City Hall, Sheffield
First Of The Gang To DieThis concert was a clear success. The venue, unlike some visited in the previous days, had a great sound. The audience was very receptive, most of it was on their feet for the majority of the evening and many fans made it on stage, something that had not been seen much on this tour yet. Security was heavy handed at times, but generally fair and successful in preventing mass stage invasions, which Morrissey didn't seem to welcome as much anymore. The man himself was in excellent spirits, quite talkative, and extended his hand to a great deal of people in front of him.
Still Ill
You Have Killed Me
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
Ganglord
Let Me Kiss You
Girlfriend In A Coma
To Me You Are A Work Of Art
At Last I Am Born
I Will See You In Far Off Places
In The Future When All's Well
The Father Who Must Be Killed
Life Is A Pigsty
Trouble Loves Me
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
How Soon Is Now?
/Irish Blood, English Heart
Setlist-wise album track "On The Streets I Ran" was replaced by "The Father Who Must Be Killed" which had only been performed once before this.
Morrissey entered stage with his shirt tied in a knot at the front as he had been doing recently, and greeted the audience "If you come any closer you're gonna get bitten". He was in a very good mood and seemed amused by the crowd chanting his name. At some point he replied to them "very funny, very funny... " to the same tune. He thanked the audience for buying "Ringleader Of The Tormentors" and for paying £3.50 for the gig. He also said "We're not actually on tour, we're being chased from city to city... but we like it that way!"
"The Youngest Was The Most Loved" was introduced with the line "Here is our new single... can you bear it?". There was also the usual band introduction. On this date Morrissey only introduced his musicians by their first names. On reaching guitarist Jesse, he asked him who he was and gestured to him with the microphone, but Jesse refused to speak. A fire alarm had caused the evacuation of the venue prior to the opening band's performance and Morrissey commented about it while on stage by saying that the call had been traced back to Q Magazine (British magazine not very fond of Morrissey at that point in time).
In "At Last I Am Born", besides the usual changes ("vegetarians note" and "miserable child"), Morrissey also sang "historians write this down" instead of "historians note". When he sang the line "I'm living the one, true, free life", he lifted successively one, two, three fingers, which led many fans in the audience to think he sang "I'm living the one-two-three life". During "In The Future When All's Well", he was kept away from his microphone for a part of the song as he tangled with the crowd. When asked by someone in the audience if he liked Sheffield, he said it was okay.
Morrissey also mentioned that it was (front row regular) Julia's 302nd gig in the front row, which got a cheer out of the audience. He then went on to say "...and you thought you were brave for buying 'I Have Forgiven Jesus'... which you are". Main set finale "How Soon Is Now?" saw a great deal of fans make it on stage. A few of them gave the security serious trouble and were dealt with rather violently. Some stage climbers had to be pinned down while others were dragged away, by the legs if needed. At the end of the song Morrissey took his shirt off, wiped his sweat with it and threw it into the audience to be fought over.
A live version of "The Youngest Was The Most Loved" recorded on this date was offered for purchase by official download at the time of release of that song as a single.
No significant bootleg either in audio or video form has made it into the hands of collectors yet.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.