29 July 2008
Tel Aviv (Israel), Heatwave Festival

The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
Ask
First Of The Gang To Die
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
That's How People Grow Up
Vicar In A Tutu
Irish Blood, English Heart
Sister I'm A Poet
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
The Loop
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
Everyday Is Like Sunday
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed
Death Of A Disco Dancer
You Say You Don't Love Me
All You Need Is Me
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
Life Is A Pigsty
How Soon Is Now?
/There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Morrissey's first ever visit to Israel was a success. He was playful and talkative, and he reached out to the Israelis by saying a few words in Hebrew, such as toda (thank you) or shalom. Despite a few minor voice problems (for which he apologized by pointing at his throat at some point), the show was still very positively reviewed in the local press. The crowd was warm, loud and sang along to their favourite songs.

The Israelis were treated to an exceptional 22-song setlist, including 7 from the Smiths days. The set was more hits-friendly than it had been elsewhere earlier that year. Morrissey brought back new compositions "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" and "Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed", but he also resurrected 4 classics which he hadn't done in some time: "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before", "Everyday Is Like Sunday", "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" and "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out". Recent live staples "What She Said" and "Stretch Out And Wait" were dropped.

When he got on stage Morrissey greeted the audience in Hebrew then sang "Israel... Israel...", the chorus to Siouxsie And The Banshees classic "Israel", followed by a shout of "Tel Aviv!". Siouxsie had originally been scheduled to play the festival, but she had ended up changing her plans. After set opener "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys" Morrissey told the audience "Take my blood, my sweat, my tears, my clothes..." After "First Of The Gang To Die" he said "Of course, it's a great privilege to be in Tel Aviv (crowd cheers)... IT'S TRUE!"

After "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy" Morrissey proceeded with the introduction of his band: "Conquistadores fighting for their life, Boz Boorer... bass guitar, Solomon Walker... drummer, Matt Walker... flamenco, flamenco, Jesse Tobias... (mimes piano playing) plink, plink, plink, plink, plink, Kristopher Pooley..." Then instead of introducing himself the conventional way, he sang accapella a line from "Seasick, Yet Still Docked: "and I'm just a poor freezingly cold soul so far from where I intended to go...", which he followed with the comment "...and yet I'm here!". After "That's How People Grow Up" he asked "Something nice to say? What's that?"

Morrissey's vocal problems were at their worst during the first verse of "Irish Blood, English Heart". After the song he announced "I should tell you that our friend Siouxsie (crowd cheers)... should have been here tonight... We don't know why she's not here... She doesn't know why she's not here... What? What? Hmm? Speak!" At this point he handed the microphone to fan who thanked him for coming. After "Sister I'm A Poet" he asked the crowd "Why are you whistling? Did you see me yesterday at the sea, swimming, swimming, nakido (crowd cheers)... that was me!"

Following "The Loop" Morrissey cryptically said "Many a tear has to fall, but it's all in the game... and it's all in a game called... nobody knows... They know in England! They know in Norway! They know in Turkey! Do they know in Israel? (crowd cheers)..." After the line "trudging back over pebbles and sand" in "Everyday Is Like Sunday" he exclaimed "Really?" After the song he said something that sounded like "I'm serious, where are you from? Sorry..." He then introduced "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" with the words "Say it now! Say it now! Look around in your pop charts, politicians, the world is full of crashing bores!" After the song he added "The world is full of crashing bores... It really is!... 'Cause I've been around it... Everywhere I go, crashing bores, crashing bores, crashing bores, Kylie Minogue, Kylie Minogue, crashing bores, blah-blah..."

Between the new and yet-to-be-released compositions "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" and "Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed" Morrissey introduced both numbers: "That song was called 'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris'... Paris! And this one is also from our forthcoming thing, cd, which is called 'Years Of Refusal' and... What? Say that! This song is called 'Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed'." The cover of the Buzzcock's "You Say You Don't Love Me" was introduced with the question "Do you fancy a buzz, cock?" At the end of the song Morrissey exclaimed "Oh shit!" then said "That song was by a Manchester group called (crowd: 'Buzzcocks!')... Yes... Well nobody actually said the word 'more', but here is more..."

Morrissey regularly changied at the time the line "mock-horried' in "All You Need Is Me" to "absolutely horrified", but on this date he took this to "absolutely mortified". He also exceptionally changed "you're gonna miss me when I'm gone" to "you're gonna miss me when I'm dead". He bridged the gap between the latter number and the next planned one by introducing both with the line "In this, which is called cacophonous rubble, was a song called 'All You Need Is Me' and this song is for those of you who just can't help yourself.. help, help yourselves, help yourselves..." The song in question was "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" and it drew the whole audience in a huge singalong. In it Morrissey exceptionally didn't change the first occurrence of "get what I want" to the usual live change "have who I want", and he finished by singing "Lord knows it would be the first time, Lord knows it's impossible..."

When he and the band returned to perform the encore, Morrissey first took from someone in the audience a sign saying "You are our light that never goes out" and held it up high so everyone in the audience could see. Then after the traditional bow alongside his musicians he said "The light that never goes out... is (points at audience)... you..." and the band launched into the classic "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out". This was a pleasant surprise to everyone attending as Morrissey hadn't done the song for over a year. So the show ended in a huge singalong to the Smiths' most loved song.

The concert was recorded and broadcast in its entirety by Radio Galatz.

 


The radio broadcast mentioned above is commonly circulated on bootlegs. The sound, though better than a typical audience recording, is unfortunately not as good as would be expected from a radio recording. Besides the staticky hiss and the occasional distortion due to high volume, the recording has the radio DJ commenting the set between certain songs.

 

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