Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice
Shakespeare's Sister
First Of The Gang To Die
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
Let Me Kiss You
I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday
The Headmaster Ritual
I Have Forgiven Jesus
All The Lazy Dykes
Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Subway Train/Everyday Is Like Sunday
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
No One Can Hold A Candle To You
Rubber Ring
I'm Not Sorry
/Irish Blood, English Heart

There were no surprise in the setlist, it was identical to the ones from the past few weeks, in a slightly resequenced order.

When Morrissey came on stage his first words were "Good evening Weatherfield... I am a local boy made bad..." After set opener "Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice" he greeted his most dedicated fan, fanzine editor Julia Riley. "First Of The Gang To Die", which was just being released as a single, was introduced with "Tomorrow... tomorrow we release a new single and... it's a filthy job but someone has to do it... and I pray to God you'll find it in your heart to... go down to Woolies... but don't feel obliged..."

After "First Of The Gang To Die" Morrissey reminisced "A brief history lesson, a very brief history lesson... (pointing towards the back of the open air venue) I worked in one of those buildings for two months... which was really disgusting... and, well, I'm glad I didn't stay there..." Following "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel" he announced "That song was from our new cd, reasonably new, called 'You Are The Quarry' which is, which is coughing its way back up the charts... but... maybe not for long..." He then introduced the next planned number with the line "And now this is our version of Nancy Sinatra's version of Morrissey's version of a song called (sniffs three times) 'Let Me Kiss You'."

Following "Let Me Kiss You" the crowd started chanting and Morrissey teased his drummer (who is from the Greater Manchester city of Rochdale) by saying "Deano, your family..." He then shared another memory with his fans: "Another very brief history lesson... In the B&Q in the back, which used to be known as (waits for someone to answer)... is anybody old enough to remember? Yeah? Well, 32 years ago... I still have the ticket, November the 9th 1972... the New York Dolls but, of course it wasn't the B&Q then, it was the Hard Rock and... they didn't make it because the drummer died and... Is that interesting? I think so... Julia, is it interesting? I think it's incredibly interesting... But then, I won't. Maestro..."

As an introduction to "The Headmaster Ritual" Morrissey went on a rant which found its way in the news the following day: "And if you can bear it just one more local history lesson... as a few of you know I went to school down the road at a horrendous mausoleum called St Mary's which, in the interest of public safety, has been closed down... And thankfully the headmaster Vincent Morgan is dead and... all the teachers were tried for cruelty to children but of course the British courts let them off, and there's only me alive to tell the story and... this is that rather pathetic story..." After the song he just slightly returned to the subject by asking "I just wonder.. have things changed in Manchester schools? I thought you'd say that... What? What?..."

In "I Have Forgiven Jesus" Morrissey playfully extended a line to "I was a good kid, I wouldn't do you no harm, slightly." After the song he said "I can't sing anymore I'm too happy... I'm off to the Quadrant... Terrible joke, I retract that, I'm not off to the Quadrant... I was never off to the Quadrant..." Before "Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference" he enquired "Is the sound ok? Is there anything we should change? Really?" Someone in the audience asked him to take his shirt off and he replied "Take your...? Do you know how old I am? I'm old enough to be your postman..."

The fan favourite "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" was introduced with the line "I would now like to sing... since I haven't so far... and I am actually singing... a song that was written in pain and sang very wrily..." As had recently become tradition Morrissey sang the chorus at the end of the song. After that he said "Thank you, you're very gracious..." then teased the audience on their appreciation: "Very feeble, very feeble, goodbye friends! Thanks for trying!"

Before going into "Everyday Is Like Sunday" Morrissey proceeded with the customary introduction of the band and took the oppotunity to mention that it was Lil' Barrie's final night on the tour: "That song was for every jammy Stressford poet and... talking of the men they couldn't hang, would you please say hello to Boz... would you please say hello to Gary... would you please say hello to (in a suave voice) Deano... and our very good friend who will leave us tonight but who has helped us enormously, Little Barrie... and would you please say hello to a man of many parts, Mikey..." Following this Morrissey asked his favourite fan "Julia? What happens next? Yeah what? What? What? Why is it always up to me?"

Over the opening notes of "Subway Train" Morrissey repeated "too happy!" In "Everyday Is Like Sunday" the audience sang so loudly that Morrissey just stopped and said "Julia, they know the words, it's incredible!" He then let the crowd supply the vocals for a verse while he mimed and mouthed the words. He was glowing at the end of the song when he said "Thank you Manchester... so much to answer for..." As an introduction to "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" Morrissey said "I think it would be very childish of me at this stage to... (Morrissey sees himself on the huge projection screen next to the stage) Is that me? Goodbye! (returns to the subject) I think it would be very childish of me at this stage to mention Tony Bland - Tony Blair! And yeah, and Jack Straw, and David Blunkett, and I think it would be just easier to say: the world is full of crashing bores."

The cover of Raymonde's "No One Can Hold A Candle To You" was introduced with "Earlier today James Maker sang and played and here is one of his songs, it's called 'Are You There With Another Girl'... Joke! Very obscure..." James Maker was a longtime friend of Morrissey's and probably the only person present to get the 'joke', hence its 'obscurity'. After the song Morrissey said "Now if any of you read Q Magazine, and I really don't recommend it but, if any of you read Q Magazine, you might be forgiven for thinking that modern music is absolutely crap! You might be forgiven... I think that James Maker, the Ordinary Boys, Beta Band and God bless the Dolls, there's a great deal to be happy about... (listens to something shouted from the audience) What? Who? Ninja? What, the Ninja Turtle? Well, you know, I did try... and thank you for the compliment..." After "Rubber Ring" the audience went into another chant of Morrissey's name and the object of it replied "You realise that's not my real name? It's Higginbottom! Can you sing that? (audience complies) See, it sounds just as good..."

As the opening notes of "I'm Not Sorry" were heard Morrissey said "Now whatever happens, I'm not sorry..." He was incredibly playful with his performance of that song. He sprinkled his lyrics with many believe me and made quite a few surprising changes: "it's all a game, believe me, existence is only a game", "I'm slipping below the water-line, believe me", "The woman of my dreams, she, believe me, she never came along / The woman of my dreams, well there was 51, believe me". There were more changes after this, but they were aimed at the brutal security: "I'm not sorry for, no happiness allowed!" and "there's a wild man in my head, and it takes twenty guards to hold him down, God bless him! Twenty against one!"

At the end of "I'm Not Sorry" Morrissey said "thank you for listening!", removed his shirt, used it to wipe the sweat off his chest and down his crotch then threw it into the audience to be fought over by fans. When he returned to the stage for the encore he said "Thank you, you've been more than generous and... No, you really have, you've been more than generous... and don't kill yourself on the way home... don't forget me, God bless you, God bless Oscar Wilde, God bless Stretford... Maybe I'm overdoing it now, I think so, so I'll shut up!".

"First Of The Gang To Die", "I Have Forgiven Jesus", "Everyday Is Like Sunday" and "Irish Blood, English Heart" were broadcast from 16 to 20 July 2004 on England's ITV1 and ITV2 alongside songs from other artists who performed at the festival.

Video footage of "Irish Blood, English Heart", "Everyday Is Like Sunday", "First Of The Gang To Die", "I Have Forgiven Jesus" and "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" was included as bonus material on the official live DVD release "Who Put The M In Manchester?". The camera angles are different to the ones used on the television broadcast mentioned above.

The 4-song television broadcast mentioned above is circulated on bootleg DVDs, usually tagged at the end of some other recording from 2004. Two different audience recordings of the complete concert are also out there for collectors. The one filmed by G.O'G. is the most common of the two. It was filmed from the right at a certain distance, but features nice close-ups of the giant screen next to the stage. It is a bit shaky at times, but not to the point of annoyance. The other recording is credited to LOZ and it was filmed from slightly closer.

An audio-only audience recording is also out there for collectors. It features the complete set and the sound quality is reasonable. This is sometimes found on the internet under the title "Manchester 11th July 2004 Old Trafford Cricket Ground".

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