UCI Bren Events Center, Irvine, CA
A Swallow On My NeckSouthern California Morrissey concerts are usually rather violent and energetic affairs and this final date of the North American leg of the Oye Esteban tour was no different. Morrissey was in an excellent mood, he seemed happy to perform in front of his home audience. Several fans made it on stage throughout the concert, some helped by Morrissey, others encouraged by the man with words like "I'll save you... I'll save you..."
Ouija Board, Ouija Board
Tomorrow
Hairdresser On Fire
Break Up The Family
Boxers
Meat Is Murder
The Teachers Are Afraid Of the Pupils
I Can Have Both
I Am Hated For Loving
Now My Heart Is Full
Lost
Is It Really So Strange?
November Spawned A Monster
Half A Person
Billy Budd
/Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
The setlist was completely scrambled and in the process "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" was dropped and "Break Up The Family" returned. Some people were expecting a new song but there was no such thing. The new backdrops introduced on the previous date were used again. Exceptionally, Morrissey didn't throw any of his shirts into the crowd, perhaps because he had run out.
Morrissey hit the stage dressed in his PVC suit. His opening line was "Welcome to the world of PVC... all my children!". He was more specific after the opening song: "All my sexy children!". This was followed by something undecipherable aimed at bassist Gary. He then told someone in the audience "It's beautiful, it's really beautiful... no, it's beautiful..." Following "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" he extended his greetings with "Hello my brothers and sisters (crowd cheers in reply)... Are you happy? (crowd cheers) That's good..." He then introduced the following planned number "Tomorrow" with a shout of "Mañana!". As on the previous date he replaced every occurrence of the title words in the song with its Spanish translation.
The first fan to make it on stage did it during "Tomorrow", helped by Morrissey. Halfway into the song the singer crouched and collected various gifts from fans. Then near the end of the song he helped someone else climb on stage, meanwhile singing "Welcome to the stage... welcome to the stage..." After the song he said "You're very generous, you really are... Anybody have anything nice to say? Oohh, that's very nice... Yeah, Gary loves you too..." He made all the usual live changes in "Hairdresser On Fire", but instead of the common "you're just too busy to kiss me", he sang "you're just too busy to have me".
During the latter song's extended outro Morrissey went backstage to change out of the PVC outfit. When he returned he jokingly apologised "Sorry for running out, I had to put some money in the meter..." Turning to someone in the audience he then asked "Can you throw it? Gotcha!". Most of the usual live changes were done in "Break Up The Family" but Morrissey also sang the slightly different "You say break up the family and then we all can live our lives" and "I want to
Before going into "Boxers" Morrissey said "You know, we still don't have a record deal because... most of the companies in America hate us... which believe me, is very flattering... but we will survive... to hell with them all..." After the song he said "You are very generous... I've said that before... it doesn't matter, I'll say it again..." Morrissey then introduced "Meat Is Murder" with the line "This next song is called 'Meat Is Misery' because meat is misery, misery, misery, and if you eat it, you eat misery, misery, misery. Hamburgers are misery, it's all misery. Did somebody say McDonald's?". After the song he asked "What do you mean 'boo'?" and told someone "I'll save you, I'll save you, my God, I'll save you..."
In "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils" Morrissey followed the words "sleep transports sadness" and "to be finished would be a relief" with "...believe me". After the song he told the crowd "Oh my God, you've gone so quiet, are you still there? (crowd cheers) Thank you..." He then introduced "I Can Have Both" with the line "As I've said before this next song is S-I-Q-U-E, sick. S-I-Q-U-E, sick, and it's called 'I Can Have Both'... (replying to someone in the audience) Who am I? I got no idea who I am... Where am I?". He followed that song's line "I've not been feeling myself tonight" with the contradictory "Yes I have!". Near the end of it he adlibbed "Yeah? What would you like to do, jump? I've got limited powers.... I really have... yeah, I've got big balls that's (undecipherable)... I think I just said the wrong thing... the right thing, maybe..." After the song he basked in the crowd's loud appreciation and simply said "Oh my God!" He then picked up someone's cigarette and played with it for a brief time, putting it on his ear and pretending to smoke it.
After "I Am Hated For Loving" Morrissey had his customary chat with front row regular Julia: "Julia, are you out there somewhere? Where are you? Where are you? I can't see you... I've got my contact lenses in upside-down, I can't see you... Are you going to Chile? El Salvador? Uruguay? That's funny, I'm not going to Uruguay... just kidding!". He was distracted by people in the front rows quite a lot during crowd favourite "Now My Heart Is Full" and missed many lines. At some point he just stopped singing and paced the stage left and right looking into the crowd. Near the end of the song he told something undecipherable to someone. After the song he thanked the audience and, as if they were not believing it, he added "Yes, we're really thanking you, really thanking you..." The following planned number was then introduced with the line "This song is very short... that's quite nice... and it's called... 'Lost'."
Before going into "Is It Really So Strange?" Morrissey announced "This is the final date of our North American tour, and it's been the time of our lives... and we'd like to thank all of you for being so loyal. I know it's been very difficult, but your kindness is overwhelming and... this song is the question I've been asking for years, and years, and years, and years, and years, and years, 'Is It Really So Strange?'." After the song he chanted "Mexico-Mexico-Mexico" in a Spanish accent and said "Life is very strange, life is very very strange... life is very strange... life is very strange..." Following "Half A Person" he teasingly announced "I would like to sleep with you all, but there isn't time... or maybe there is time... No, there really isn't time... or is there time?". Instead of the usual "Don't leave us in the dark!" sample at the end of "Billy Budd" Morrissey shouted "God bless you!" then exited stage, followed by his musicians. The band were the first to return for the encore. Morrissey followed about one minute into the song and started singing. After the song he profusely thanked his fans with "I love you"'s and "God bless you"'s. Alain also thanked everyone, adding that "Without you, we're nothing."
"The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" was heard soundchecked by Morrissey's band before the concert, but the song wasn't played. It would actually never be played by Morrissey until 2007.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.
An average sounding audience recording of the complete set is circulated on bootlegs (recorder: Dave Hamblen). This is sometimes seen with fanmade artwork under the title "Irvine Live". Another recording has made its way into the hands of certain collectors, but this one is not being shared at this point in time. It may or may not be the audio track from one of two different audience video recordings of the complete set also found out there. One of these is credited to recorder Rachel. It is quite clear and was filmed from a slightly raised central position. The other one is uncredited and was filmed from the balcony. It is clear of obstruction and features good close-ups. Non-completist collectors of video footage may prefer the mix of the two recordings put together by Famouswhendead, with the audio from the uncredited recording as audio track.
