When I was a teenager, I LOVED the Smiths. No other group spoke to me (or the Million other teenager/ young adults) the way Morrissey did. In 1986, I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to see them. The Smiths at The Smith Center in Washington D.C. My friends and I all arrived to wait in line at 10am, as the show was general admission and we wanted to be in the FRONT. When we got to the line- there were already about 20 people in front of us. We all hung out listening to music and talking about music. My friend Julie and I went around to the back of the building in order to find the back entrance, maybe see a “smith” and listen to the sound check. We were able to pull a door open a bit and peak in to see all “Smiths” on stage playing –except for Morrissey. Suddenly, we were discovered and someone working to protect the Smiths- pulled the door shut in our face (how Rude!). While we stood listing to the sound check- we were approached by a…woman carrying a guitar case- and her companion- she had a crew cut- and I just was not used to seeing a woman so boldly being “masculine”. She asked us if this was the back door in, and we said yeah- and she and her girl friend marched by us- knocking loudly on the door- finally gaining entrance. I was later to learn that our encounter was with Phranc.
When the crowd was finally let inside the auditorium, everyone RAN to the front of the stage- my friends and I ended up about 3 or 4 persons deep away from the stage. When the Smiths came on, the crowd went crazy- jumping up and down- screaming along to Morrissey! It was fantastic! Quite some time into the show- someone grabbed Morrissey as he was touching hands, and pulled him into the audience- the staff came to rescue him and pull him out- but he was Pissed and walked off stage. That was that. No encore- he was mad (or hurt, we didn’t know) about what had happened.
After the show, my friend and I waited for him to walk to their tour bus. As he walked by us, we asked if he was alright- he stopped and grabbed my friends hand and said he was fine. Then he did a miraculous thing.
He smiled.