Milwaukee (WI), Eagles Ballroom
This Charming ManThis was a good show but not one of the highlights from this tour. Morrissey was in great shape, very playful and his vocals were amazing. He was talkative at first, but then quieted up as the show progressed. The sound quality in the Eagles Ballroom was rather poor. With the exception of the first few rows, the crowd was subdued. There were a few attempted stage invasions towards the end of the encore, but none were successful. There was no change in the setlist.
Billy Budd
That's How People Grow Up
Black Cloud
How Soon Is Now?
Irish Blood, English Heart
I Keep Mine Hidden
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
Ask
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed
Best Friend On The Payroll
When Last I Spoke To Carol
Seasick, Yet Still Docked
The Loop
Death Of a Disco Dancer
Let Me Kiss You
Sorry Doesn't Help
Something Is Squeezing My Skull
I'm OK By Myself
/First Of The Gang To Die
As Morrissey entered stage he greeted the audience with a simple shout of "Milsquaukee!" He later added "Welcome to our jamboree of incredibly hostile songs!" At some point he teased the locals by saying "Milwaukee, Rockford, Madison, Green Bay... well, no one lives in Green Bay..." After "Irish Blood, English Heart" he proceeded with the traditional introduction of the band, which ended on a comment on how there was a lot of smoking in the venue: "...Boz Boorer... somewhere in the third dimension is Solomon Walker... is Matt Walker... is Jesse Tobias... is Kristopher Pooley... and these songs are what I do to stay alive. Some people smoke, some people smoke. Some people smoke others' smoke... this isn't (mumbles)..."
After the line "life is nothing much to lose" in "Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed", Morrissey added "it's really not much". There was a brief moment of panic mid-song when his voice cracked and he seemed to be struggling, so he decided to walk out. His security ran backstage then someone came on and said something in Boz's ear. Morrissey finally returned wearing a fresh shirt, but it was at the expense of the great climax of the song.
This show also featured the traditional interaction with the crowd. At some point, Morrissey held up a crowd banner that read "We are your thoughts." Later he told the audience "It's a Friday night and you could be anywhere... Why are you here? There is something much nastier that you could be doing instead..." then handed the microphone to various people in the front rows, all of which complimented him or told him they loved him. "Sorry Doesn't Help" was introduced with the line "If you really cared, you'd buy our new album, from which this song comes..."
When Morrissey returned to the stage for the encore, his parting words for the audience was the question "Would you like to swing on a star?" Like everywhere else on this tour he made a mess of encore "First Of The Gang To Die". Instead of concentrating on the lyrics, he paced the stage left and right and teased the crowd into trying to get on stage. Then at the end of the song he echoed his parting words by replacing the song's final verse ("and he stole from the rich and the poor, etc") with the chorus from Big Dee Irwin and Little Eva's "Swinging On A Star" ("would u like to swing on a star, carry moonbeams home in a jar", etc). At the very end of the song he shouted "That's all folks!", ripped his shirt off, threw it into the crowd and fled backstage.
There are no audio or video bootlegs of this show in common circulation at this point in time.
"This Charming Man" and "First Of The Gang To Die" are featured on "Nights Of Refusal" volume 2, a compilation DVD featuring HD Youtube material from the second half of the American leg of the Tour Of Refusal.
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