Hull (UK), Arena
This Charming ManThis was another excellent show. Morrissey was energetic and playful and looked like he was enjoying himself. He joked with the very receptive crowd. "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" returned to the setlist which, at 22 songs, made this the longest set of this leg of the Tour Of Refusal.
Irish Blood, English Heart
Black Cloud
How Soon Is Now?
Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
Girlfriend In A Coma
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Let Me Kiss You
Ask
Something Is Squeezing My Skull
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
I Keep Mine Hidden
When Last I Spoke To Carol
Best Friend On The Payroll
Sorry Doesn't Help
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
The Loop
I'm OK By Myself
/First Of The Gang To Die
Morrissey's opening line in Hull was a pun on one of his song titles: "Something is squeezing my Hull!" It was Boz's birthday and the singer made sure he mentioned it when he introduced the band: "A very happy birthday to Boz Boorer... on the bass guitars, Solomon Walker... the drummer is Matt Walker... the guitarist is Jesse Tobias... keyboard is Kristopher Pooley... and I, I, I, I, me, me, me, me, I, I, I..." He teased the locals at some point by asking "Are you all right or are you feeling a bit Grimsby?"
Morrissey mistakenly sang "He said he wants to befriend me which means his judgement is crazy" in "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?". He also purposely changed a line in that song to "the future is passing you by, hurry up! hurry up!" Before "When Last I Spoke To Carol" he replied to shouts of "happy birthday" with the question "To me? Or to Boz? To me or to Boz? To Boz or to me?" Besides the usual lyric changes in the latter number he also sang "I've hammered a smile across this ugly mug of mine". Before going into "The Loop" he sang a few lines of an old folk song titled "Show Me The Way To Go Home" which he probably knows through Max Bygraves' interpretation: "Show me the way to go home, I'm tired and lonesome".
It was tradition at the time for Morrissey to chat with various fans in the front rows and hand them the microphone so both ends of the conversation could be heard by everyone. He asked "Does anyone want to say anything nasty?... Well you can't..." Before "Best Friend On The Payroll" one fan asked Morrissey what he thought of Hull City FC and Morrissey laughed, looked embarassed and said "I would say Millwall (crowd protests)... I would say it!... but I wouldn't mean it..." After "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" he asked someone "What do you feel?" The fan answered by saying "You saved my life" which was received by the crowd with laughs and shouts of 'gay', so Morrissey replied by asking "When?".
This concert was recorded in audio and filmed, but neither recordings have made it to common circulation yet. Various good quality video files of songs or song excerpts are circulated on the internet.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.