant. All she does is suck-up to Morrissey is a desperate attempt to gain favour. If Moz pulled a 360 tomorrow and decided to reform the Smiths, she'd be the first in line with an article about "Why Morrissey was right to dump Jesse and make up with Marr". She genuinly has no thoughts or opinions of her own. It's truly laughable.

 

[Boomer]

Fionly Doddery right on cue. I have forgotten more that she knows about Morrissey and his career.

I won’t read it, and you don’t have to.

We already know it’s just sycophantic drivel.

 

[Johnny who?]

You didn’t see him on the Kill Uncle
or Arsenal tours?

I did, both, he didnt do a Smiths song on either

 

[Eldritch]

While it was a bit disappointing to not hear any Smiths songs on the first 2 solo tours... I get it. I was starting to think he wasn't going to play them as a solo artist, but then with the Boxers tour, Smiths songs are played. I am curious about the timing... by then, 1995, he had been solo longer than being a Smith. Is that the reason, or did he simply miss them? I don't know if he's ever addressed that specifically in an interview. I know he's said things like those songs (Smiths) are his and mean as much to him as his solo songs... but that was always the case.

It's quite common that when somebody goes solo, s/he doesn't play the previous band's songs, because otherwise they could easily overshadow the new songs. With two or three albums under the belt it's much more natural to play the old hits, so they are not dominating the show.

 

[Anonymous]

I can still remember the shock of hearing that first Smiths cover, during the Boxers tour. My ears recognized the song from somewhere, but it was so unexpected I couldn't quite place the fact that I was listening to 'London' until it was half over. To be honest, I think those Smiths songs would be a bit more special now if Morrissey didn't wheel them out at every show. At least give them a break for a tour or two.