FEW musicians truly justify the label 'legendary', but then few musicians have made such an impression on alternative rock as Stephen Patrick Morrissey, who plays second on the bill at the Carling Leeds Festival on Sunday.

His band The Smiths were the defining indie band of the 1980s, combining Morrissey's poetic lyrics and crooned delivery with the chiming guitars of co-writer Johnny Marr.

Never before had a rock singer been so openly sensitive and melancholy, nor had anyone previously performed wearing a hearing aid and with gladiolas stuffed in their back pocket.

Then again, never before had a rock singer written such literate, witty and politically-aware lyrics, nor cultivated such a compelling mystique and won the hearts and minds of so many devoted listeners.

Over the course of four studio albums, including the seminal The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths and Morrissey honed their angst-ridden, introspective formula, and created classic three-minute pop songs such as This Charming Man, Panic, and There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

After The Smiths messily imploded, Morrissey set about pursuing a solo career, releasing records such as the acclaimed Viva Hate and Your Arsenal, alongside several slightly more anonymous releases.

Following the muted response to his late 90s works, and criticism from the music press, Morrissey moved to California to sit back and wait for the cyclical music scene to bring him back into fashion.

Several years later, and after name checks from artists as diverse as Ryan Adams and Outkast, Morrissey is in vogue once more.

His legacy is evident with even the slightest glance at today's music scene: it is visible in the erudite ways of Franz Ferdinand and the disenchantment of The Ordinary Boys; in the idealism of The Libertines and the theatrical delivery of The Killers; and in the very fact that people have been forming guitar bands since the early 1990s.

Morrissey has responded to this regained popularity by releasing one of the best albums of his career, You Are The Quarry.

A back-to-basics masterpiece full of surging anthems and the usual passionate lyrics, it has spawned the hit singles Irish Blood English Heart and First of the Gang to Die, and has been supported by several large-scale shows around Britain.

However, the Carling Festival shows are Morrissey's first festival dates in more than a decade, and will see him perform in front of 50,000 people, his largest audience for a considerable time.

Expect tracks from his latest album and the pick of his solo work, alongside the Smiths favourites which so many will be waiting to hear.

At the last count, a few day tickets remain at £45 on 08457 500044, or via www.leedsfestival.com

Updated: 15:38 Thursday, August 26, 2004