30 March 2000
Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hairdresser On Fire
Alma Matters
Ouija Board, Ouija Board
Billy Budd
Now My Heart Is Full
Half A Person
I Am Hated For Loving
Speedway
Is It Really So Strange?
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
Boxers
Tomorrow
Meat Is Murder
The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils
November Spawned A Monster
Break Up The Family
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
/Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Morrissey's first ever concert in Argentina was another success. These South American dates got much more publicity and media attention than Morrissey usually gets in North America, and there was consequently a great turnout. The Argentinian fans were as ecstatic as the Chilean ones on the last date. The venue was a seated one but a few fans still managed to make it on stage.

The setlist was slightly scrambled and in the process "The Boy Racer" was replaced by "Boxers".

As soon as he came on stage Morrissey set the tone of the evening by roaring "Buenas noches Buenos Aires! Buenos Aires buenas noches!... How do you do?" After set opener "Hairdresser On Fire" he greeted one fan with "Hello my boy, how are you? I haven't seen you for so long!" then the general audience with "Welcome to our miserable show..." Before going into "Alma Matters" he asked someone "Yeah, tell me, tell me please..." After the song he teasingly asked "We've just flown in from your favourite place, Chile... You do love Chile, don't you? (crowd: no!) No you don't... You don't love Chile..."

In "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" Morrissey changed a line to "hear my voice, please hear... my trousers..." After the song he enquired about fanzine editor Julia Riley: "Where is Julia? Julia? Where is Julia? Julia's here at the piano! I'm here at the piano! Don't have too much fun!" Following "Billy Budd" he apologised "I'm sorry that we didn't come to Argentina sooner, but nobody asked us... (then, to a fan) Just let it spill out, let it spill out, say it now, please!... She didn't say it..." After "Now My Heart Is Full" he shouted "Why!?" and introduced "Half A Person" with the line "You can call me morbid, you can call me pale, but I'd rather sing it, Boz, I'd rather sing it... Can I sing it?"

After "Half A Person" Morrissey chatted a bit more with his favourite fan: "Julia are you okay? Julia where are you? You're not very okay Julia... I can tell... Julia's being crushed... Are you okay? Julia's being crushed... This song is called 'Julia Is Being Crushed'!" After "Speedway" he explained "I would like to tell you that... (imitates fans) Morrissey! Morrissey! (back to topic) I would like to tell you that West Ham has nothing to do with... meat, because you don't know that do you? Yes you do... Julia knows that, I know it, Julia knows it... Well..." After "Is It Really So Strange?" Morrissey thanked the audience and added "You're very nice... and so are we, we're all very nice... Julia's nice, I'm nice... everybody's nice... (mocks fans) Oh yes, Morrissey! Morrissey!"

Morrissey's performance of "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" was a very passionate one. Besides previously heard live changes he also sang "beware, I bear more grudges than stupid British judges", "when you sleep I will creep into your bed like a bad song in your head that you can't stand, who cares" and "please open up and let me in, move over, shit oh let me in". After the song he enquired "Do they play these songs on the radio? (crowd answers yes/no) No they don't? Yes they do, do they? No they don't? Does anybody know what I'm talking about? (crowd cheers) Do they play these songs on the radio? (crowd: yes!) What radio? What songs?".

Following "Boxers" Morrissey explained "We come from a place called Stinkland - England - Stinkland... (to a fan) Yeah? What? Tell me... Now is the time to tell me! We may never meet again..." As tradition now dictated Morrissey replaced all occurrences of the title in "Tomorrow" with "mañana". Another tradition was the introduction of "Meat Is Murder" with a short speech about animal cruelty: "One day your body will make an ethical decision, a very clear, intelligent (mumbles) Argentina! Argentina! Argentina! A very (crowd cheers)... it's unprofessional... you can't trick me... One day your body will make a decision, a very decision, and hopefully this song will help..."

As Alain was singing his back vocals in "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils", instead of singing his own part Morrissey sang "I want your jacket... Why I want your jacket? Why? I don't know... (more undecipherable words) You're not supposed to drink it, yes you are... just kidding..." In "November Spawned A Monster" one line was twisted to "I'm just so ugly". After the song Morrissey thanked the fans "...for being so understanding" then jokingly asked "You didn't understand that did you?".

Morrissey usually wore his PVC outfit for a few songs at the beginning of concerts but in Buenos Aires he wore it for the encore. He still had to make sure nobody thought he was wearing leather, and this also served as a farewell before encore "Shoplifters Of The World Unite": "You've been very gracious, and I love you, and this is not leather, it's PVC, and I'm PVC, and who cares, so, God bless you, I'll see you in 25 years!"

 


A excellent soundboard recording of the complete concert is traded among fans under the title "Live In Buenos Aires". This is one of the few bootlegs of the 21st century to be circulated on manufactured compact discs. This is also available with alternate fanmade artwork under the same title, or the alternate title "Buenos Aires Buenas Noches". All of this can be found on the internet although most non-lossless versions out there were badly edited down.

 

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