The Smiths & Morrissey thread

Mad Eyed Screamer said:
Meant to post this yesterday!
37 years ago - their penultimate live gig and final appearance with Craig Gannon in the band. I still have the ticket...View attachment 97267
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I was there . It was not long after the Preston gig where Morrissey was hit by something from the crowd. (Went to that too they came on at about 10pm on a school night which might explain the attack)
I remember the security at Free Trade Hall being ultra strict.
 
PinkFinal said:
I was there . It was not long after the Preston gig where Morrissey was hit by something from the crowd. (Went to that too they came on at about 10pm on a school night which might explain the attack)
I remember the security at Free Trade Hall being ultra strict.
Click to expand...
Two years later, The Smiths were to return to Lancashire for a show at Preston’s Guild Hall in October 1986 as part of their Queen is Dead tour, promoting their album of the same name.
The show has gone down in Smiths legend because it was cut short when singer Morrissey was hit by an object thrown from the crowd during the band’s first song.
Marcus Parnell got free entry to the show. He recalls: “I got a call on the day of the gig at about five o’clock off a friend who’s no longer with us, Gary Barton.
“His mother worked in the Guild Hall box office and had sorted us out a couple of passes, in return for which we had to watch the fire escapes to make sure people weren’t opening the doors to let their mates in.
“There were a lot of people milling around outside and trying to sneak in. And lo and behold they were on – and they were off and it was all over before it began. I didn’t see what happened.
“People said it was a two pence coin that had been cut down. I am not 100 per cent whether he got hit by anything. There was a lot of confusion about whether he was going to come back on again.
“Twenty minutes later we got the announcement that they wouldn’t be coming back on and that was it. Everybody was up in arms. There was lots of booing and fire extinguishers were let off. But the lights were all up and that was it. Gone. Finished. Done. People went around picking up off the floor to get the money back.”
Mark Bickerdike was there at the Guild Hall and recalls: “Absolute madness ensued for at least a minute or so when the intro music stopped and the next thing we knew the band had walked off stage, never to return.”
Caroline Allen saw several Smiths shows and remembers being disappointed at the Guild Hall show finishing early. She says: “I didn’t really see them properly this time because it’s when Morrissey went off after the first song. This was a big deal for us because we were only 16.
“We didn’t travel very far and we’d gone to Preston, which seemed like miles away to us at the time. But we thought, ‘We want to see them again’, and we’d heard that this other gig had been cancelled so we didn’t even know if it was going to go ahead. We got front row position again, and it would have been just brilliant because, if he hadn’t have gone off , it would have been the perfect gig.
“We had a brilliant spot and we weren’t too crushed and we had just a brilliant view. I don’t know to this day what it was that hit him. But he wasn’t coming back on. People say it was a coin. I don’t know. When he went off we thought, ‘There’s no way he’s going to go away for good. He’ll come back on.’ And he just didn’t, and we were absolutely gutted.
“It kicked off a little bit when Morrissey wouldn’t come back on. The crowd were really shouting and were getting quite angry. The atmosphere definitely took a turn for the worse.”
Richard Houghton says: “The show at Preston Guild Hall was one of The Smiths’ last ever live appearances. “The show scheduled for the following night, in Llandudno, was cancelled and Morrissey appeared on stage in Manchester two nights later sporting butterfly stitches in his cut forehead. They played one show after that and split the following year.
 
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Mad Eyed Screamer said:
Graham the singer is a top bloke - a Gooner too.
I hired the band for an event I put on in London in 2007. A top night. Must have seen them at least 8 if not more times
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Yeah he is good. The bass guitarist gets on my nerves though. Wish he would just play the guitar instead of gesturing to the crowd all the time. They are playing the Ritz again soon but I’m at another gig that night.
 
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