Saturday 24 November 2018

Morrissey's Blue Rose Society

On September 24th 2016, towards the end of his encore at the King's Theatre in Brooklyn, Morrissey made a beeline to one particular New Yorker - a longtime Morrissey fan called Jesse.  Jesse was stood in the front row on the left side of the auditorium, and was holding a small posy of blue roses. Morrissey stretched his hand towards Jesse, took the blue roses and carried on singing, whilst holding the roses directly in front of his face.

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MORRISSEY HOLDS A POSY OF BLUE ROSES AT THE KING'S THEATRE IN BROOKLYN - SEPTEMBER 24 2016




The reason Jesse was holding blue roses, and the reason Morrissey made a purposeful beeline to her to take them; whilst ignoring the gladioli and all other flowers in the audience, is because seven years ago Morrissey formed the Blue Rose Society (BRS), and it is tradition for those in the society to take blue roses to Morrissey's concerts, which he periodically, but not always, accepts - he sometimes even wears a rose once he's accepted it.

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MORRISSEY WEARING A BLUE ROSE AT THE OBSERVATORY IN SANTA ANA - MAY 14 2014

Despite Morrissey accepting and wearing blue roses on a number of occasions over the past seven years, his society has remained pretty much under the radar, with membership consisting of just a dozen or so fans worldwide.

The story behind Morrissey's formation of the BRS goes back to May 2011, when a blog site called MorrisseysWorld first appeared on the internet. The first that anyone knew of this blog site, was when Morrissey himself brought it to the attention of his fans, by mentioning it THREE TIMES on his official website, True-To-You; although rather than tell fans that he was the author of MorrisseysWorld, Morrissey instead denied it was anything to do with him - well he would, wouldn't he!

Most of Morrissey's fans took the TTY denials at face value, and ignored the MorrisseysWorld site, thinking it was nothing more than the work of a wind-up merchant, but some fans had a hunch, and stuck with it. Although very few in numbers, the BRS was born.

Morrissey explained via MorrisseysWorld that he was forming the BRS in honour of his literary hero, Oscar Wilde; who not only had a theme of roses running through his work, but also had a society of his own called the GREEN CARNATION.

Morrissey's Blue Rose Society is a modern day equivalent to Oscar's Green Carnation, and the blue rose, just like the green carnation, is an unnatural flower that is often portrayed in literature as a symbol of unrequited love.

Having formed the BRS, Morrissey slowly went about giving signs at his concerts.

In May 2012, an Oscar Wilde backdrop appeared at Morrissey's concerts asking, "WHO IS MORRISSEY?" Morrissey was publicising the Blue Rose Society without anyone realising it.




On July 5th 2012Morrissey's wikipedia entry was updated, to make reference to both the Blue Rose Society and Green Carnation, it read:

"The sign of this secret society is the blue rose; blue roses - as well as their other signs, the red and white rose - have been seen at many Morrissey concerts in 2011-2012 from the US to Colombia. The Blue Rose Society is seen by some as a reference to Oscar Wilde's green carnation-wearing followers."

That very evening, Morrissey appeared on stage in Liege, Belgium, wearing.... a green carnation. The next day, the wikipedia entry mysteriously disappeared.

 Morrissey can be seen coming on stage wearing the green carnation in Liege in this video footage:




MORRISSEY WEARS A GREEN CARNATION IN LIEGE - JULY 5 2012


On July 21st 2012, Morrissey was awarded the  'Key to the City of Tel Aviv' . To receive the award, Morrissey wore a blue rose tie.

MORRISSEY SHOWS SUPPORT FOR THE BLUE ROSE SOCIETY WHICH HE FORMED, BY WEARING A GAUDY BLUE ROSE TIE - JULY 21 2012

On October 10th 2012, a BRS member named Brian took his eleven year old son Kyle to Morrissey's concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Kyle leapt onto the stage at the encore in an attempt to present Morrissey with a blue rose, but Morrissey couldn't reach it.... so he then made a special journey back to Kyle, to take the rose, which he then wore for the whole of the encore. The footage can be seen here:


KYLE LEAVES HOME WITH HIS BLUE ROSE...........

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.....AND MORRISSEY PLACES IT IN HIS POCKET....................



.........WHERE IT REMAINED FOR THE WHOLE ENCORE IN NEW YORK

On January 8th 2013, another BRS member turned up at the David Letterman TV Show where Morrissey was due to sing. The show was sold out, so the BRS member asked Morrissey's tour manager, Donnie Knutson, if he could get him into the Letterman Show. Knutson replied, "No." Not to be perturb, the BRS member handed Knutson a blue rose, and asked him to give it to Morrissey, to see if the situation could be changed. Knutson disappeared, and after a short period of time, one of the theatre's crew appeared, and the BRS member was ushered in to see Morrissey via the stage door. 

MORRISSEY'S TOUR MANAGER DONNIE KNUTSON WITH THE BLUE ROSE THAT MANAGED TO GET A BLUE ROSE MEMBER INTO A SOLD OUT TV SHOW

On March 1st 2013, Morrissey held a concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. During the concert, he handed his microphone to BRS member Angie Reyes, who was holding a bunch of blue roses. Angie said a few words and asked Morrissey to accept a blue rose ring, which he did. 


ANGIE REYES WITH MORRISSEY'S FORMER SUPPORT ACT, KRISTEEN YOUNG  AND THE BLUE ROSE RING 

On March 2nd 2013, at the concert in Hollywood High School, Morrissey purposefully sought out another blue rose from a young Morrissey fan called Devan. This is shown clearly in the film, Morrissey 25:Live during the first song Alma Matters. Having taken the rose, Morrissey wore it in his pocket, before placing it on top of the drum, where it remained for the whole concert.

Morrissey's Blue Rose Society
MORRISSEY REACHES TO RECEIVE A BLUE ROSE AT HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL - MARCH 2 2013. AS SEEN ON FILM AND DVD HERE:

                                                  

THE BLUE ROSE IN MORRISSEY'S RIGHT TROUSER POCKET 


On May 8th 2014, on just the second date of a new tour, Morrissey yet again took a blue rose from a fan during the song Yes, I am Blind, and wore it for the whole concert:

 


On July 15th 2014, Morrissey's album, World Peace is None of Your Business was released. The album title has the words 'blue rose' hidden within it - a coincidence?

On July 18th 2015, at his concert in The Depot in Salt Lake City, Morrissey leant into the crowd once again to accept a blue rose; this time from BRS member, Jaz. 













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MORRISSEY LEANS TO ACCEPT YET ANOTHER BLUE ROSE AT THE DEPOT IN SALT LAKE CITY  - JULY 18 2015...














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... WHICH IS SUBSEQUENTLY WORN IN THE BACK RIGHT TROUSER POCKET

On November 23rd 2018, Morrissey walked on stage for the encore in Mexico City wearing..... A BLUE ROSE SHIRT!


MORRISSEY IN HIS BLUE ROSE SHIRT IN MEXICO CITY

The Blue Rose Shirt was tossed into the crowd during Everyday is Like Sunday, and subsequently ripped to shreds.


A PIECE OF THE BLUE ROSE SHIRT IN MEXICO CITY 2018

Despite Morrissey accepting blue roses and even wearing a blue rose shirt, the masses still haven't cottoned on. Anyone can join the BRS, just take a blue rose to a concert, and see if you can get it to Morrissey.










Steven Morrissey spielt am Mittwoch (30.09.2015) in der Hugenottenhalle Neu-Isenburg.



The formation of the society and much, much more has been documented on the blog Following The Mozziah.