Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, MA
Do Your Best And Don't WorryThis concert started quite well, Morrissey seemed to be in great form at the beginning, but as the show progressed he looked more tired. He wasn't very talkative and did give some sort of apology after "Trouble Loves Me" when he announced that he thought he had caught the flu. Security was very loose, it consisted of six older men and women, well dressed and of normal build. This, paired with the absence of any barricade made it quite easy for fans to climb up on stage, and many of them took advantage of the opportunity. The heavy work of carrying stage crashers off stage had to be done by Morrissey's own security employees.
The Boy Racer
Hold On To Your Friends
London
Spring-Heeled Jim
Reader Meet Author
Billy Budd
Satan Rejected My Soul
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself
Ambitious Outsiders
Trouble Loves Me
Roy's Keen
Now My Heart Is Full
/Shoplifters Of The World Unite
The setlist was changed significantly this time. Five songs from the previous show were replaced by five others, including three from most recent album "Maladjusted". Surprisingly, setlist regulars "Alma Matters" and "Paint A Vulgar Picture" were not performed.
As he entered stage, Morrissey picked up the microphone and shouted "Hello Lowell!" before going into set opener "Do Your Best And Don't Worry". After the song came the second half of his greeting: "And hello again... it's nice to see you, all of you!". Then, after "The Boy Racer", he added "Thank you... Oh thank you!" During "Hold On To Your Friends", Morrissey shook hands with fans in the front rows and at some point was pulled down to the stage floor by someone. If it wasn't for security who immediately came to the rescue, Morrissey would have been pulled into the pit. The same happened again at the very same spot two songs later, in "Spring-Heeled Jim", but at least this time Morrissey wasn't so close to the edge of the stage.
"Billy Budd" was updated with the alternate line "now it's fifteen years on" and "so what! they turned me down". In "Satan Rejected My Soul" more changes were made. Morrissey sang "all the crap in life it's cost me" and at the end, to the litany of "pull me in, haul me in", he added "push me in... shove me in... kick me in..." After the song he enquired "Do you have any messages... anything to say to anybody back in England? No? No, I understand..."
After "Ambitious Outsiders" which as usual ended with Morrissey making shadow puppets on the ceiling, he announced: "I design all my own choreography... just in case you're interested, which you're not!". Morrissey must have been unsatisfied with his performance of "Trouble Loves Me" because after the song he said "I picked up the New Brunswick flu... can you tell? Can you tell? No? Doesn't matter anyway...". In "Now My Heart Is Full", he changed a line to "Every jammy Stretford poet".
Some fans believe there might have been another song scheduled after "Now My Heart Is Full". However at the end of the latter number Morrissey simply left stage. His musicians first looked surprised, but they followed him. After a short break everybody returned to the stage, Morrissey picked up the microphone and announced "And just to prove that we can always act off the cuff..." while the band launched into planned encore "Shoplifters Of The World Unite". Immediately the stage started to get flooded with fans and before Morrissey even reached the first chorus, he had to be escorted off by his security. The band members then stopped playing, Boz shouted at the audience and he and the rest of the band also seeked refuge backstage.
A rather good audience recording of the full set is circulated on bootleg VHS and DVD.
An audio recording of reasonably good quality is also circulated on bootleg cds and on the internet, occasionally under the title "Societal Beliefs". It is different from the DVD audio.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.