we went to the salford lads club smiths tribute show. advertised as an 8pm show. that's kiwi time. didn't realize that. we got there at 8pm and they weren't even close to being ready. looks like they just got in to work. seriously. a few others were there too but just to buy tickets. we waited outside for 30 minutes perhaps then checked again. people in line were buying tickets only. not ready yet. ok ok. so went to have a hot chocolate and vegan cake across the street at midnight espresso. damn, we've been there 3 times now in only 1 week.

around 9pm we went back to the indigo club and they had already started letting people inside. however, it wasn't until 10pm that the opening band went on. they were so horrible i never bothered to find out the name. ok, they weren't that bad but they weren't good. the smiths band didn't go on until 11pm. fuck man, if i knew that i would have stayed at home until 10:55pm.

make tea, not love

we were in the very back but about after 1 song of not being able to see anything, we crept forward. by around the 4th song i was in the front area. a few songs later and i was in the very front. the band had the moves down. at least the singer did. he did a good job of being morrissey. the only thing he needed was a hearing aid and to put the flowers in his back pocket. sound-wise, the johnny marr guitars needed to be turned up. i could barely hear them on my side. the songs did sound accurate. only a few fuckups. listening to the second guitarist play the piano intro to "last night i dreamt that somebody loved me" was painful. he didn't memorize it and was reading from handscrawled notes. at least he could read music notation. the singer fucked up the lyrics a few times. during "william, it was really nothing" he fucked up so bad they had to end the song short but they did so in a dignified way--they didn't abruptly end, it was just like a short, radio edit version of the song.

all in all, they played a lot of songs. i really enjoyed myself. good value for money.

setlist: (not in order)
heaven knows i'm miserable now
william, it was really nothing
shakespeare's sister
the boy with the thorn in his side
ask
barbarism begins at home
panic
nowhere fast
stretch out and wait
these things take time
meat is murder
death of a disco dancer
handsome devil
i want the one i can't have
is it really so strange?
i know it's over
the headmaster ritual
cemetry gates
last night i dreamt that somebody loved me
some girls are bigger than others

encore:
the queen is dead
this charming man
that joke isn't funny anymore
bigmouth strikes again
there is a light that never goes out