Tijuana (Mexico), El Foro
Billy BuddThe third leg of Morrissey's Greatest Hits tour started off on a great note. Morrissey was in good spirits, he kept teasing the crowd and was obviously enjoying himself. When he first came out he appeared to be more reserved, but after three or four songs he became more comfortable. The sound quality was not too good in the venue, but the crowd didn't seem to mind much. The fans were very receptive and enthusiastic, and they danced and sang along to most of the songs. At least a dozen of them made it on stage, mostly during the encores, and often with Morrissey's help and encouragement. However some fans who were present believe that the number of people on stage during the encore was responsible for Morrissey not doing the full planned set (read further).
London
You Have Killed Me
All You Need Is Me
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
In The Future When All's Well
The National Front Disco
Stretch Out And Wait
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Let Me Kiss You
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
Death Of A Disco Dancer
Disappointed
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Everyday Is Like Sunday
Life Is A Pigsty
How Soon Is Now?
/First Of The Gang To Die
/Irish Blood, English Heart
In these internet days the most exciting shows setlist-wise are the very first ones of new tours/legs because nobody knows what to expect. The fans who attended this show were in for a surprise. Besides a few previously performed new compositions, Morrissey added one titled "One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell". The song would not be released until the Spring of 2009 on his "Years Of Refusal" album. Earlier on the tour fans had complained that he wasn't playing anything from "Vauxhall & I", one of his most loved albums. He made up for it here by re-introducing two numbers from it, "Billy Budd" and "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself". Neither had been played in many years. He also played two songs from the Smiths catalogue that he had never done before: "Stretch Out And Wait" and "Death Of A Disco Dancer". The latter had never even been performed during the Smiths days. He also reintroduced "London" and "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" which hadn't been played in some time. It must be said that three more songs were planned, but dropped at the last minute: newish composition "That's How People Grow Up" was scheduled after "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy", "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys" was scheduled after "Irish Blood, English Heart", and "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" was planned as a second encore. The latter two numbers were very likely dropped because of all the action on stage. If Morrissey hadn't skipped those three songs, he would have ended up playing a record 24-song set including four titles over two encores.
After set opener "Billy Budd" Morrissey greeted his Mexican audience by saying "No habla Española!" Besides the usual lyric changes in "You Have Killed Me" he also started the song by singing "Pasolini is me, Che Guevara I would rather be". Further down the song he changed another line to "Rossellini is me, Anna Magnani you will always be". Following "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" he had a story to share: "So, of course, today, today, we drive over the border (crowd cheers)... yes, into Tijuana... and we drive down the street and we are pulled over by the police... (sarcastically) Welcome to Tijuana!"
After "The National Front Disco" Morrissey proceeded with the customary introduction of the band. However there was a twist on the usual way of doing things. Because he was in an hispanophone country, he had his guitarist Jesse Tobias - who is Texan of Mexican origin - do the introductions. Jesse started by greeting the audience with "Hola mi gente..." then introduced his collegues: "Boz Boorer... Solomon Walker... aqui tenemos Matt Walker... y aqui Michael Farrell... me llamo Jesse (?) Tobias... (pointing at Morrissey) y El Jefe..." ('El Jefe' means 'The Boss'). Morrissey followed this with "So that was it, that was it..." The solo live debut of "Stretch Out And Wait" followed. Of the two different lyrical versions of the song, Morrissey went for the original single version, more commonly found on the "Louder Than Bombs" anthology. He was very faithful to the song's original lyrics, with the exception of the line "is there any point ever having children, no I don't know..." which was changed to "is there any point ever having children, I would say no..." He also reversed the 'daytime' and 'nightime' lines. Following the song he said "Nearly..." then asked the audience "When I say stretch out and wait, do you know what I mean? No? Yes? No?"
Besides the usual lyric changes in "Let Me Kiss You" Morrissey introduced a few new ones. He sang "I've zig-zagged all over Mexico" and "Excuse me would you let me cry on your shoulder". In "Everyday Is Like Sunday" he made most of the usual changes but also sang the alternate "win yourself a beautiful tray". Morrissey was debuting a new backdrop image on this date, one showing Richard Burton at his prime. So at some point into the show he asked the fans if they recognized who was on the backdrop and handed the microphone to a fan in the front row hoping to get an answer. The fan answered "I love you! I really love you..." and Morrissey jokingly replied "He loves me... he really love me... Soy de Puebla!" (I'm from puebla). The latter words supposedly are a Mexican in-joke.
Before "Life Is A Pigsty" Morrissey took a letter being waved around by a fan after asking him "Is that for me?" At some other point he took another fan's postcard showing James Dean and tucked in the front of his trousers in a way that made Dean's head stick out over the waist band. As the the end was approaching he told the audience that after the show he would grab a bicycle and sell fruit - particularly watermelons - down Revolución Street.
During "Life Is A Pigsty" some fans pulled out a sign that said "I can't reach you" (a lyric of that song), and Morrissey replied "You can't reach me? Still!?" When he returned to the stage for the encore he was dressed in a Chivas soccer shirt. Like the other shirts worn earlier in the evening it would end up in the audience. Before going into the first encore Morrissey said something then added "Who cares!" In "First Of The Gang To Die", while dealing with the people trying to get on stage, he had a difficult time keeping up with the lyrics and sang "the first lost lad to go, Adios! Adios!" After one particular fan had made it en stage Morrissey yelled out "It's my boy!"
This concert was filmed by Warner for eventual release, but nothing significant from this recording has made it out at this point in time.
There are no significant audio or video bootlegs of this show in common circulation at this point in time. One audience recording of the complete or near-complete concert has been reported, but it has not made it to common circulation yet.
A professional video recording of the first three songs was put up on the X1 FM website in 2009. This footage is assumed to be from the Warner recording mentioned above.
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