How Soon Is Now?
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
//There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

The setlist was the same as for the past few dates, but the Dublin crowd was treated to a second encore, a repeat of "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out". The decision to play a second encore seemed to have been a spontaneous one.

Before the "Imperfect List" walk on music which signalled Morrissey's imminent appearance on stage, his manager Jed Weitzman came out dressed as a leprechaun and dusted the instruments. He had done something similar some weeks before in Los Angeles when he had mopped the floor dressed as a janitor on the first night and as a sailor boy on the second. As in Los Angeles, the meaning of it all, if there was one, escaped everyone.

As he entered stage Morrissey's first words to the audience was a pun on the venue's name "Now this is the Point!" After "First Of The Gang To Die" he thanked the crowd with "Thank you Glasnevin" (Glasnevin is a neighbourhood of Dublin). Before going into "Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice" he searched for his favourite fan and told her "Well here we are Julia, and it's journey's end and... it's been a very nice tour and... thank you to the irregular regulars... please stay irregular and don't make fun of Morrissey's voice!" After that song he chatted with his most dedicated fan again "Julia is all well? Julia! Julia! (fan voices irritation with the attention she is getting, Morrissey replies) It's a very tender moment thank you... What? For what?... Well I'm not programmed for affection, sorry..."

As an introduction to "I Like You" Morrissey had an announcement to make: "We're very pleased that 'You Are The Quarry' has gone platinum in Ireland and... so we're very thankful... and you could almost say, I like you..." After the song he told someone "So you see I'm not really as silly as I look... (someone hands him a gift) Is that for me? Wow! Incredible... yessir Boz..." Recent single "Let Me Kiss You" was introduced with the line "And if you got the time, and you don't mind, let me kiss you... I'm very quick!" After the song Morrissey introduced his band: "Without them I look very silly, would you please say hello to Boz Boorer... would you please say hello to Gary Day... to the mighty Deano... to Jesse Tobias... and to a man, Mikey V Farrell... and that's it."

The first performance of the evening of the Smiths classic "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" was introduced with the cryptic "So of course time proves everything, have you noticed? I don't think you have really, you're just being polite... Julia? Julia, time proves everything Julia, it really does..." The audience sang along the song's chorus at the end and this seemed to genuinely move Morrissey who, looking emotional, stood back smiling. Over the opening notes to "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" he just said "a cautionary tale..." There were quite a few attempts to get on stage during that song, and some fan who failed was rewarded with a "nice try..." from the big man.

After the latter number Morrissey joked "I'm under no illusions, I know that next year we'll be back at Whelans (crowd reacts)... that's the way it goes!" (Whelans is an infamous small Dublin pub). The latest single "I Have Forgiven Jesus" had just been released and was going up against the reissue of the "Do They Know It's Christmas?" single in the race for Christmas #1. However it had only come in at #10, which prompted Morrissey to say, before going into the song "So we didn't quite fought the progress of Band Aid... but it really doesn't matter". After the song he joked "And strangely, no invitation to Top Of The Pops!... I just can't work it out, I really can't!"

Following "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" Morrissey told someone "Now I can see you... no, I'm gonna say it now, you can't stop me... you've stopped me..." He then introduced "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" with "Of course Christmas is a time of peace apparently, and goodwill apparently, but not to animals of course, it's a time of horror and death, but above all it's a time of shoplifting..." Before going into the first encore Morrissey simply repeated "Journey's end, journey's end, journey's end..." He was visibly very emotional during that song. From the first few rows or through the close ups shown on the big screens next to the stage he could be seen holding back tears.

After first encore "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" many fans started making their way out of the venue, thinking the concert was over. But Morrissey wanted to make it last so he and his musicians returned for a surprise second helping of "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out". There were a few more attempts to make it on stage during this final song. After Morrissey left the stage the band kept on playing for many more minutes. As they had been doing at the beginning of the tour they put down their instruments one at a time, waved goodbye and left, gradually stripping the song to its basic violin melody.

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 Dublin. 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 Dublin.

A rather good audience recording of the complete concert is circulated on compact discs and in digital format on the internet (recorder: Johnky).

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