House Of Blues, Las Vegas, NV
I Want The One I Can't HaveThis concert was one of the best of this tour. Morrissey enjoyed playing in Las Vegas and it showed. He was in his element, playful, talkative and energetic. The crowd was also very much into it. The fans cheered loudly with obvious enthusiasm and sang along to many songs. Morrissey would actually sometimes stop himself and let them sing. Security was reasonable but didn't let anyone make it up on stage. There was no change in the setlist.
Hairdresser On Fire
Suedehead
Little Man, What Now?
First Of The Gang To Die
Jack The Ripper
Late Night, Maudlin Street
I Like You
Mexico
Sister I'm A Poet
Alsatian Cousin
Everyday Is Like Sunday
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Meat Is Murder
November Spawned A Monster
Speedway
/There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Upon coming on stage Morrissey greeted his fans "Hello everybody! This is the vaguest show in Las Vegas! And it's also the most macho show you'll see... so I'm told..." After set opener "I Want The One I Can't Have" he thanked friends and 'Sunny' and extended his greetings by quoting one of his own lyrics "Welcome to Friday night in outpatients..." As the opening notes of "Hairdresser On Fire" were heard he repeated "again... again..." That song was one of the many in which Morrissey was almost drowned out by the singing fans. Near the end the man told his favourite fan in the front row "They're crazy Julia!". Then after the song he joked "This could almost be a real proper concert... so nice to see all your familiar faces... (points and counts) one, two, three, four, five... seven, eight, nine..."
"First Of The Gang To Die" was introduced with "You will be absolutely amazed, amazed to hear that we have some new songs... unbelievable, how it happened, nobody knows... this is 'The First Of The Gang To Die'." Someone kept shouting Gary's name so after the latter song Morrissey said to his bassist "I see we have the Gary Day fan club again... there they are... Oh! Oh no sorry Gary that's the Dean [Butterworth, drummer] fan club..." Then, turning to the person in the audience who seemed to be a big fan of Gary Day, he asked "How much did he pay you?".
"Jack The Ripper" was introduced with the line "If you can imagine being (get interrupted) yes... yes... If you can imagine being in Whitechapel in 1888, if you can imagine being Mary Eddowes [sic] and somebody taps you on the shoulder, and who could it be? Who could it be? (crowds shouts various names, none of which Jack The Ripper) Oscar Wilde..." After "Late Night, Maudlin Street" Morrissey told the audience "Thank you for making noise... (someone screeches) I knew you'd do that..." then introduced "I Like You" with "This is also a reasonably new song... Yes? No, no, it's not Me-hee-co, Me-hee-co, Me-hee-co, Me-hee-co... it's called 'I Like You'."
Between new songs "I Like You" and "Mexico" Morrissey proceeded with the now customary introduction of his musicians: "If I can take this time to introduce you to the boys from Bonanza... That is Boz... here is Gary... there is Deano... (Morrissey pretends to forget Alain) and here is Alain... my name is Jobriath..." Someone threw a Mexican flag on stage during "Mexico" so after doing that song Morrissey picked it up, wiped his forehead with it and threw it back into the audience: "And thank you for the flag, it's just a... Yeah? (looks for the flag) Point-point-point... Oh there's the flag! Oh thank you..." Later in the evening he did the same with a boxing glove, but he threw that one on the 2nd floor.
After a very well received "Sister I'm A Poet" Morrissey told the audience "Thank you, you're very gracious and... Boz? They're very gracious, they're very gracious, very..." In "Alsatian Cousin" he slightly changed a line to "leather elbows on a tweed coat, Christ! is that the best you can do?" After the fan favourite "Everyday Is Like Sunday" he said "How very nice you are, thank you... we try very hard to bring pleasure..." then introduced the following planned number: "This is also a new song... I'm thinking of Ozzy Osbourne... Elton John... David Letterman... 'The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores'..."
Morrissey used something written on a fanmade sign as an introduction to "Meat Is Murder": "I'm just... I can't see very well but does that sign say 'Old Fashion Burger Hole'?... Does it say that? Jesus! how old fashion, that sign is old fashioned! However... (in a funny voice, to a shouting fan) I can't hear what you're saying... take your teeth out, then I'll hear you!"
Because this was the first of two consecutive concerts in the same city, Morrissey preceded "Speedway" with: "I must tell you that if you can manage to come tomorrow night... it will be a completely new repertoire because... that's what this is, it's repertoire, hard to believe I know, but it's repertoire..." However he should not have been believed because the following night's set turned out to be identical to this one. Between two lines of that song he told someone attempting to get on stage: "Boy... good, nice try... watch his face..."
When he returned to the stage after a short break, before going into the encore, Morrissey told the fans "This is all I need... I'd just like to say that... you're all very appealing to this eye and to this ear and... I'd also hope that God, Jesus or Mary Magdalene will always look after you and... we're also, we're staying at the Motel 6 down the road so, if you find yourselves bored..."
A good audience recording of the complete set is circulated on physical and digital bootlegs. It is sometimes seen with artwork under the title "The Vaguest Show".
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