Astoria Theatre, London, UK
You're The One For Me, FattyThis concert was a success. Morrissey seemed to be among friends, he was very talkative, but perhaps looked slightly tired and even irritated by some people in the front rows. Because this was the second consecutive night in the same city, the set list saw a few changes, like the re-introduction of "Tomorrow" and "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys". To make space for these, "Girl Least Likely To", and surprisingly, the live staple "Suedehead", were removed from the setlist.
Certain People I Know
Glamorous Glue
Tomorrow
November Spawned A Monster
The National Front Disco
Seasick, Yet Still Docked
Jack The Ripper
Alsatian Cousin
Sister I'm A Poet
The Loop
Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference
I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday
You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side
We'll Let You Know
He Knows I'd Love To See Him
We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
/The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
Morrissey picked up a pair of maracas at the beginning of the newly-appointed set opener "You're The One For Me, Fatty", shook them during the first verse, then sent them flying into the crowd. After "Certain People I Know", he addressed the audience for the first of many times: "I'd like to say, thank you for the flowers, because..." In "Glamorous Glue" he changed a line to "I'm still too much in love" and didn't skip the "London is dead" line as he had done on the previous London night. After that song the crowd broke into the first of a few chants of Morrissey's name.
After "Tomorrow" the man had a quick chat with someone in the front rows: "What? How am I? (...) Well, I think you can guess... Can you? (...) Well you should be able to..." Like elsewhere on this leg of the tour, the audience was teased with the first bars of "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" at the beginning of "November Spawned A Monster". Taking it a step further, on this date, Morrissey even hummed the song's melody during those opening bars. Just a few verses into "November Spawned A Monster", Morrissey stopped singing, allegedly because he was trying to remove a fan's ring from their finger. Meanwhile the band kept playing and the crowd supplied the vocals. Morrissey then asked the band to stop: "Boz, stop, stop, stop... let's just do another song...".
After a short break, Morrissey asked his fans "Do you think you'll all have a wonderful Christmas? (crowd: 'No!') No? Why, why not? uh? Because? (fans shout various stuff) I don't think so...". "The National Front Disco", was unusually played early in the set instead of its usual set closer position, but it still ended in an extended chaotic jam of feedback. During that noisy ending, Morrissey first threw all the flowers littering the stage back into the crowd. He then stood fixingly, head down, waiting for the song to end. After that, he said something familiar to all fans who own the "Beethoven Was Deaf" live album: "We might release that as a single. Do you think it would be a hit? (crowd: mix of 'Yes!' and 'No!') Do you think they would play it on the radio? (crowd:'No!') What? Did you say...?".
After that, in contrast, the slow "Seasick, Yet Still Docked" sounded very mellow to the ears. The following number, the still unfamiliar b-side "Jack The Ripper" was introduced for the benefit of fans who had not yet bought the "Certain People I Know" single. In "Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference", when fans sang the "most people keep their brains between their legs" line with him, Morrissey added "Don't you find?". After "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side", he came back to the earlier subject of Christmas: "I know it's practically impossible, but I hope you have a reasonably decent Christmas, because err...". After "He Knows I'd Love To See Him" Morrissey tried again to answer a question that an annoying fan kept asking him: "Am I happy? Is that the question? What do you think? You want what? You think I'm deliriously happy? Can you tell me why?".
During the encore break, Morrissey was called back by another chant of his name. When he returned to the stage, he started to say something "We erm... " but was interrupted by a fan asking him something: "Rosemary? Can't you what?" When he finally understood that the fan was asking for his shirt, he said "Can I sing the song first?". In the one and only encore, "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys", he often changed a line to "just to make myself attracted to you". On this date he took it a step further the way he did occasionnally on the 1991 tour, by singing "just to make myself less attracted to you". At the end of the song he removed his shirt, gave it to someone in the front rows, said "Thank you, I love you, goodbye" and that was it.
The songs "You're The One For Me, Fatty", "Certain People I Know", "The National Front Disco", "We'll Let You Know", "He Knows I'd Love To See Him", "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side" and "Glamorous Glue" from the official live album "Beethoven Was Deaf" were lifted from this show although they are credited as being from the Paris show of two days later, like the rest of that album is.
The manufactured bootleg cd titled "Happy Xmas!?" features an excellent soundboard recording of the full concert. The bootleg is also known under the title "Astoria, London 20/12/92". It is occasionally circulated with this alternate artwork. It is easily available from collectors of bootlegs on cd and on digital file sharing networks.
The whole concert is also circulated on bootleg VHS tapes and DVDs (recorder: Chris A). However the footage was recorded from the audience, so the sound quality is much inferior. The filming was done from center balcony and has lots of blackouts because the recorded sometimes had to hide the camera from security.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.