Moore Park, Sydney, Australia
I Want The One I Can't HaveMorrissey's final date on the Australian stretch of the 2002 tour was also his third one at the Livid Festival. The concert went down reasonably well considering the audience included many non-fans. Morrissey seemed to be going through the motions at times, and he was slightly less talkative than usual. Once again no one made it on stage because of its height and the size of the moat.
Suedehead
Little Man, What Now?
Hairdresser On Fire
Jack The Ripper
I Like You
Alsatian Cousin
Everyday Is Like Sunday
Sister I'm A Poet
Meat Is Murder
Irish Blood, English Heart
November Spawned A Monster
Speedway
Because bands booked before him had run late, Morrissey hadn't much allotted time left and he could only play 13 songs. So besides "Mexico" and "First Of The Gang To Die" which had been left off the setlist on the last date, "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" and the planned encore of "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" were also skipped. The latter was actually planned but it was decided at the last minute to drop it.
As he came on stage Morrissey greeted his fans with "Good evening Syd! Just when you thought we'd left... you will know us by the trail of musicians..." The latter comment was a pun on the name of the band And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead who were also on the bill. After set opener "I Want The One I Can't Have" Morrissey extended his greeting with "Thank you, thank you... God bless you... God bless me... God bless Julia... That's all..." Besides replacing "down to a few lines in the back page of a fading annual" with "back to the mean melancholy streets that you came from" as he always did in "Little Man, What Now", Morrissey also sang "Friday nights 1989" instead of "Friday Nights 1969".
After that song Morrissey said "I think the microphone was slightly out of tune on that one... Ha ha ha ha ha... I'd like to say hello to our irregular regulars... thank you for following us all around Australia... and... Angela you're leaving forever... you're gonna open your own abattoir... Yeah? Yeah... Julia, there are no words... no words..." The fan favourite "Jack The Ripper" was introduced with "There is a word in Australian slang, which is 'ripper', 'ripper'... which means good, but... possibly not in this case. These are the thoughts of Jack the Ripper." After the song Morrissey replied to someone in the audience with "yeah..." then introduced "I Like You" with "Really, really, really, Boz, everybody, nobody, 'I Like You'."
Before going into "Alsatian Cousin" Morrissey replied to someone "Well it's different..." then asked his favourite fan "And Julia, dare I ask, Copenhagen? You think so? Maybe..." After the song he jokingly introduced "Everyday Is Like Sunday" with "Well, we change the set every night, as you know so... in an outburst of spontaneity..." Following the latter title Morrissey tried his hand at Australian slang: "Thank You... Ripper!... I didn't say that... Yes, I know, I know, I know..." The vegetarian anthem "Meat Is Murder" was introduced with "Of course with this next song, it's not really a question of whether, whether, whether... it's not really a question of whether you will become vegetarian... it's just a matter of when, when, when!"
Following "Meat Is Murder" Morrissey simply said "Yes thank you for those compliments... this song is called 'Irish Blood, English Heart'." After the latter title the man let out a string of thank you's in a funny voice, then said "It's my voice, what are you going to say about that? Oh God..." This was followed by a few more funny thank you's. Before main set closer "Speedway" he first said "Thank you, you've been very nice... you're still here, which is very nice..." He then replied to someone "Very funny... But, all to people like me... not to anybody else..."
During the slow build-up to "Speedway" Morrissey panted loudly then jokingly said "Exercise!" After the song he said "I love you... Good-bye!", and that was it. There was a planned encore of "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" but the band never returned to play it. Someone from the festival personnel came on stage to announce that the concert was finished and Frank Sinatra's "My Way", Morrissey's exit song, came on the PA.
A subpar audience recording of the full set minus set opener "I Want The One I Can't Have" and the first half of "Suedehead" is circulated on bootlegs. Not only is the sound quality not that good, but the recorder also captured the bass from another stage of the Festival. This is sometimes seen on the internet with fanmade artwork under the title "Sydney 2002".
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.