The feeling rock cult figure returns

If you want to see a man who’s in touch with his feelings, get yourself into one of Morrissey’s five sold-out shows at the Wiltern LG starting Thursday. The Englishman has carved a niche in rock as the ultra-emotive outsider, the misunderstood loner conflicted by drives for both contact and solitude.

That stance has helped him build a cult audience larger and more emotionally involved than those of most any other rock cult figure, and a gap of seven years between albums has only sharpened the intensity of his fans’ worship. “Mozzy! Mozzy! Mozzy!” chanted the sellout crowd at the 1,700-capacity Grove of Anaheim on Sunday, calling for their hero by his nickname as they waited for him to take the stage.

As it turned out, Mozzy hasn’t spent his hiatus redefining himself. At the Grove, the second date of a brief U.S. tour that precedes some European dates and then a stint at this summer’s Lollapalooza festival, he was the same playful, pugnacious, preening dandy, extending his jaw to a hostile world, taking a hit and then striking back with lines of lacerating wit.

The time off hasn’t diminished Morrissey’s craft either, and while there have been times when his precious persona has overshadowed his music, Sunday’s concert found a fine balance between his character and the sound that gives that character its distinctive contours. Remember, Morrissey fronted the Smiths, one of the great bands of the ‘80s, and its legacy has been well served in his post-Smiths solo career.

He started the concert with “The First of the Gang to Die,” a song from the upcoming “You Are the Quarry” album that has all the bite and buoyancy of his vintage work. (It also reflects his current Los Angeles residency, opening with the lines “You have never been in love until you’ve seen the stars reflect in the reservoir.”) The set mixed six other new songs into a bedding of Smiths and older Morrissey material, and they held their own.

Beyond the romantic initial image, “First of the Gang” is actually a disquieting look at a tragic fate, set to a peppy pop tune. “I Have Forgiven Jesus” is the passion according to Moz, an irreverent castigation of the Lord for leaving him full of desire that can’t be fulfilled. He skipped the song about U.S. political and cultural shortcomings, but he encored with “Irish Blood, English Heart,” which comes down heartily in favor of the Irish side of his dual heritage.

Morrissey’s frequently disarming, self-deprecating observations were carried by the powerful playing of his five-piece band, which combined rock aggression with pop finesse to create a Brit-pop vision. Oasis would kill to have such a rich array of hooks and swooning melodies and spirit-lifting dynamics, with their evocative echoes of Beatles, Bowie and Kinks.

There was a plan several years ago to build Morrissey into a mainstream star in the U.S., but it never happened. In the end, he’s too quirky for crossover, and maybe that’s for the best. We wouldn’t want him to get too happy.

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Morrissey

Where: The Wiltern LG, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

When: Thursday-Saturday, Monday-next Tuesday, 8 p.m.

Price: Sold out

Contact: (213) 380-5005