Alexandra Palace, London, UK
We Hate It When Our Friends Become SuccessfulMorrissey was in seemingly good spirits and was very well received by his fans in the British capital. Roadies and Morrissey-hired security men were dressed in gold lamé shirts, the kind that Morrissey had worn throughout that year's tour. Some even had their hair quiffed. Morrissey himself wore a bright red shirt which he pulled over his head for a full two minutes at some point into the concert, before throwing it into the audience. The setlist was similar to the one from the previous night, without "Seasick, Yet Still Docked" but including "Girl Least Likely To" and "He Knows I'd Love To See Him".
You're The One For Me, Fatty
Suedehead
Alsatian Cousin
We'll Let You Know
Sister I'm A Poet
Girl Least Likely To
The Loop
Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference
I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday
Certain People I Know
He Knows I'd Love To See Him
November Spawned A Monster
Jack The Ripper
Glamorous Glue
/You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side
/The National Front Disco
In "Suedehead", Morrissey changed a line to "Oh so many blank pages", something he rarely did anymore at that point in time. After "We'll Let You Know", he continued his rant against the NME who had unfairly accused him earlier in the year of being racist: "I'm extremely curious and I have to ask one question, if you don't mind... have you given up the NME yet? (crowd shouted 'Yes!')... Well thank God for that!".
In "Girl Least Likely To", besides the usual changes, Morrissey changed the "recycled papers paving the ground" line to something undecipherable, and sang the alternate "and there's enough gloom in your world" and "standing round the shops with chips". Newest single "Certain People I Know" was introduced with "I think this song is about to go zooming down the charts... but what's new?".
The fans were teased with the opening notes to "Ouija Board Ouija Board" at the beginning of "November Spawned A Monster", something that Morrissey did on this leg of the Your Arsenal tour only. In "Glamorous Glue" Morrissey only hummed the "London is dead, London is dead" line, probably because he was in London. That song's ending was slightly extended with a bit of feedback before the band left for the encore break.
Requests were actually constantly shouted so, coming back for the encore, Morrissey teased his fans "We're very very happy to take requests... but I don't imagine there is any so...". The band then launched into the rocking "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side". During "The National Front Disco"'s noisy outro, as he had done on selected previous dates, Boz read a poem. Unfortunately his microphone wasn't on so he wasn't heard.
Kirsty MacColl was the support artist for this date only. She did her version of The Smiths' "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby". During her set, there was a special surprise appearance by Shane McGowan.
Two different audience recordings of this gig are in circulation from bootleg traders, be it on cd-r or on the internet. Both feature the full concert. The scarcest of the two is of good quality while the other is a bit muffled.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.