Sea Cable Hall, Helsinki, Finland
First Of The Gang To DieMorrissey's first appearance in Finland in nine years went down as well as the two recent Swedish dates, but the audience was even more enthusiastic. Morrissey in an excellent mood and his voice was on top form. He talked with his fans between almost every song, and often reached out to touch hands. The audience returned the attention with a good deal or cheering and laughing at Morrissey's jokes. There was no chance of stage invasions with the barrier about 5 feet away from the stage and security firmly in position. There was no change in the setlist content.
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?
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
At Last I Am Born
Irish Blood, English Heart
/Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
As he had done in Sweden, Morrissey took special care of greeting and reaching out to the local culture. He sang "Hei, hei, hei Helsinki, hei, hei, hei Helsinki" as a greeting when he came on stage. After set opener "First Of The Gang To Die" he added "Thank you for allowing us into your beautiful city". After "Still Ill" he thanked the audience in Finnish "kiitos". After "The Youngest Was The Most Loved" he asked his favourite fan: "Julia, you ok?". It had been snowing most of the afternoon so after that Morrissey enquired "We like the snow because the snow covers everything that's unbearable, including me... (audience laughs) Was that funny?"
After "Reader Meet Author" Morrissey proceeded with the customary band introduction: "Would you please say hei, or hei hei to the Tormentors (crowd:hei!) You don't have to, you know... however, Boz Boorer... the seven and only Gary Day... from Chicago, Matt Walker... the very sultry Jesse Tobias... and father of twelve, Michael Farrell... and I'm the ringleader..." He addressed his favourite fan again in "I Have Forgiven Jesus" when he sang "With God's help I know... Am I in tune? Uh? Julia?" After "I Will See You In Far Off Places" he said "I bought this shirt today in Stockmann's (crowd laughs) No, no, no..." Stockmann is a local department store that sells designer brands. The shirt in question was thrown into the audience after "How Soon Is Now?", to be fought over and torn into pieces by fans. Before throwing it, Morrissey thoroughly wiped his sweaty torso with it.
In "My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye" Morrissey answered the line "What left for me..." with "nothing!" "Girlfriend In A Coma" was introduced similarly to the way "How Soon Is Now?" had been introduced earlier on the tour: "The past is another country, but it's not bad". Morrissey tried to endear himself to the Finnish by poking fun at the Swedish: "Now I know some of you have swam from Stockholm... (giggling) well, just two of you... and they're way at the back..." Sensing that he had just told a bad joke, he then apologised "...sorry Julia".
As an introduction to "Life Is A Pigsty" Morrissey announced "In second-hand record stores all over Helsinki you will find 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors' and here is a song". As elsewhere on this tour "Trouble Loves Me" was preceded by a few bars of a local traditional piano song, and in Helsinki Mikey played "Baarikärpänen", a song about drinking by a Finnish band called Eppu Normaali. After "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy" Morrissey apologised "I'm sorry you had to stand for so long but err, some of you are young..." Then a female fan shouted "I love you!" and her idol replied "Yeah? Where do you live? (...) I'm not joking..."
Besides the usual live changes in "At Last I Am Born" Morrissey replaced "historians note" with "vulgarians know". "Irish Blood, English Heart" was introduced with the comment "To err is human, to be human is to be loved, isn't that true Julia?". Returning for the encore, Morrissey started "...and don't you wonder why in Estonia they say..." before going into encore "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me".
Two different audience recordings of the complete concert are out there. The best one, of excellent quality, is credited to Matti, but it is not being widely shared yet. The other one, of good quality, is credited to Wiltteri aka VP and is more easily found.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.