Morrissey favors new material over the classics at Ocean Casino
By Ryan Loughlin and Scott Cronick
Most artists who are still performing at age 65 treat their live show as a walk down memory lane, an opportunity for aging fans to play dress-up as they throw on the threadbare, suddenly too tight band T-shirts they kept from their high school days for a night of nostalgic sing-alongs before heading back to reality a few hours later.
But Morrissey rejects the idea of wallowing in the good ol’ days for the sake of anyone, as his set at Ocean Casino Resort’s Ovation Hall last weekend leaned harder on output from more recent years of his career than on anything from his days fronting The Smiths, or even his beloved early solo records from the ’80s and ’90s.
Not only did Morrissey perform an abundance of material from his new millennian solo efforts, but four of the songs — that’s a full 20% of his 20-song set, for those keeping score — were tracks from his shelved album “Bonfire of Teenagers,” which was recorded in 2021 but never released to the public due to a bitter battle between Morrissey and Capitol Records, his label at the time.
While the setlists on his current tour may not always play to nostalgia-thirsty fans looking to recapture their youth, they certainly show remarkable confidence on the part of Morrissey. It appears that in his mind, his recent output is as relevant or more relevant than his work from the early days, and he can’t be bothered to worry much about the opinions or expectations of others on this matter. And he may be right, as the songs are great — particularly “Rebels Without Applause” and “I Ex-Love You,” each from “Bonfire of Teenagers.” While that approach might leave some of the more casual fans alienated, it’s a reward to those who have stuck with him and enjoyed all four decades of his career.
Morrissey did manage to dip into some older fan favorites, as well, during his roughly 90-minute set. In fact, the Manchester, United Kingdom, native came out swinging for the fences with a trio of some of his catchiest songs, starting with “You’re the One for Me, Fatty,” a bouncy and amusing (albeit slightly insensitive) gem from 1992’s “Your Arsenal,” followed by “Alma Matters,” the standout single from his vastly underrated 1997 album “Maladjusted,” before launching into “Shoplifters of the World Unite,” one of the heavier rockers from The Smiths near-flawless catalog.
Eventually the crowd was treated to a few of the sing-alongs they were likely pining for all night, with “Everyday is Like Sunday” and the iconic Smiths tracks “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” and “How Soon Is Now?” adding a few highly recognizable highlights for the fair-weather fans.
For a singer who is best known for crooning over jangly pop tunes, his backing band offered an impressive ability to flex its rock muscles at will, adding heft, power and a formidable backbone to their singer’s often biting lyrics.
Many in attendance were glad to see him on the Ovation Hall stage at all. Throughout his career, the eccentric frontman has been known to cancel shows unexpectedly with little notice, sometimes just because he seemingly doesn’t feel like performing that night.
As is typical for a Morrissey concert, there were several fans who managed to rush the stage in an effort to hug their hero with mixed results. This tradition is often encouraged by Moz, although a swarm of devotees at a recent show in Dallas led to the singer cutting the evening short. This time things managed to stay in check, with the show wrapping up as planned, as the encore “Irish Blood, English Heart” from his 2004 comeback album, “You are the Quarry” provided a blistering and exhilarating finale to the performance.
He did have an early moment with a concertgoer that made longtime fans nervous he might walk off the stage at any moment. He bantered with someone near the front of the stage, telling the fan to stop staring at him and that he was ruining the night for everyone, “including me.”
The nearly 5,000-seat venue was close to being sold out, an impressive feat for Morrissey and another feather in the cap of Ocean Casino. Their commanding presence within Atlantic City’s live entertainment landscape lately is impressive to say the least.
Earlier this month, Ocean hosted rock icon Lenny Kravitz for his only two East Coast shows in the United States on this tour. Ocean’s jackpot November also featured “SNL” comedian David Spade, legendary crooner Paul Anka and popular reggae rockers Dirty Heads. The impressive entertainment lineup continues this month with the always-popular KC & the Sunshine Band (Nov. 23) and super-hot comic Jim Jefferies (Nov. 30).
What makes Ocean’s mentionable entertainment lineup special is its diversity, truly offering something for everyone. The indie darling Morrissey and classic rocker Kravitz are great examples of how Ocean entertainment guru Steve Gietka will book great acts the city rarely sees.
Plus, other future acts like Dutch DJ/producer Tiesto (Dec. 7), party pop legends Kool & the Gang (Feb. 8), Long Island Medium Theresa Caputo (Feb. 21), controversial comic and “Kill Tony” podcast creator Tony Hinchcliffe (March 1), R&B powerhouses Ginuwine with Montell Jordan (March 21) and Chazz Palminteri’s one-man play “A Bronx Tale” (April 11) indicate Gietka and Ocean are just warming up.
