Avalon, Boston, MA
A Swallow On My NeckThis concert was a good one, even if the crowd was overall slightly more subdued than usual. Morrissey was still in good spirits. When he happened to make minor mistakes, he laughed them off. Throughout the concert, quite a few fans made it on stage, often helped by Morrissey himself.
Ouija Board, Ouija Board
Tomorrow
Hairdresser On Fire
Now My Heart Is Full
Half A Person
Lost
I Am Hated For Loving
Billy Budd
Boxers
Meat Is Murder
I Can Have Both
The Teachers Are Afraid Of the Pupils
Is It Really So Strange?
Break Up the Family
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
/Shoplifters Of the World Unite
Because this was the second consecutive concert in the same venue, there were minor variations to the setlist. "November Spawned A Monster" and "Alma Matters" were temporarily dropped and fan favourites "Now My Heart Is Full" and "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" were reinstated.
Morrissey walked on stage wearing his PVC costume and said "We're your college football heroes!". At the beginning of the bridge in set opener "A Swallow On My Neck" he sang "...fancy solo". After the song came the second part of his greeting: "Welcome to part two of our PVC... extravaganza!". After "Tomorrow", to a fan shouting "I love you!", Morrissey replied "It will pass... give it time, it will pass..."
At the end of "Hairdresser On Fire" Morrissey went backstage to change out of his PVC costume and when he returned he said "Sorry I had to run out and put some money in the meter... I'm okay for another 20 minutes...", to which a fan replied "But it's Sunday!". So Morrissey quickly replied "Shouldn't you be at church?... Shouldn't I be at church?... You are at church! Every line is a zinger... except these ones..."
As an introduction to "Half a Person" Morrissey declared "Of course I'll never forget some of the older songs... but more to the point is, I'll never let you forget the older songs!". He slightly changed a line to "Six full years of this life on your trail" before greeting a stage climber with "Hello my boy!" After "Lost" he disposed of his shirt into the crowd and many fans got into a fight to get a piece, which prompted Morrissey to say "Don't manhandle that shirt it's very cheap you know..." Halfway into the following number, watching the struggle continue, he commented "it's just like the Jerry Springer show really..."
In "I Am Hated For Loving" Morrissey changed a line to "I don't want to belong to the music scene, I am mine... I think!". Then, speaking not singing, he thought out loud "What is the music scene? I don't know...". After that song he said "I don't know why people keep handing me books, (giggling) I can't read!" After "Billy Budd" he changed shirts again and, aware that fans were looking at his body, he said "You do realize I'm seventy-two, don't you?"
"Meat Is Murder" was introduced with the speech "Now I know that lots of you, many of you, still give into the tyranny of macho customs... but some of us don't!". Following the song and a shouted comment by a fan, he added "Because, of course, there's no such thing as humane slaughter... just as, there's no such thing as seafood. Sealife, yes, but seafood, there's no such thing. It's all a matter of language and it's all a matter of how you're being... fooled."
In "I Can Have Both" Morrissey slightly changed a line to "Smiling through the window to the one who will not serve you" and followed the line "I've not been feeling myself tonight" with the contradictory "yes I have!". Near the end of the song he replied to various people "You should have!" and "Anything else? Anybody?" After the song he replied to more: "Did I what? Only hope, that's all I lost, hope..." Halfway into "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils" he said "What am I singing? I don't know what I'm singing... it's just occurred to me..."
"Is It Really So Strange?" was introduced with "This next song is called 'Isn't It About Time That Somebody Gave Montel Williams A Slap Across The Face?'." After the song Morrissey enquired "Was that too horrible about Montel Williams? (crowd: no!) No? Good..." After "Break Up The Family" a fan shouted for "My Love Life" and Morrissey teased "What about your love life? No, I mean... I think I should just shut up, really..." Morrissey came back for the encore dressed in his sailor suit. Before going into the final song he commented "This sailor suit is old, I know, but it goes on...", a variation on a line from "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" which he had just done.
A reasonably good audience recording of the complete concert is circulated on bootleg compact discs and in digital format on the internet.
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