Everyday Is Like Saturday: Morrissey (Hopefully) Plays The Backyard

Oh, Morrissey. Back in the summer of 1991, we drove up from San Antonio to (the former) City Coliseum to see your Kill Uncle tour, only to be met in the parking lot by some guy with a bullhorn saying the show was canceled due to "inadequate security." Unable to drink away our sorrows due to age, we settled for a truly inadequate substitute of seeing City Slickers and buying some licorice. After a 1992 stop in San Antonio, you then hid from South Texas for twelve whole years, finally scheduling a gig at The Backyard in 2004. And then you canceled that as well! All was finally forgiven two years later, when SXSW attendees saw an older, wiser Moz at the Austin Music Hall as part of the '06 festival. Non-SXSW'ers will finally get their chance to hear Smiths classics, marvel at the awesome pompadour, and silently weep when Morrissey returns to Austin this weekend.

Early word on this tour is positive, with reports of a 20+ song set that's about 1/3 material from new album Ringleader Of The Tormentors, 1/3 early solo favorites, and 1/3 Smiths songs and covers. It should be interesting to juxtapose a warm early summer night in Texas with music written for an English winter, but Moz will no doubt mock the strip mall surrounding the once-beautiful Backyard and everything will fall right into place. The fact that "The Queen Is Dead" and "How Soon Is Now?" are regularly appearing in the set shouldn't hurt anyone's feelings, either. Normally, we'd be happy to join you on Saturday, but a baby is due in our home this week, so this time we're turning the tables and canceling on Morrissey. But that doesn't mean that you should.

[Morrissey official site]
[Morrissey MySpace]

Morrissey w/ Kristeen Young
Saturday, May 26th
The Backyard [map]
Doors at 6:30, Show at 8:00
$39 [tickets]

Morrissey SXSW 2006 image via MikeAKelly on Flickr.