I hope that many of you reading this review were at this concert, ibecause it was by far the best concert I have been to. Morrissey is more than just a great voice, he's a songwriter; a poet and a spokesperson for the times. Morrissey, whom many of you may know as the ex-frontman for The Smiths, hit Great Woods on the day before the fourth of July. If I counted correctly, he did sixteen songs from his strong solo albums "Bona Drag" and "Kill Uncle," to a B-side or two. Some highlights were: "That's Entertainment," in which his surprisingly good band performed an exciting accelerando, "Sing Your Life," which had an amazing big band sound due to the use of a real double bass, and the opening song, "Interesting Drug." This concert never lagged, it was nonstop fun.

Unfortunately, during the encore, security failed and at least a dozen people stormed the stage. I'm not quite sure what happened, but someone had to help Morrissey offstage with his face in his hands during "Suede-head," his last song. Shame on us Massachusetts' audience members! He's never been here before and I wouldn't be surprised if he never comes back!

Opening act Melissa Ferrick was very strong, although the advertised opener, Phranc, did not perform. In Morrissey's words: "Others sang your life, now here's your chance to shine, and have the pleasure of saying what you mean, the the rare pleasure of meaning what you sing." I felt lucky for having had the rare pleasure of enjoying what he sang. n