Villa Manin, Codroipo (Udine), Italy
Irish Blood, English HeartThis first of three dates in Morrissey's beloved Italy went down very well. The man was in great shape, but perhaps not very talkative, particularly in the latter half of the show. It must be said that a good deal of his jokes or questions were lost on most of the audience. The crowd was rather static, bar a small packet of fans near the front.
Panic
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
I Will See You In Far Off Places
In The Future When All's Well
You Have Killed Me
Reader Meet Author
Girlfriend In A Coma
I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now
Let Me Kiss You
Ganglord
How Soon Is Now?
At Last I Am Born
To Me You Are A Work Of Art
Still Ill
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
Life Is A Pigsty
/First Of The Gang To Die
The setlist was significantly resequenced and usual encore "Irish Blood, English Heart" was moved up to the position of set opener while "First Of The Gang To Die" which was usually played very early in the set closed this date. Surprisingly, two songs rarely played anymore returned. "Still Ill" had more or less been forgotten since the live inception of "Panic" at the end of May. More importantly "Reader Meet Author" was played for the first time since early May.
The concert took place in front of a very beautiful classical building which inspired Morrissey's greeting as he took the stage: "Welcome to the museum!" In front of him white plastic chairs had been set for the audience to sit on, but after a very well received "Panic" which had the audience singing along, Morrissey said "...and thank you for leaving your plastic seats... I'm sure you don't need them!" After "The Youngest Was The Most Loved" the man had a word with his favourite fan: "Julia did you know that Napoleon sat here? Did you know that? No? Did you know that? Now you do...".
After "In The Future When All's Well" Morrissey decided to plug his newest album. He started "That song was 'In The Future When All's Well'... which is very wishful thinking... and is a song from 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors'..." Someone in the audience shouted a smart ass remark and Morrissey played along: "Yes! Amazing! I know this! I know this... I've read about it... It's incredible, the things I know... and I believe this song was released by Morrissey, I don't know..." In "You Have Killed Me" the man sang the slightly alternate "Who am I that I come to be kneeling down here". After the song he said "Thank you... you have killed me... or, as they say in Napoli, you have killed you... no..."
In the returning "Reader Meet Author" Morrissey made more minor lyric changes. He sang "You'd be the first away, why? because you're that type" and "Have you ever escaped from a shipwrecked life? yeah..." After the song he had a long chat with various people in the audience. Most of it was undecipherable and difficult to follow. After "I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now" he asked someone "What? What-what-what?" then congratulated the Italians on their recent football victory: "Congratulations on your recent you-know-what... So you assume I mean (undecipherable)" At this point he was handed a present from someone out of the crowd, and asked "What? Is it 'The Little Prince'?"
After "Ganglord" Morrissey proceeded with the customary band introduction with the humourous: "You might need later on to make a report to the police, so I should tell you, their names are: Boz Boorer... his name is always Gary Day... Uh-vuh-vuh-vuh Matt Walker... extreme glamour, Jesse Tobias... Michael Farrell..." This led straight into the introduction of the following song on the setlist, "How Soon Is Now?": "...and the eternal question in your life is this".
"Still Ill" was humourously introduced with "So tonight we make our way to Rome... by foot... and it's the first time I will sing there since I was in A-Ha in the eighties (only a few people react) Did you know? Yes, you knew... Anyway this song was sung back in those days..." Fans sang along loudly to this number just like they did for the other Smiths-era ones performed earlier. After the song the man replied to shouts from the audience with his own "WHAT!!" After "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy" he underlined Michael's trombone performance by saying "The amazing (tweety?) Farrell..." As the end of the show approached Morrissey very sincerely thanked the audience "...for listening..."
A subpar audience recording of the full set minus the encore and the ending to "Life Is A Pigsty" is circulated on the internet.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.