Las Vegas (NV), The Joint
The LoopAll in all, this was a good show despite the way it ended, leaving fans wanting more. Morrissey was in great spririts and looked happy to be there. However he seemed to be struggling with his voice, and was seen drinking what was assumed to be tea, perhaps to soothe his throat. The concert planned after this one ended up being cancelled, so he must have been suffering from something. He was not as talkative as he could be, and shook fewer hands than usual. At the show progressed, he started looking worn out, skipped one song, then another and left without doing an encore. This sudden departure left many people feeling a little deflated, as there was no obvious clue that something was wrong. Meanwhile, the Las Vegas crowd was in general good spirits and very appreciative. It looked like everyone in the front rows had brought their idol a gift.
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
This Charming Man
Let Me Kiss You
If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look At Me
Black Cloud
Teenage Dad On His Estate
Cemetry Gates
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
Death At One's Elbow
Ask
When Last I Spoke To Carol
Is It Really So Strange?
Ganglord
Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice
How Soon Is Now?
The setlist was significantly resequenced and "The Loop" was moved up to the position of set opener. This was one of the very few times in 2009 where the show didn't start with "This Charming Man". In the process, live staples "Irish Blood, English Heart" and "First Of The Gang To Die" were replaced with "If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look At Me" and "Let Me Kiss You". This was the latter song's first airing on this leg of the tour. "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" was planned between "Is It Really So Strange?" and "Ganglord", and "I'm OK By Myself" as main set closer, but they were both skipped by Morrissey as the band was getting ready to launch into them.
As he took the stage, Morrissey greeted the audience with a shout of "Moz Vegas!" Over the opening bars of "If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look At Me", he announced "When all is said and done, the t-shirt of my life will say 'If you don't like me, don't look at me'..." He may have taken too long to say that, because it then sounded like he was trying to catch up to the music with his lyrics. Before the show had started, there was a big screen sponsored by a cell phone company inviting people to send text messages or pictures. The messages and photos were then displayed on the screen. So before going into "Black Cloud" Morrissey said "Yes, I saw all your text messages on the screen (crowd cheers)... I feel as if I know you all... which you wouldn't like..."
Morrissey introduced his band by saying, "Trying harder are Boz Boorer... Solomon Walker... Matt Walker... Jesse Tobias… Gustavo Manzur... and I, I have no identity..." At the very end of "One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell", instead of "grab me while we still have the time", he sang "grab me while... while... just grab me..." Then after the song he said "Yes, so let's not fight amongst ourselves..." He took a "Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell" banner from someone in the front row, held it up for everyone to see, and asked the crowd "Can you read this? Can you read this? Do you know what it means?" He then tucked it into his waistband and wore it as an apron for a brief time.
After the Smiths classic "Ask" Morrissey asked "There must be at least one person in this entire building who is as old as I am..." After skipping "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores", he introduced "Ganglord" by saying "Do you know the song 'Ganglord'? Do you like it? Well, we're not gonna play it…" However the only people to get the joke were the ones who had noticed that he had just asked his band to skip a song.
After "Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice", Morrissey turned to his musicians and signalled for them to skip "I'm OK By Myself" by making a cut-throat motion. They went instead straight into planned encore "How Soon Is Now?" Morrissey was still his playful and theatrical self, adding to the previously heard changes a new one: "I am human and I need to be loved, so what! so what! so what!" When he was done with his vocal part, he bounded right off stage without a word, leaving the band to finish the song's long jammy outro before following the singer backstage. Because fans didn't know that the song was meant to be the final one, and because Morrissey hadn't said his goodbyes, an encore was expected. Instead of that, the house lights came on, with Frank Sinatra's "My Way" on the PA signalling the end of the show.
There are no significant audio or video recordings of this concert in wide circulation at this point in time. There is a fanmade audio recording out there, but it is not being shared yet.
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