MORRISSEY & MARR: The Severed Alliance by JOHNNY ROGAN

Author:JOHNNY ROGAN [ROGAN, JOHNNY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-85712-782-2
Publisher: Omnibus Press
Published: 2012-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

ONE WEEK AFTER THE FINNISH DATE, the group played at the Greater London Council’s ‘Jobs For A Change’ free festival. While Joyce and Rourke were distributing flowers to their followers back at the hotel, some overexcited fans damaged a car owned by one of the catering staff at the forthcoming Glastonbury CND Festival. “Twenty screaming fans climbed all over it, leaving a large dent,” Stuart James remembers.

Undeterred by the caterer’s indignation, the group journeyed north to Carlisle, where Morrissey distanced himself from the crew while preparing for their performance at the Market Hall. Fans were generally welcomed onstage to display their dedication, although that could cause problems for security. “It was a problem from a technical point of view too,” says Oz McCormick. “It looked great in the press and Morrissey loved it. Johnny liked people invading the stage as long as they stayed away from him and didn’t interrupt his playing. If he was playing a tune and somebody got close to him or bumped into him so that he hit the wrong chord, he’d get very annoyed. His attitude was ‘bring them on!’ but he always wanted space. He couldn’t just jiggle in with them and think, ‘What’s a few mistakes when you’ve got people running across the stage?’ His attitude was still to play the perfect guitar. The fans used to nick mikes which caused problems. Things would stop working. It was more theft than damage. The large percentage just wanted to be onstage dancing. Once they got on they were reasonably careful, dancing on the spot. But it was very worrying.” Unlike members of the audience, staff employees at venues were encouraged to stay away. “Morrissey didn’t like local crew or security men standing in the shadows,” says McCormick. “While onstage, he wanted his back covered by faces that he knew.”

From 13–17 June, the group undertook a short Scottish tour, playing identical sets at their first four dates. Among the surviving documentation from the tour is an amusing rider demanding: “Flowers to the approximate value of £50 sterling. No roses or other flowers with thorns.” Harried tour manager Stuart James was responsible for ensuring Morrissey’s eccentric requests were fulfilled to the letter. “That was the first time I was presented with these riders. There was always the odd one, and they started getting odder and odder. It started with flowers and went on to a tree.” The mini-tour of Scotland ended at Eden Court, Inverness, where they encored with ‘You’ve Got Everything Now’. They then travelled down to Blackpool’s Opera House, where Morrissey met another of his Sixties heroines, Viv Nicholson, whose face had graced the cover of the single ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’. “He requested to meet her,” James recalls. “They chatted, and got on very well. Afterwards, she was in the hotel and sat down with Morrissey.” The tabloid press turned out in force to witness this strange meeting between a forgotten former football pools winner and her eccentric pop star admirer.

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