It seemed like a bad sign that in the weeks before Morrissey's fourth solo appearance in Milwaukee, Friday night at the Eagles Ballroom, the city was awash in free tickets.

That might have accounted for the respectable crowd on hand in the cavernous Eagles Club as the former frontman of The Smiths played the room for the first time since 2004.

The gig was part of Morrissey's tour for his latest disc, "Years of Refusal," on Attack Records.

There's no denying that the Mancunian McCartney -- to Johnny Marr's Lennon -- still has great records in him and still loves to be on stage eating up the adoration. And, if the room was only a half to two-thirds full, adulation was bursting out the windows and escaping like smoke from beneath the doors.

Morrissey's fans love him. Of this there is no doubt.

But when a singer with a clutch of solo albums that dwarf the output of his former band still feels the need to open with a Smiths song, one realizes that, in simple terms, it's cabaret.

Morrissey is ready for Vegas, whether or not Vegas is ready for Morrissey. He knows how to barter for his fans' love and rule No. 1 is rip off your shirt ... twice. Rule No. 2 seems to be slip in the Smiths' faves at key moments.

But, let's be frank, everyone does this. His contemporaries like Paul Weller do it. His predecessors -- even McCartney -- does it. For some musicians, the link to their former band will never weaken.

They can let it become a burden or bemoan it, like an anchor pulling them under, or they can embrace it and apportion it out in the form of bones, hurled out to hungry fans.

The Smiths' second single, "This Charming Man," set the scene and a trio of solo tunes (including "Black Cloud" from the new disc) followed before the Mozzer returned to 1985's "How Soon is Now?" Three more solo tunes, then "Ask." Finding his stride, only one more Smiths tune - "Death of a Disco Dancer" appeared in the set's final 12 songs.

His band was cranked up with energy and if the musicians lacked the kind of subtlety that fueled The Smiths, they more than made up for it with fire.

Like the rest of us, Morrissey offers a more physically commanding presence in his 40s than he did in his 30s (he turns 50 next month), but he's got stamina -- even if a one-song-only encore might contradict that -- and he looks like he's having a great time.

Since everyone facing him appeared to be having at least as much fun, how can you say the show was anything other than a musical success?

Openers The Courteeners, also from Manchester, played a short set of tunes from its debut disc, "St. Jude." The guitar-pop tunes are rooted in the Britpop of the '80s -- from The Jam to The Smiths -- but also sound, at times, more than a little like The Kooks.