14 February 2000
Civic Theater, Akron, OH

A Swallow On My Neck
I Am Hated For Loving
Ouija Board, Ouija Board
Billy Budd
November Spawned A Monster
Half A Person
Hairdresser On Fire
Boxers
Now My Heart Is Full
Meat Is Murder
Tomorrow
The Teachers Are Afraid Of the Pupils
Is It Really So Strange?
I Can Have Both
Alma Matters
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
/Shoplifters Of the World Unite
The audience was slightly on the quiet side on this date. There was a big gap between the crowd and the stage and this might have mellowed some fans' enthusiasm. Morrissey was still in great spirits, he gave the best of himself and was quite talkative. Two fans managed to make it on stage despite the gap.

The setlist was slightly scrambled and in the process "Lost" was replaced by "November Spawned A Monster".

Morrissey came on stage for the second consecutive night following the new opening song, the James Bond theme. His opening line was related to the walk on music: "The name is Bondage, James Bondage...". After the first song came his real greeting: "Welcome to our Valentine's Day massacre... and here's another song we're gonna massacre... you may well scream, you may well scream..." After "I Am Hated For Loving" he exchanged a few words with a fan in the front rows: "You're not here, I assure you... are you here? Are you okay? I'm all okay... look, I'm okay... She's a plant! She's a studio plant... I've got to concentrate now..."

After "Ouija Board, Ouija Board", Morrissey said "Sometimes I can even sing that song in tune." Then, to someone specific in the audience, he answered "Yes Dad!". After "November Spawned A Monster" he thanked someone "...for the belt" and asked "Should I smile? Do you have any film in your camera? It didn't flash, you know... I guess we're emotionally involved... (returning to the subject of the belt) But you realise that I quite like the fact that my trousers are slipping off... so you missed the point, you missed the point... Oh God..."

After "Half A Person" he inspected a bouquet of flowers thrown on stage by a fan and joked "Property of Akron cemetery...Thank you!... Hysterical!" Following "Hairdresser On Fire" it was Alain's turn to say a few words to the audience. He asked "There's just one thing I wanna say... Where are all your Valentine cards for Morrissey? Come on!" Morrissey followed this with the comment "You posted them yesterday Alain!"

"Now My Heart Is Full" was introduced with the line "We know you'd really like to hear something with some grunge in it!... Oh yes! And I've never been happy to oblige, so... What? 'Jack The Ripper'? My God... Oh My God, 'Jack The Ripper'?". Because Boz messed up the guitar intro of that song, Morrissey jokingly said "I'll be working with tapes tomorrow!... Just kidding, Boz... Just kidding, Boz... (?)... God help me!". At some point into the song someone almost made it on stage and this prompted Morrissey to comment during the bridge "I can't reach you... it's the great divide... we were born to be separated... I know where I am..."

Before "Meat Is Murder", Morrissey started "Now I know this is really tough farmland..." People laughed and Morrissey added "That's it really (?)... I've been studying... (to someone who kept requesting 'Jack The Ripper') I'd like to play 'Jack The Ripper' actually... (returning to the subject) Well, I know this is really tough farmland... I know this is really tough farmland... However..." Morrissey only managed to finish what he meant to say after the song "So the thing I was trying to say was... I know this is really tough farmland but... if anybody can see the difference between eating animals and racism and hating women and homophobia... would you please let me know..."

Between two line in "Tomorrow" Morrissey asked "Why is everybody smiling?" After the song he told someone "I heard that... Oh I'm very lucky!" He extended a line in "The Teachers Are Afraid Of the Pupils" to "to be finished would be a relief, for you". After the song he teased a fan: "Say that in English? What, 'you totally don't suck'? I must consult the English dictionary... 'you totally don't suck'? There's an easier way to say that... yours is nicer though..." Besides the numerous standard live changes in "Is It Really So Strange?" he followed the line "I can't help the way I feel" with "I can't!"

After that song Morrissey asked someone "How's your dog? He isn't in the car is he? He's in the car! I'm gonna report you... I'm gonna report you to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals... in fact I have a mobile phone, and I've just got their number and (?)... which is silly! He's left the dog in the car... He'll never forgive you..." After "I Can Have Both" he joked "That song is about strawberry ice cream and vanilla ice cream... I can have both... strawberry ice cream and vanilla ice cream... it isn't about anything else!".

During the opening bars of "Alma Matters" Morrissey asked "Am I mad? Am I mad? I'm not mad?" Between two lines in the song he asked "Why are you staying?" Before going into encore "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" he said "All I can say, all that I can say, all I can say, is thank you..." Then in a faint voice he continued "thank you... thank you... thank you... thank you..."

 


An audience recording of the complete concert is circulated on bootleg compact disc, sometimes under the titles "Bondage... James Bondage!" or "St. Valentine's Day Massacre". This is also circulated on the internet, but collectors of digital files should be aware that the recording of the following concert in Hamilton Canada is sometimes seen in circulation on file sharing networks under this date.

 

Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.