"What the hell brings you here on an indifferent Wednesday night?" the former Smiths singer asked, trying to milk applause. But when the response wasn't as loud as he expected, he frowned and said, "Not very convincing."

Later, his mood swung and he scolded fans for being too adoring. "Shut up!" he yelled at fans who were trying to get his attention between songs. "What the hell do you want?"Of course, it wouldn't be a Morrissey concert without a certain amount of sneer and loathing. From 1984's "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" to his new "The World Is Full of Crashing Bores," he's always been Brit rock's prime minister of mope.

But even by his own snide standards, Moz was on a roll. After renaming the theater "Ginger Rogers Auditorium," he dismissed his own songs as "dreadful" and introduced "Bores" by asking, "Is this really Bush country?" When the crowd booed loudly, it was the only time all night he truly looked happy.

Later, he dissed the U.S. pop music scene and complained that his new CD, You Are the Quarry, hadn't climbed higher on the American charts.

"When you imagine the talent out there, it's amazing we got so far," he said, his voice dripping sarcasm.

His star has definitely waned in recent years. He was supposed to headline Lollapalooza this summer, but ticket sales were so poor the tour was canceled. Wednesday, he drew about 1,800 people to the 2,800-capacity auditorium.

It was a far cry from 1991, when he played Starplex in front of more than 10,000 crazed fans, dozens of whom swarmed the stage to try to hug their hero (a scene captured on his Live in Dallas video). A handful of fans crashed the stage during Wednesday's encore, "There Is a Light That Will Never Go Out," but it seemed like an afterthought. Morrissey mania has subsided.

Which is too bad, because Quarry is his strongest album in at least a decade. New songs like "First of the Gang to Die" held their own alongside Smiths hits like "How Soon Is Now" and "Bigmouth Strikes Again."

And several new tunes actually came off better than "Shoplifters of the World Unite" and "Everyday Is Sunday," old fan favorites which felt dated and bombastic. Morrissey would seem to agree. Introducing the latter, he smiled and dubbed it part of "my grotesque past."

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