State Theater, Detroit, MI
How Soon Is Now?This concert went without a hitch, but it wasn't the best of the tour. Morrissey was in an apparent sombre mood and slightly less talkative than usual. He voiced his dissatisfaction about a few things such as the crowd's lack of enthusiasm and the sound, although everything sounded fine from the audience's angle. Security was very tight and only a few fans made it on stage despite many attempts. The 18-track setlist was very similar to the one from the previous night in Milwaukee. The only change was the replacement of "Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice" with "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel".
First Of The Gang To Die
November Spawned A Monster
I Like You
Bigmouth Strikes Again
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
Munich Air Disaster 1958
Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference
Subway Train/Everyday Is Like Sunday
Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Irish Blood, English Heart
Let Me Kiss You
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
I Have Forgiven Jesus
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
You Know I Couldn't Last
/There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
As he came on stage Morrissey greeted the audience with the line "I know I should be dead, but here I am in Detroit..." After set opener "How Soon Is Now?" he extended it with "Good evening to you... We're here to ruin your night, just give me time..." Then after "First Of The Gang To Die" he added "This of course is Morrissey in a state, at the State... nothing really changes as the years go by... except some of you get fatter..."
Besides the numerous lyric changes in "November Spawned A Monster", such as the recent "Jesus made me so... save me from pity, sympathy and idiots discussing me, yes I am a freak, and nothing can make good of all the bad that's been done", Morrissey also pulled a new one which he would reuse often on the remainder of this tour: "I am a symbol of where sex-craved lovers must always draw the line". Next up "I Like You" was introduced with the line "And this is rap from our 'You Are The Quarry' album and it's called... it's called 'I Like You'."
After the latter number Morrissey asked his most dedicated fan "Julia, any traveler's tales? Any traveler's tale? (he hands her the microphone and she congratulates him on his latest single making the top 10 in England) Oh stop it Julia! I can't deny it's true though..." He followed this with a story: "So today we stopped in a truck stop which I think was in Saginaw Bay and... but as soon as we saw the locals we jumped back in the bus... You know why!" After "Bigmouth Strikes Again" he mentioned his opening artist: "We hope you enjoyed the songs of Damien Dempsey... he's a handsome devil!... to some of you... I only know that because you told me..."
"How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?" was then introduced with the quick "This is also from 'You Are The Quarry'." After the song Morrissey proceeded with the introduction of his band: "Could I please introduce you to the boys who must be obeyed... the sensational Boz Boorer... the inimitable Gary Day... the extremely mighty Deano... beyond belief, Jesse Tobias... and a part of a man - a man of many parts, Mikey V Farrell... and as for me, well..." Following "Munich Air Disaster 1958" he explained why the sound problems were forcing him to stand away from the front of the stage "When I stand here my head blows off so that's why I'm standing back, 'cause it's just... (fan shouts for him to fix it) Fix it? Anybody have a ssssscrewdriver? (then to someone else) What's wrong with your throat?"
Dark reflections were also part of the banter. Following "Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference" Morrissey asked the audience "Are you all happy to be alive? (crowd cheers) Have you considered the alternative? (crowd falls silent)..." The Smiths classic "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" was followed with the comment "...which was from an album called 'Louder Than Bombs'... which I really enjoyed..." After the line "I will die with both of my hands untied" in "Irish Blood, English Heart" Morrissey exclaimed "I hope, anyway, I can't know really..."
Newest single "Let Me Kiss You" was introduced by Morrissey with the words "And of course, as Julia told you, we are #8 in the British charts which... which considering the fact that even after 100 years of making music nobody will play it still... you know they're not quite convinced yet... so I'll just hang on for another 100 years and... maybe... by which time of course we'll all be dead... but me, (in a suave voice) I'm timeless..." After the song he asked "Now tell me something please... Am I mistaken, or can I smell frying bacon? Can anybody smell that? Where is it coming from? Is it coming from the bar? Next door? Why, what's next door? What's next door? Really? Well which leads us, very eloquently, to 'The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores'..."
The latter number must not have been received too well by the audience because after its performance Morrissey said "Well every song can't be a zinger..." He then voiced his dissatisfaction at the sound once again: "...and if I stand here my head still blows off so... it's not because you got body odor or anything... although I'm sure some of you have, by the law of averages..." Following "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" someone welcomed Morrissey to Hockeytown and the man replied "What's that highly intelligent statement from the middle of the hall? What was it? Welcome to what? I don't understand... Do you understand Julia? No? Obviously all fans of the Pistons... the Sex Pistons!"
In "I Have Forgiven Jesus", Morrissey changed one line to "by Sunday this life has screwed me." After the song he was successful in getting a reaction out of the audience with the question "Are you still there?". Before going into main set closer "You Know I Couldn't Last" he thanked the crowd and quoted from his own song "I Won't Share You": "Well thank you for being patient... Love tends to come and go, but that's okay, just as long as you know..."
In "You Know I Couldn't Last" Morrissey extended a line to "The critics who cannot break you, they somehow help to make you, which is shit, really!". His final words before going into encore "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" were "Thank you for being so nice... I have been too..." He extended the very first line of the song to "take me out, tonight, please!". Then someone tried to get on stage and failed, but was rewarded by Morrissey with a "nice try, very nice try!" Another one was successful and Morrissey told them "What kept you? What kept you?"
Two audience recordings of the complete set are circulated on compact discs and in digital format on the internet. Both are of quite good quality. If one must choose between the two, the one credited to recorder V.Ga. is perhaps slightly clearer than the one credited to Ry.Jo, but unfortunately it lacks the first few bars of "You Know I Couldn't Last. The V.Ga recording is sometimes seen with artwork under the creative title "Live In Detroit 10-17-2004".
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.