Veterans's Memorial Coliseum, Arizona State Fair, Phoenix, AZ
The Boy RacerThe second leg of the North American Maladjusted tour started on a good note. Morrissey was in top form and looked rested from his 10-day break. He was in a good mood and quite talkative. Security was very tight, and very few fans managed to make it on stage. The ones who did had to struggle to get there, and they were only successful during the encore. There was no surprise in the setlist content, but two songs were played as encores. Still, at only 13 songs, the setlist was still quite short.
Alma Matters
Billy Budd
Roy's Keen
Sunny
Ambitious Outsiders
Speedway
Reader Meet Author
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
Paint A Vulgar Picture
The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils
/Satan Rejected My Soul
/Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Morrissey greeted his audience with a shout of "Phoenix, hello!" After set opener "The Boy Racer" he made a reference to the fact that the show was being held at a fair by stating "We're a side attraction and... we come from England..." After "Sunny", which had yet to be released in the USA, he said "I suppose at least four of you actually have heard of that song? Yeah? Oh five..." After "Reader Meet Author" he asked some fan, "Where did you buy your t-shirt? Where did you buy it? Yeah, where? Where? Down here?" He then motioned for the fan to hand him the t-shirt. Morrissey tucked it into his back pocket where it stayed througout the following song. Following "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" he thanked someone, perhaps the crowd or the fans who had given him the shirt, with the words "God bless you..."
On returning to the stage for the encore, Morrissey mentioned his newest album "Maladjusted" and introduced "Satan Rejected My Soul" as "...a song from it." He made the occasional change in the latter number to "he knows heaven's never gonna be my home". Before going into the final song he had these parting words for his fans: "Thank you, you've been sweet, thanks!" He then went into a second encore, a first on this tour. That final number was "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" and halfway into it Morrissey helped a few fans to get on stage. Security let them hug their idol for a few seconds then pulled them away. One lucky fan managed to escape and run back to Morrissey. In the melée, the singer removed his shirt and threw it into the audience. He was then sprayed with water by someone in the front rows. After a brief moment of surprise, he stuck his tongue out for it and then teasingly pulled his underwear above the waist of his trousers.
The full concert was recorded on video and is somewhat limitedly circulated on bootleg videos and DVDs. The filming was done from the right balcony, so quite a distance from the stage, but the author managed to zoom in regularly on Morrissey and his musicians and the footage is clear and steady.
An audio-only audience recording of the full set is circulated on bootlegs and on the internet (recorder: CH). The master as well as a very loud and distorted inferior transfer can both be found on the internet.
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