Venue: GBK Sports Complex Senayan (Ex-Golf Driving Range), Jakarta, Indonesia
Date: 12th October 2016
Promoter: kiosPLAY
Review by: Nina
Special Thanks: Titaz, and the kiosPLAY team
Morissey Tells It as It Is
The band’s second coming brings back British wit, social critic and gimmick-free performance
There aren’t that many occasions where we can see corporate men in slacks and brogues walking through a muddy field. A Morrissey concert is one of them. On Wednesday, October 12, the phenomenal figure in British indie rock came back to Indonesia for his second concert. His first was in 2012.
The concert, attended by some 5,000 fans amid rather steep ticket price, opened with “Suedehead” (1988), with Morrissey’s retro-style photo on the backdrop. The singalong started instantly. From the start, it was very clear that most who came to the show sought to walk down the music memory lane with the 57-year-old singer/songwriter. No opening act needed, then.
Contrary to concerts on present days, fancy lighting and sound gimmicks abundant, Morrissey instead relies on his charismatic voice that endured 19 songs, a solid band and exceptional sound system to make a show (it is notably better than kiosPLAY’s earlier effort when they brought in Tame Impala). Some things never get old.
The show continued on a fast pace with crowd pleasers like “Everyday Is Like Sunday” (1988) and “Let Me Kiss You” (2004). For old times’ sake, “How Soon is Now?” (1985) from his The Smiths days was played, as was a cover of Ramones’ “Judy Is A Punk”.
Morrissey really was not the one for small talks. Very British indeed. But he did provoke the crowd when he asked, “Do you like Donald Trump?” to a resounding “No!” before playing “World Peace is None Of Your Business” from 2014.
If there was one trick he pulled off at the show, to which no one was complaining, was his voluntary shirt pulling. Showing off an impressive set of abs, he threw his blue shirt to the crowd. Rumour has it, he did it before someone else came to the stage and took it off him. Or stole a kiss from him. Whatever it was, the crowd went wild and fought for torn pieces of the shirt. The incident reportedly injured one.
Things got to its political peak with a 6-minute repertoire during “Meat Is Murder” (1985), where he played a gory PETA video on animal cruelty. He even called out KFC. “I wish I could say you’ve been incredibly nice. But you haven’t. … Enough, enough slaughter. For your sake, my sake, the planet’s sake. No killing birds, no fish, no animals. Enough, enough, enough,” he said with a theatrical voice before belting out the song.
As the crowd was wondering about how Morrissey would turn back the somber mood after the uncomfortable moment, he just didn’t. He left and the show concluded at that. “He is never good at goodbyes,” said a fellow concertgoer. “He has done that before, and he does it again tonight.”