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Jan 31 - Sheffield, University Of Sheffield
Feb 1 - Stoke-On-Trent, North Staffordshire Polytechnic
Feb 2 - Coventry, University Of Warwick
Feb 12 - London, Lyceum
Feb 14 - Norwich, University Of East Anglia
Feb 15 - Nottingham, Rock City
Feb 16 - Leicester, University Of Leicester
Feb 18 - Colchester, University Of Essex
Feb 21 - Bournemouth, Town Hall
Feb 22 - Reading, University Of Reading
Feb 23 - Swansea, University Of Swansea
Feb 24 - Bristol, University Of Bristol's Anson Rooms
Feb 25 - Brighton Polytechnic
Feb 27 - Canterbury, University Of Kent At Canterbury
Feb 28 - Stoke-On-Trent, Hanley Victoria Hall
Feb 29 - Leeds, University Of Leeds
Mar 2 - Glasgow, U. Of Glasgow's Queen Margaret Hall
Mar 3 - Dundee, University Of Dundee
Mar 4 - Aberdeen, Fusion Club
Mar 5 - Edinburgh, Coaster's
Mar 7 - Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Mayfair
Mar 8 - Middlesbrough, Town Hall
Mar 9 - Lancaster, University Of Lancaster
Mar 10 - Coventry Polytechnic
Mar 12 - London, Hammersmith Palais
Mar 13 - Manchester, Free Trade Hall
Mar 14 - Liverpool, University Of Liverpool
Mar 15 - Hull, University Of Hull
Mar 17 - Loughborough, University Of Loughborough
Mar 18 - Leicester, De Montfort Hall
Mar 19 - Sheffield, City Hall
Mar 20 - Birmingham, Tower Ballroom

This first major tour by the Smiths was put together to promote their debut album, and it was a complete sell-out. Despite administrative problems (managing, booking) behind the scenes and Morrissey being ill for the first portion of the tour, everything turned out very well as the band were welcome as messiahs everywhere they went.

A handful of concerts originally scheduled from 2 to 10 February were cancelled because Morrissey was struck with bronchitis. They were slotted at the tail end of the tour (which should originally have ended in Manchester) for a total of 32 dates.

Smithsmania was the buzzword and the concerts were very hectic. The Smiths could do no wrong. Unfortunately many of the concerts happening in smaller cities were attended by negative elements who wanted to find out what the Smiths were about, but not necessarily appreciating. There was a lot of heckling and coins or beer were thrown on stage.

Morrissey's rider included a jar of Gale's Honey, a fresh lemon and many flowers. He had to have his own room.

The support slots were shared by The Telephone Boxes (Leicester, Sheffield, Bristol and more), The Red Guitars (London-Hammersmith, Norwich, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Lancaster and more) and Billy Bragg (London Lyceum and perhaps more). The audience at the London Lyceum got all three of the above.

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The Smiths got on stage after Cilla Black's "Love Of The Loved", during the extended intro to "Hand In Glove".

The typical setlist for this tour was composed of these 13 songs, often in this order: "Hand In Glove", "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", "Girl Afraid" (the latter two newly introduced), "This Charming Man", "Pretty Girls Make Graves", "Still Ill", "This Night Has Opened My Eyes", "Barbarism Begins At Home", "Back To The Old House", "What Difference Does It Make?", "Reel Around The Fountain", "You've Got Everything Now" and "Handsome Devil".

"Miserable Lie" was attempted on the first date, then dropped most likely because Morrissey had just recovered from a bronchitis and the falsetto ending was probably too straining on his vocal chords. "I Don't Owe You Anything" was also dropped at this point. So after just one show, the setlist was cut down to 11 tracks, the regulars listed above minus "Reel Around The Fountain" and "Handsome Devil". The former was slowly reintroduced on and off after a few gigs, and then the latter after a few more, bringing the setlist back to a standard 13 songs.

The Hammersmith Palais concert was recorded and Sandie Shaw was invited to sing one song with the Smiths. For this special occasion, and because it was happening in London, the biggest show of the tour, the setlist was extended by three more tracks: "Miserable Lie" played for the first time since the first show, "These Things Take Time" played for the first time in 1984 and the neglected "I Don't Owe You Anything", which Sandie Shaw sang instead of Morrissey. "Miserable Lie" would not return to the setlist on this leg, but "These Things Take Time" was kept on now and then after that as a second encore.

Here is the number of times each song was performed on this leg, in descending order of frequency. This is based on 27 concerts for which the setlist is known, plus 2 for which it is partially known.

Hand In Glove - 30
Back To The Old House - 29
Barbarism Begins At Home - 29
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - 29
This Charming Man - 29 (once instrumental)
What Difference Does It Make? - 29
Pretty Girls Make Graves - 28
Still Ill - 28
Girl Afraid - 27
This Night Has Opened My Eyes - 27
You've Got Everything Now - 27
Reel Around The Fountain - 23
Handsome Devil - 19
I Don't Owe You Anything - 4 (twice with Sandie Shaw)
These Things Take Time - 4
Miserable Lie - 2

See here for more tour statistics.

The standard set opener on this tour was "Hand In Glove". The song's intro was extended by a few bars while it was performed in that position and instead of singing "but we have something they'll never have", Morrissey usually sang "we have something they never had".

The new live additions "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and "Girl Afraid" were often slotted right after the latter opener, or not much further down, and would be played one after the other for most of this tour. At this stage both were slightly different to the versions that would be released two months after the end of this tour (despite Morrissey constantly introducing "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" as the new single night after night). The latter was differently arranged and had slightly alternate lyrics. There was no break in the song at the time, Mike kept on drumming throughout the bridge. The main lyrical difference remaining after a few performances was the line "What she said to me at the end of the day" sung instead of "What she asked of me at the end of the day".

"Barbarism Begins At Home" had already matured significantly since its live inception just before Christmas. It was closer to the version that would eventually be released, but would still evolve throughout this tour and the coming year. On certain nights, Morrissey was heard improvising words in the latter part of the song. Echo was applied to the vocal yelps and la-la-la's in the song's second half, especially in the latter part of the tour.

"You've Got Everything Now" was always slotted as an encore and was the song in which Morrissey liked tp play with words and sounds. Of its many lyric changes the most common were "No, I've never had a job because frankly, I just don't want one!" and "A friendship sadly lost, it isn't true and it's false", "a friendship sadly lost, it could be true it could be false" or "A friendship sadly lost, is it true? Is it false?". For the most part of the tour, at the end of the song, the band didn't even pause, they segued straight into "Handsome Devil" without giving fans the chance to show their appreciation.

In current single "What Difference Does It Make?", Morrissey sometimes changed a few words to "but now you make feel so ashamed because I only got two heads". In "This Charming Man", he occasionally changed one word in the line "This man said it's gruesome that someone so ugly should care".

Halfway into the tour, "Pretty Girls Make Graves" was changed musically. At the start of the second part of the song, as Morrissey sang "I could have been wild and I could have been free", the rhythm switched to a reggae-ish one. The song would be performed that way until the end of its live life in November 1984.

The Glasgow concert was recorded for later radio broadcast. Of this recording, only "Girl Afraid" has made it out to the public when it was included on a freebie cassette called "Department Of Enjoyment". The cassette was given away with a 1985 issue of the NME music paper.

At this point in time, there is no visual souvenir of any of these concerts, in either video or DVD. The closest thing that might of any interest would be the tour souvenir put together by sound engineer Grant Showbiz for the tour staff which included footage from the tour's penultimate date in Sheffield. The film was webcast in 2001 and has since been in limited circulation on the internet.

The highlight - soundwise and setwise - of this portion of the tour promoting the debut album is obviously the Hammersmith Palais gig. A great sounding recording of it can be found on the "Last Of The English Roses" bootleg and its reissue, "The Smiths Live - Unlicensed Recording".

The set in Bristol was slightly less interesting than the Hammerstein Palais one, but collectors might still be interested in the untitled soundboard recording of that night's gig that is circulated among collectors. Traders must be careful however that they are not getting an inferior sounding audience recording of the same gig which is more widely circulated, sometimes under the title "Boy Afraid". Fans and collectors will also be interested in the FM recording of the Glasgow concert, one of the best shows of the tour. It can be found under the title "Oscillate Wildly".

Collectors interested in more will want to keep an eye out for the audience recording of the Hull concert, sometimes found under the title "Hull University". The Bournemouth audience recording is also interesting, but for a different reason: the trouble between the band and the fans. The latter two recordings are not available on manufactured bootlegs but can be traded from concert collectors.

Completist collectors have many more audience recordings to find after they get the above. Audience recordings of the following dates are reasonably commonly found: Sheffield, London Lyceum, Norwich, Nottingham, Leicester, Reading, Brighton, Canterbury, Stoke-On-Trent, Leeds, Dundee, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Lancaster, Liverpool, Leicester and Birmingham. All of these sound good to fair, except for Reading, Stoke-On-Trent and Leicester which sound poor.

All of the above are also available in various formats (FLAC, MP3, WMA) on the internet.