How Soon Is Now? Morrissey Redeems Himself At Hard Rock Live In Hollywood, Florida

All images by Larry Marano

Photo by Larry Marano

Look, we've all been burned before. Morrissey cancelling a show is practically its own genre at this point. So when the lights finally dimmed at Hollywood's Hard Rock Live last month, the collective exhale from the crowd was audible enough to qualify as a wind instrument.

He showed up. Moz actually showed up.

And not just showed up — he arrived, coiffure intact, voice devastatingly on point, and proceeded to deliver the kind of brooding, theatrical set that reminds you exactly why you forgave him the last four times he ghosted you.

The evening opened with a vintage video reel — Bowie, New York Dolls, Gene Pitney — essentially a museum exhibit of Morrissey's DNA before the man himself materialized behind his five-piece band. From the opening one-two of "Billy Budd" into "Alma Matters," it was clear his voice hadn't just survived the years; it had marinated in them. That unmistakable croon-meets-yodel, built for syllables that carry more emotional weight than most people's entire diaries, landed with full force.

His between-song patter was characteristically poetic and self-aware.The Smiths cuts, including a genuinely spine-tingling "How Soon Is Now?", were deployed sparingly but surgically.

A new track, "Make-Up Is a Lie," hinted at something more electronic and forward-looking on his forthcoming March album. Morrissey, apparently, still has somewhere to go.

Hollywood, Fla., held its breath. And Hollywood got rewarded.

All images by Larry Marano.