Madrid (Spain), Saturday Night Fiber
The Last Of The Famous International PlayboysMorrissey's return to Madrid after 18 years went down very well considering the fact that this was a festival appearance and not one of his own shows. Morrissey was in a great mood, he sounded fantastic and interacted quite a lot with the audience. The crowd was very receptive, particularly for the first five songs. There were no encores and "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" and "What She Said" were temporarily dropped from the set in order to respect the festival's tight schedule. The latter title was actually planned as the encore.
Ask
First Of The Gang To Die
That's How People Grow Up
Irish Blood, English Heart
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
Sister I'm A Poet
Vicar In A Tutu
All You Need Is Me
The Loop
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed
Billy Budd
Death Of A Disco Dancer
You Say You Don't Love Me
Stretch Out And Wait
Life Is A Pigsty
How Soon Is Now?
When Morrissey came on stage he greeted the audience by shouting "Hola! Ha-ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Besides the the usual lyric changes in set opener "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys", he also sang "In our lifetime those who kill, CNN hands them stardom". After the line "have I failed", he shouted "Yes!" Over the closing notes of the song he shouted "Adios!". Then after the song he said "Welcome to our (?)... you're invited..." Over the closing bars of "Ask" he shouted "Ask!" twice.
It was a very, very hot day in Spain and at some point Morrissey asked the crowd "How can you stay alive in that heat?" He teasingly said "I can speak Mexican but I can't speak Spanish..." He complained about the lack of demand for him to play Spain, asked "Why did you wait so long before asking me?", and joked that the last time he had been in Madrid was in 1952, adding "...you were not born at the time..." After "That's How People Grow Up" he introduced his musicians. He started with Boz, then "...on bass, covered in cockroaches, Solomon Walker... on the drumming, covered in cockroaches, Matt Walker... guee-tar, Jesse Tobias... piano, etc, etc, Kristopher Pooley... (points at himself; pretends to weep) Me? I am nobody... I'm just passing through, walking on...(waves) Bye-bye, bye-bye..."
"Vicar In A Tutu" was introduced with the line "You are too old to forget, I am too young to remember..." After the song Morrissey asked someone "Would you like to speak? Would you like the microphone? (hands the microphone to the fan who doesn't say anything, so Morrissey replied)... coward..." As an introduction to "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" he told the story how he had gone to FNAC (record shop chain) the day before, saw all those popular cds and "blah blah blah..." thought that the world is full of crashing bores.
Before going into new composition "Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed" Morrissey asked "This next song is from our new CD that comes out in September, yes, you all have a copy already... And can you bear a new song?... No? Should we leave? Should we go for (Alapita?)? Or to swim? Should we go to FNAC? I don't think so..." Unfortunately the song was not that well received. After "You Say You Don't Love Me" Morrissey asked someone if they were going to attend the following night's concert: "Do you go to Benicàssim? (crowd shouts answers) Why? You're very busy? You're very busy, you can't go to Benicàssim?... Louder?" When introducing "Life Is A Pigsty" he discussed the local sport of bullfighting and, making the shape of a gun with his hand, said "Matador, bang! bang!"
Thanks to Freddy for review collaboration.
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