S.E.C.C., Glasgow
How Soon Is Now?This concert was mentioned by Morrissey in 2006 as one of his favourites from the 2004 tour. However, from the fans point of view it wasn't one of the highlights of 2004. Many complained that the setlist was too heavy on b-sides and unreleased material and featured too many slow songs. The choice of the venue, a huge shed with a reputation of being impersonal, didn't help either. Morrissey wasn't as talkative and didn't reach out to fans as much as usual, but he still gave a great show. No one made it on stage, because of the size of the moat. Morrissey wore his priest outfit for the first part of the concert, then changed into various shirts. His musicians all wore shirts with the number '278' on the front and '1984' on the back, as they had done a month before in Los Angeles. No official explanation was ever given for these numbers, but a shop called Johnson's Motors sold similar shirts based on a motorcycle race Morrissey idol Steve McQueen participated in 40 years ago (1964). '278' was McQueen's number in the race.
First Of The Gang To Die
November Spawned A Monster
Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice
Bigmouth Strikes Again
I Like You
Redondo Beach
Let Me Kiss You
Subway Train/Munich Air Disaster 1958
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
Friday Mourning
I Have Forgiven Jesus
The Never Played Symphonies
Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Irish Blood, English Heart
You Know I Couldn't Last
/Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Glasgow was given a 18 track setlist. The Smiths-era "Rubber Ring" was replaced by "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" while "The World If Full Of Crashing Bores", "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel" and "Everyday Is Like Sunday" were replaced by "Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice", "The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get" and "Friday Mourning". For the first time Morrissey paired the first verse of the New York Dolls' "Subway Train" with "Munich Air Disaster 1958" instead of "Everyday Is Like Sunday". This pairing would be kept until the end of this tour.
As he picked up the microphone at the beginning of the show Morrissey's first words were "My heart belongs to Glasgow!" After "First Of The Gang To Die" he said "Remember, these songs are exactly whatever you want them to be." After "November Spawned A Monster" he compared Glasgow to other Scottish places he had visited earlier in the tour: "Yes, Paisley's beautiful, Perth is beautiful but there's only one Glasgow... and it's here!" The Smiths classic "Bigmouth Strikes Again" was introduced with the line "And wherever you do, whatever you do, there's always that damp little island called the past..." After the song he looked around for his favourite fan and asked "Julia? Are you alright? Sure?"
Before going into "I Like You" Morrissey answered someone "I'm as good as I can be... I mean, some things don't change, some things don't change... 'cause some things do!" After the song he teased the audience using the Glasgow-Edinburgh rivalry "When we quite recently played in Edinburgh and (crowd boos)... it's amazing how you can never say anything right in this city... and we said we were gonna come and play here and of course they said no, no!... Some people, Boz!" What Morrissey had actually asked in Edinburgh was whether he should be playing the SECC in Glasgow, not Glasgow itself. The audience might have answered no in Edinburgh because of the venue's bad reputation, not necessarily because it was Glasgow.
"Let Me Kiss You" was introduced with "Now of course the very idea will make you puke! but let me kiss you..." Despite being dressed as a priest Morrissey still suggestively teased the audience during that song, as he usually did. He unbuttoned his shirt and fanned himself with his dog collar. After the song he proceeded with the traditional introduction of his band: "Now my wee band is the best wee band, the best wee band is Glasgow. Would you please say hello to the maestro, Boz Boorer!... to the one and lonely Gary Day... to the mighty Deano... to a man with his own BMW, Jesse Tobias... to a man with some musical parts, Mikey V Farrell... Julia, I'm not funny, I'm not funny..."
"There Is A Light That Never Goes Out", which had been the near-standard encore so far on this tour, was moved up to a position about halfway into the set. This felt odd to the many followers of the tour for who this song usually meant the end of the show. The song felt like it was played slightly slower than usual. Its outro was extended, but not as much as when it was slotted as the encore. After "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" Morrissey told the audience "And also, thank you for buying 'You Are The Quarry' and..." In "Friday Mourning" he changed a line to "it won't be for a lifetime" and another one to "of teachers and of bosses and parents".
Newest single "I Have Forgiven Jesus" was introduced by Morrissey with a mention of another song released at the same time, but which was expected to be the year's Christmas number one in the British singles chart, the re-recording of the 1980s classic "Do They Know It's Christmas?": "I don't anticipate many plays on Radio Clyde but today we release our new single (crowd cheers)... and... I'm gonna get Band Aid... just watch!" In "The Never Played Symphonies" Morrissey slightly extended a line to "just the shadow of the never laid, that's the never played symphonies".
As an introduction to "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" Morrissey cryptically said "I was born and braised in a place called Manchester - Manchester which is famous for..." As if he was anticipating that "Irish Blood, English Heart" would not be well received in Scotland, he preceded its performance with the line "I've had my heart broken so, I may as well have my head broken." After the song he added "And still no sign of a Glasgow kiss... I think I deserve it!" Over the opening notes of encore "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" Morrissey's final words of the evening were the ominous "the parting of the ways - farewell..."
As the title suggests, the live album "Live From Earls Court", released by Morrissey in March/April 2005, was recorded at London's Earls Court concert on 18 December 2004. However, although it features mainly that date's show, when Morrissey's vocals were not the best the recording was patched with segments from other British dates from this leg of the tour, including this here show in Glasgow. Similarly, the chit-chat with fans in the front rows, a few biting comments and the allusions to the upcoming Christmas holiday were dropped from the original Earls Court recording or replaced with banter from the other dates from this leg of the tour, including Glasgow.
Two different reasonably good audience recordings of the complete concert are circulated on bootleg compact discs and in digital format on the internet. One is credited to recorders Gebs-Nephronic and is sometimes found under the title "December Spawned A Monster". The other is uncredited and sometimes found under the title "The Lost Lads".
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