British mope rockers The Smiths lasted only about five years (which, if you think about it, is a heroically long time to have to tolerate the ridiculously glorious lead singer Morrissey). San Francisco’s This Charming Band has been paying loving tribute to The Smiths for about three times as long, albeit with a rotating cast of characters. Smiths obsessives are wonderful, if a bit weird. If you’re the kind of person who danced to “Girlfriend in a Coma” at your wedding, then this is probably the best chance you’ll ever get to experience Smiths-mania live.

This Charming Band
Sat, 8pm, $12+
The Ritz, San Jose

Despite releasing his autobiography last year, Morrissey is more of mystery than ever. After climbing to rock icon status after only five years with the Smiths, he’s risen and fallen in the pop-culture consciousness over and over, but to paraphrase one of his own songs: the more they ignore him, the closer he gets.

He’ll be closer than ever May 7, when Morrissey opens his U.S. tour at the City National Civic in San Jose. Tickets go on sale Thursday, Feb. 20, at 10am. A May 10 Los Angeles date is the two-month tour’s only other stop on the West Coast.

No end of questions have swirled around Morrissey for the last couple years: will he really retire, as he once proposed, in 2014? (The two-record deal he signed with Capital last month definitely points to no.) How serious are the health problems to which he’s alluded? What kind of novel is he writing? When will he release a long-overdue follow-up to his excellent 2009 album Years of Refusal? Does he have something against the Bay Area, where he’s cancelled two of his last three scheduled shows? (Although, to be fair, the Paramount concert in Oakland was great.)

The singer’s autobiography didn’t provide much insight into Morrissey as a person, (and none at all into his songwriting); it was more a series of remembrances about his career, and observations about the world. Not surprisingly, he seemed to be taking his cues from Oscar Wilde, and quite effectively. But one thing it revealed is that he’s never more in touch with his fans than when he’s on stage, and that is likely to be true once again when the South Bay contingent of his devoted following gets the chance to see him kick off this tour.

Morrissey opens his U.S. tour at the City National Civic in San Jose on May 7. Tickets and more info.