A collection of memories from the night of May 10th 2012: An audience with The Pope of Mope himself, Morrissey at Tennis Indoor Senayan, Jakarta. Specially curated with your tweets, photos and videos.
(Photo by @adebranuza)
[View the story “True To You: Morrissey – Live in Jakarta” on Storify]
Steven Patrick Morrissey
“Who is this ‘Morrissey’, is he a real Saint? Are you Irish?” asked the mild-mannered elderly man as I was reading a copy of Saint Morrissey I had just bought from the bookshop while on a train ride back to my apartment. I struggled to explain that Morrissey was merely a popstar, albeit with seemingly saint-like features (I imagined).
My first awareness regarding Morrissey and his previous life in The Smiths came about rather unexpectedly from a drab multimedia class back in college. For one particular assignment we were assigned to design a website based on an interest of our choice, and one particularly bookish girl who I later discovered moonlighted as a part-time record store clerk decided to build one based on this charming man (and men). With an exhaustive source of backstory pulled from devoted fansites from the interwebs, I was curiously intrigued to find out more about Le Moz.
Growing up on a steady diet of Duran Duran and Guns n’ Roses by way of my older brothers, my only sightings of Morrissey later in life would be of him squatting awkwardly on the cover of bootleg albums of ‘Maladjusted’ around town or hearing a whiff of ‘The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get’ played on mixtapes by knowledgable music boffin high school friends. And as music television rarely aired his videos, fascination built after reading an article in Spin magazine about his fervent following in Mexico, descriptions of burly tattooed men weeping to ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ and all.
I remember trawling through a local internet forum reading about a commenter who described singing along, reaching out longingly to Morrissey’s hand as he sang onstage. Realizing the unlikelihood of this actually taking place, I rather harshly accused him of mental masturbation, wishing he’d keep his delusional thoughts to himself. But this was way before I got to delve into The Smiths’ songs and Morrissey’s lyrics, appropriately soundtracking whenever I feel that ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ and wonder why on earth ‘do I smile at people who I’d rather kick in the eye’. By then I gradually understood what it might be in the mind of a fan, later admittedly rather sheepishly quoting Oscar Wilde on numerous occasions.
After years of seclusion in Los Angeles without releasing an album in seven years, ‘You Are The Quarry’ was anticipated like the second coming in 2004, while I was awestruck watching an aged Moz return in all white attire aggressively flailing the mic in the ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’ video. And only over a week ago, word got around out of nowhere that Morrissey himself will be playing a few shows in the region (including Singapore & Indonesia).
As details trickle toward May 10th, we’ll eagerly await his arrival as we prepare to be at the front row, singing along to his words, flailing gladioli and climbing the barricades to rush the stage and reach out to Moz himself. Or not. But as it turns out, just this once, one could be allowed to be appropriately delusional.
Ticket pricing announced via 91.60 Indika FM radio:
Proof of the Technical & Hospitality Rider by local promoter Indika Pro:
Some extra reading:
‘The Importance of Being Morrissey‘ TV documentary:
UPDATED:
On March 1st 2012 this morning, presale tickets for Morrissey’s concert in May started selling and attracted unprecedented demand. Fans went scrambling for tickets online & offline at selected outlets to purchase tickets that were selling fast throughout the morning.
Luckily me & my brother managed to snap up tickets in the end. Even though they ended up pricier at normal price ticket rates, I’m sure it’ll all be worth it.
In Moz We Trust!
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