Brighton Centre, Brighton
How Soon Is Now?This was another technically faultless performance by Morrissey, but the man did look tired and subdued at times. Again the size of the venue, the fact that it wasn't sold out and the unenthusiastic audience seem to have had a negative impact on the atmosphere. No one made it on stage. Morrissey came on wearing his priest outfit and later changed into various shirts. Two of these were sent flying into the crowd to be torn to pieces, after Morrissey used them to wipe the sweat off his chest and down his trousers. The setlist was the same as on the previous few dates, with the exception that "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" replaced "The Never Played Symphonies".
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 World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Irish Blood, English Heart
You Know I Couldn't Last
/Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
After the traditional bow alongside his musicians at the very beginning of the show Morrissey picked up his microphone and greeted the audience "Good evening to you Brighton." After the very well received set opener "How Soon Is Now?" he thanked the crowd and added "...and thank you for wheeling yourself along tonight..." After "First Of The Gang To Die" he asked "Now, do you know why you're here? Are you sure? You haven't confused me with somebody else?" Following "November Spawned A Monster" he said "Well I hope you'll have the strength to get through Christmas. I know it's the most difficult time of the year, Christmas... for me anyway..."
After "Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice" Morrissey looked around for his favourite fan and asked her "Julia, you okay? Are you safe? Yeah?" He then replied to some heckler with his own question "Okay, what do you suggest I do?" The Smiths classic "Bigmouth Strikes Again" was followed with Morrissey commenting "Yes the sad, bad, nasty old days..." The man tried to introduce "Redondo Beach" and started "So, three years ago, when you were all still listening to George Michael (crowd reacts)... you don't fool me... this was..." but he was interrupted by some heckler saying something nasty and just gave up. After the song he teased the audience by adding "So that was a cover of a George Michael song..."
"Let Me Kiss You" was introduced with the quick "And this song is called 'For Christ's Sake Let Me Kiss You'." After the song Morrissey proceeded with the introduction of the band: "I am very honoured to have such a fantastic band, would you please say hello to Boz Boorer... to Gary Day... to Deano... to Jesse Tobias... to Mikey V Farrell... and my name is Chesty Morgan..." Following "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" he answered someone with "I really can't help it, it's either this or prison... I've made the wrong choice I think..."
The newest single "I Have Forgiven Jesus" was introduced with "Now, of course, the really frightening news of the week is that... our new single is selling pretty well (crowd cheers)... Yes! I know, you're all amazed, you're all amazed and... What? Buy both? Yeah there's three formats I think... Just kidding, it's alright, if you buy one that's incredible, if you buy three that's... I'd like your home address..." Morrissey returned to the subject when he introduced "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores": "Now, although the single is doing very well, people like the ultimate icon Kylie is way ahead of us but you have to remember, you have to remember that pfft! the world is full of crashing bores..."
The Smiths classic "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" was introduced with the line "And of course there's only a few shoplifting days before Christmas..." Morrissey changed the line "six months is a long time" in that song to "six weeks is a long time". After the song he answered someone's request with "Please, anything but that, anything!... No..." Besides the usual lyric change to "the good days of the old discs" in "You Know I Couldn't Last", Morrissey also extended a line to "the critics who cannot break you, they somehow help to make you, do they?".
When he returned to the stage before the encore Morrissey looked emotional and didn't have any final words for the audience. He didn't even say goodbye at the end of his vocal part, he simply waved goodbye, took a bow, shook a few hands in the front rows, then exited.
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 Brighton. 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 Brighton.
Two different visual audience recordings of this concert are circulated on bootleg DVDs. One was filmed by LOZ from the extreme left balcony and features the complete concert minus the end of "November Spawned A Monster" to the beginning of "Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice". The other one was filmed by G.O'G. from the right balcony and features the full set, including some shots of the huge screen next to the stage.
Two audio-only audience recordings of the complete concert are also out there. The best of the two is uncredited, it sounds quite good but the dead moments between song and banter were very roughly edited out, which affects the listening flow. The other recording was brought to us thanks to Steve from Soundsville International. It sounds slightly below average when compared to other audience recordings of the same era.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.