Nijmegen (Holland), De Vereeniging
This Charming ManAfter the Liverpool fiasco, many people had fears about this concert, but they were not justified. The show was a great one. Morrissey was on really good form and playful. However, he may have been slightly less talkative than usual. The Dutch crowd was overall quite appreciative.
Black Cloud
When Last I Spoke To Carol
Is It Really So Strange?
First Of The Gang To Die
Ganglord
Cemetry Gates
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Ask
Teenage Dad On His Estate
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
Death At One's Elbow
Because Of My Poor Education
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
The Loop
How Soon Is Now?
Irish Blood, English Heart
I'm OK By Myself
/Something Is Squeezing My Skull
There was no surprise in the setlist. It was a shuffled version of the last full set he had played in London, minus the cover of Sparks "Moon Over Kentucky".
As he took the stage Morrissey greeted the audience with the question "Can you be wooed?" In live performances of "Is It Really So Strange?" at the time he usually changed a line to "I was bagged in Newport Pagnell", but on this date he took this to "I was gagged in Newport Pagnell". He said that he'd gone into a few Dutch record stores and hadn't found his newest album "Swords". He asked the crowd whether they should commit suicide now or just delay it. When he handed the microphone to an audience member for his view, the fan said that he already had "Swords", so Morrissey told everyone not to worry.
Following "Cemetry Gates" Morrissey proceeded with the introduction of the band. He quoted from a Sparks song to start it off: "Something for the girl with everything is Boz Boorer... on the bass guitar, Solomon Walker... drum is (fan shouts 'Matt Walker!') hmm, yes, Matt Walker... as you know... playing guitar, very well, is Jesse Tobias... on the piano, etc, is Gustavo Manzur..." Over the length of the show Morrissey could be seen skating, skidding and sliding around on the stage, so after "One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell" he explained, "Somebody here in the hall today has been very nice, and shined the floor, very well, and it's very difficult to walk, and I've already broke my neck, twice, but three times I don't think so... but who shined that floor today, who shined the stage, (bows) thank you..."
Following the line "this here is my bed and I must lie" in "Because Of My Poor Education", Morrissey added "always." As he often did, he pointed at the stage when he sang "this here is my bed". He addressed the recent Liverpool incident after the song when he said "Well, Liverpool wasn't a great success..." After "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" he asked the crowd "Does anybody know why this city is famous, does anybody know? Do you know? Nobody knows why this city is famous... What? Oh, he knows (fan tells of an old myth about a girl named Marieke of Nimwegen who gets tempted by the devil) It's very boring... but thank you!" His parting words before going into the encore were "Thank you for listening... thank you more importantly for Shocking Blue... we remember, we remember..."
There are no significant audio or video recordings of this concert in wide circulation at this point in time.
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