Put your shirt on Mozzer; Gig review: Morrissey at Borough Hall, Hartlepool, by Andrew Pain.

Byline: Andrew Pain

THE quiffs may be rapidly disappearing but the legions of MORRISSEY devotees still turn out in force for their idol.

Pictured right, the former Smiths frontman's show was packed on Wednesday night.

Opening the show, support band DOLL AND THE KICKS arrive to a steadily filling hall and kick off with a ska-tinged tune as singer Doll writhes around the stage.

The perfectly pitched delivery of the front lady soon falls in perfect tandem with the band as their incessant beats and driving melodies lock in together.

Doll and her Kicks are clearly a confident band who aren't afraid to take ownership of a stage which, for this evening anyway, doesn't belong to them.

It might be a hackneyed name for a band, but it's one to keep an eye out for in future.

As the stage is being reorganised, a curtain is pulled to reveal a backdrop of a strongman sailor chomping a cigar. If you didn't know who you'd come to see, you did now.

Morrissey bounds onto the stage with his band of brothers all dressed in the same lumberjack outfits and together they burst into an all-out rock version of The Smiths' classic This Charming Man.

That tune sets the tone for all that is served up in the next 90 minues. Even the most twee of Mozzer's past records are belted out in the most aggressive and visceral performances that the Hartlepool Borough Hall may have seen for a long time.

Smiths classics such as Ask and How Soon Is Now sit alongside solo rarities The Loop and Best Friend On The Payroll as well as tracks from new album Years Of Refusal in perfect harmony.

The night contains one laugh out loud moment when the singer rips his shirt open as if it were a velcro-prepared prop from the Full Monty movie.

Probably not the response the man had hoped for, mind.

Resplendent in a new shirt, the performance goes on in the same full throttle vein as it started until a goodnight and thank you.

After another change of shirt Morrissey is back for an encore of a perfectly delivered First Of The Gang To Die.

Let's hope he's not. Even Bernie Slaven seemed to enjoy it..