26 October 2007
New York (NY), Hammerstein Ballroom

Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
Billy Budd
All You Need Is Me
Irish Blood, English Heart
Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Ganglord
That's How People Grow Up
Tomorrow
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
Death Of A Disco Dancer
The Loop
Jack The Ripper
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
Sister I'm A Poet
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Stretch Out And Wait
Life Is A Pigsty
How Soon Is Now?
/First Of The Gang To Die
Night 3 of Morrissey's 5-date residency at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom was not as fantastic as night 2, but it was still a great show. Morrissey was in great spirits, he was playful, energetic and talkative. The crowd started off very energetic, then it mellowed down until the encore when many fans crowd-surfed to the front trying to shake Morrissey's hand, or better yet get on stage. However only one fan made it there during the encore, and she was pulled up by Morrissey himself. Another fan had made it there during the bridge between "Life Is A Pigsty" and "How Soon Is Now?", but unfortunately for him Morrissey had briefly gone backstage to change shirts. When security saw him there, he was tackled into a speaker and ended up with a bloody face.

For the benefit of the fans who had bought the Maximum Morrissey package (tickets for all 5 New York shows), many changes were made to the content of the setlist. "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side", "Human Being", "Disappointed" and "Dear God Please Help Me" were replaced with "Shoplifters Of The World Unite", "Ganglord", "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy" and "Life Is A Pigsty".

When he entered stage Morrissey greeted the audience by shouting "You're off, off, off Broadway!" Over the final bars of set opener "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" he shouted "Some... of us... is... turning... nasty!", which were the words printed on the bass drum's skin at the time. When he introduced his musicians he called them the "Bowery Boys." After "Death Of A Disco Dancer" he paid tribute to the historical New York venue by saying: "Below this stage are many vaults. And buried beneath us are Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan, Billy Murcia, Arthur Harold Kane Jr, Jobriath, Nico, Klaus Nomi, Gertrude Stein... all our musical loves..." He changed a line in the crowd favourite "The Loop" to "I just wanna say I haven't been away I haven't, look! I'm still right here, where I actually live!".

In "Jack The Ripper" Morrissey sang the alternate "you don't agree, but you had to refuse, I know you". After the song he said "That song was called 'The Thoughts Of Jack The Ripper' and the question is 'how would I know?'... Well... I wouldn't... What? (hands the microphone to a fan and asks 'How would I know?'; the fan answers 'some of us is born nasty'; Morrissey replies) You mean that in the beautiful sense don't you?... (takes rough Northern accent to mock a shouting fan) What? Sheffield what? Not from Castleford, but Sheffield! Doncaster! (back to normal voice, but keeps Northern accent) Well you were here anyway, weren't you, be honest! You were here anyway... It's raining outside, you thought ‘What the hell, I’ll stumble in and see what the old fool’s doin'!... I know you!" As he was about to start "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself" he told another fan "Did you really say 'King Leer'?... Did you really say that?"

At some point Morrissey told someone "Are you tough enough?" Before launching into new song "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" he said "I have poetic license to change the words, grunt, stay at home, forget the words, go to an ice-hockey match, I can do anything..." A fan gave him some kind of action figure in a box. He studied it and then he said something about it being "New York humour" and he would laugh about it the next day. His last significant words to the audience before going into the encore were an invitation to night 4 of the residency: "Tomorrow night, same time, same bat-channel... Bruce Wayne and his youthful ward Dick Grayson, thanks for listening..." He changed a line in encore "First Of The Gang To Die" to "you have never been in love until you've seen the stars reflect in the reservoirs, so they say!".

 


No audio or video recording of this show are to be found on bootlegs 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.

 

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