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12 July 2007 Clearwater (FL), Ruth Eckard Hall
The Queen Is DeadThis was an excellent show. Morrissey was in the best of moods and very chatty. The audience wasn't very lively, but two or three fans managed to make it on stage, and one of them managed to get to Morrissey. Most of the setlist was resequenced, "I Will See You In Far Off Places" was dropped while "Whatever Happens, I Love You" and " The Youngest Was The Most Loved" returned. It was the latter number's first airing on this leg of the tour. As he came on stage Morrissey greeted the audience by saying "So... let me put it this way..." Besides the numerous usual live changes in set opener "The Queen Is Dead" he also sang "So I checked all the registered historical facts and I was not surprised to discover". After the song he complained "You won't find me played on American television or played on American radio... and I take that as a compliment..." After "Irish Blood, English Heart" he greeted the crowd and said something along the lines of "It's lovely to be here at the Ruth Eckerd Hall... and we all know who she was don't we?..." He then turned around to Boz and laughed. Following "You Have Killed Me" he returned to the subject: "Ruth Eckard, of course, Julia would know, is a very famous suffragist and - suffragette is the wrong word - only people who do not know say the word suffragette, the proper word is suffragist. So Ruth Eckard was a very famous suffragist who was hung after a terrible bout of PMT and... and it was only the mid-70's... that's Florida!" Of course the latter story was completely fictitious. After hiss usual routine at the end of "Let Me Kiss You" when he tears his shirt off, throws it to the fans and goes backstage to change into a fresh one, Morrissey took the stage again and exclaimed "And this is a smoldering hunk of man..." He then managed to turn this into the tradition introduction of the band by continuing, as he pointed back at his musicians "I mean buff men!..." As usual he introduced Boz Boorer, then Solomon Walker, then Matt Walker. When it was up to Jesse he was introduced as Jesse Walker, but Morrissey quickly corrected himself and said "Jesse Tobias!" He paused, stared at the audience and said "I was kidding..." He then introduced Michael Farrell and finished with a simple and brief "...and me." As was tradition at the time Morrissey liked to chat with some fans in the front rows. After "At Last I Am Born" he asked "Clearwater is so called because..." and handed the microphone to a woman hoping to get an answer. She proceeded to ignore the question and instead told a story about how she took her daughter to see him when she was three and now her daughter was 21. Morrissey looked befuddled, scratched his head, giggled, and started looking around. He reached down for the microphone but she kept talking and wouldn't give it back. Morrissey looked back at Boz and shook his head. Boz then shouted out "Come on lady, get on with it..." to which she replied "Wait, I'm not done!" The crowd started to boo loudly. Then one of the roadies darted across the stage and snatched the microphone from her hands and handed it back to Morrissey, who broke out into a smile as the crowd broke out into applause. Surprisingly Morrissey handed the microphone to another fan later in the show, but fortunately this one only had a brief compliment for Morrissey and was quickly done. Following "All You Need Is Me" Morrissey said "That song 'All You Need Is Me' is scheduled for release in (pauses)... 2012!" After "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" someone ran up on stage and was tackled down and dragged off by security, which prompted Morrissey to turn to his favourite fan Julia and quip "See, somebody cares!" This may have been a sarcastic comment about the audience's lack of energy. Morrissey was too busy shaking hands to sing the first verse in "The First Of The Gang To Die". He never got back on track after that and more or less ad-libbed his way through the rest of the song. Following "Whatever Happens, I Love You" which was only mildly received, he joked "That was from the cd that you didn't buy... but that's okay..."
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