Hovet, Stockholm, Sweden
First Of The Gang To DieMorrissey's second Swedish date of the tour went down well. There was no change in the setlist. The man and his band were on brilliant form. However, portions of the audience looked bored at times and this even prompted Morrissey at some point to ask the audience if they wanted him to leave (read further). Overall the reception was generally still quite good. No one made it on stage.
Still Ill
You Have Killed Me
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
Reader Meet Author
I Have Forgiven Jesus
I Will See You In Far Off Places
My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye
Girlfriend In A Coma
Let Me Kiss You
Life Is A Pigsty
Trouble Loves Me
How Soon Is Now?
At Last I Am Born
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
Irish Blood, English Heart
/Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Morrissey was very talkative throughout. On entering stage, he exclaimed "Stockholm, my friend" then greeted the audience in Swedish. After "Still Ill" he answered the song's question with "And the answer is yes, I am still ill..." Newest album "Ringleader Of The Tormentors" was being released that week and Morrissey commented about its sales after "You Have Killed Me": "Now, according to the mid-week sales in Sweden, our new cd album 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors' is almost - in Sweden - number one... Almost! But maybe not, I don't know..." He threw the maracas he he had been shaking in the latter part of "The Youngest Was The Most Loved" into the audience, but didn't do the same with any shirts on this date. After that song he commented on some audience members apparent lack of interest "Yes friend, what's the problem? You bored? Would you like us to go? (crowd: No!) That's good..."
After "Reader Meet Author" Morrissey proceeded with the customary band introduction. He started by introducing Boz with a nod to Abba, Sweden's most famous act: "Would you please say 'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do' to Boz Boorer..." The crowd cheered but ignored Morrissey's request so the man said "You didn't say it!" He then resumed the introduction "...and to the five and only Gary Day... to our new friend Matt Walker... to very sweet Jesse Tobias... to Michael Farrell... my name is Gustav!" After "I Have Forgiven Jesus" Morrissey tried to have a few words with his semi-official webmistress Julia.
The venue was a hockey arena so after "I Will See You In Far Off Places" Morrissey enquired "Well do you actually like ice hockey? (audience boos) Well I do... and it's a great game..." In "My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye" he answered the line "What left for me..." with "nothing!" He teased the fans before "Girlfriend In A Coma" by saying "Tomorrow we go to Helsinki". When the audience booed the comment, he added "Well, Helsinki's nice..." As had become tradition on this tour, "Trouble Loves Me" was preceded by a local well-known old-style piano intro. On this date the song was "Helan Går", a very folky Swedish drinking song. After "How Soon Is Now?" Morrissey had another word with his favourite fan "You okay Julia? Yeah? Uh? How am I? Oh I'm okay, you know... I struggle, but I'm okay..." Besides the usual live changes in "At Last I Am Born" he replaced "Historians note" with "Vulgarians know", "spectral hand" with "spiritual hand" and "accentuates despair" with "escalates despair".
Before going into "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy" Morrissey said "Thank you for all the Marabou chocolate, however my favourite is Plopp". This would give a push to the tradition of fans throwing Plopp chocolate on stage on Scandinavian - and even British - dates. When returning to perform the encore, Morrissey and his musicians got in one line, arms around each other, and bowed. Morrissey then took the microphone and sang in a happy voice "We love you, Stockholm, oh yes we do!" before the very serious encore "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me".
An excellent audience recording of the full set minus a small bit of "Life Is A Pigsty" (probably when the taper had to flip the tape over) is circulated on compact discs and in digital format on the internet (taper: Wiltteri aka VP). Some internet traders only have the following songs which leaked long before the full set was made available: "The Youngest Was The Most Loved", "I Will See You In Far Off Places", "Girlfriend In A Coma", "How Soon Is Now?", "Life Is A Pigsty" (partial) and "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" (partial).
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