Rick Astley and Blossoms' joke-that-got-out-of-control shows celebrating the music of The Smiths got good reviews this weekend, and from fans of The Smiths as well as fans of Astley and Blossoms. Though Morrissey has now given his official endorsement, which probably dooms any future iterations of the Astley/Blossoms sing The Smiths project.
OK, it was a somewhat muted endorsement. Morrissey wrote on his website: "My sincere thanks to Rick and the Blossoms for their recent recentness. Anything that generates interest in that tired old Smiths warhorse is testimony to the wallop it packed. THANK YOU!"
When the two Astley/Blossoms shows were first announced, Johnny Marr called the project "funny and horrible". Although that was seemingly - at least in part - because Marr had seen Blossoms pretty recently, and they'd chosen not to mention their grand plan to sing his songs with Astley.
Marr hasn't yet popped up on social media with any response to this weekend's shows or the numerous clips from them that have been shared online.