Club Rio, Tempe, AZ
You're Gonna Need Someone On Your SideThe first concert of the Oye Esteban tour was a success. Morrissey was in great spirits and the fans were incredibly receptive. They screamed, chanted and sang along to their favourite songs. They were treated to many songs that hadn't been performed in front of a live audience before, such as lesser known b-sides "Lost" and "The Edges Are No Longer Parallel" (the latter rarely ever played after this) or "Is It Really So Strange", "Meat Is Murder" and "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" from the Smiths days. Morrissey also went back to his early solo catalogue and pulled out "Viva Hate"'s "Break Up The Family" and "Hairdresser On Fire".
The Boy Racer
Billy Budd
Reader Meet Author
Is It Really So Strange?
Hairdresser On Fire
Lost
Sunny
Speedway
The Edges Are No Longer Parallel
Now My Heart Is Full
Alma Matters
Roy's Keen
Tomorrow
Meat Is Murder
Trouble Loves Me
The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils
Break Up The Family
/Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
"Hello, we are the Sweet And Tender Hooligans" announced Morrissey as he came on stage. The Sweet And Tender Hooligans were one of only two Smiths tribute band at the time. In set opener "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side" Morrissey sang "someone kindly told me that you collected Stanley knives" instead of the usual live change "...very sharp bread knives", and changed a line to "I'm just too good looking". Instead of waving a finger at crotch level during the "...urinal" line in "The Boy Racer" as he had been doing on the Maladjusted tour, he waved a banana! As if he doubted that he still had any fans left, he followed the song with the words "I'm so glad you turned up!".
"Billy Budd" was updated with the line "yeah, it's 18 years on, now it's 18 years on". Morrissey changed one line in "Reader Meet Author" to "I say, have you ever escaped from a Phoenix life?". After that song he teasingly said "I think you'll find that this is probably the sexiest show in town I think! (crowd cheers) I thought you'd agree..." The Smiths classic "Is It Really So Strange?" was incredibly well received and the fans sang along from beginning to end. However the ones who sang too loudly missed Morrissey's playful changes from "I found a tiny house" to "I found a modest house", "Oh yes you can slice me, and you can butt me, and you can dislocate my shoulder but you won't change the way I feel", "I lost my wig in Newport Pagnell" and "I can never, never go back home alone". After "Hairdresser On Fire" he apologised for his previous visit in 1997: "Oh by the way, just one thing, really. Does anybody remember a couple of years ago, the State Fair thing? (crowd cheers)... I don't know why we were there, because it was a very - we shouldn't really have been there, but..."
Following "Lost" Morrissey enquired on the whereabouts of irregular regular Wendy. After "Speedway" he asked "Are we in tune? Are we?" He replaced the second occurrence of the line "then you're bound to stay down" in "The Edges Are No Longer Parallel" with "then you'll always feel down". But more interestingly he changed "my only mistake is I'm hoping" to "my only mistake is I've never been hopefull", "my one mistake is I'm realist", "my one mistake is I'm intelligent" and "my only mistake is that I keep hoping for nothing" or "... for something". At some point into "Alma Matters" he interrupted himself to congratulate a fan on her homemade Oye Esteban shirt. He asked "Did you make it yourself? It's very good!" As he was about to go into "Break Up The Family" he replied to some fan asking him how he was doing with a quick "not bad!" Besides the usual current changes in the latter number he also sang "resigned, well we were, to ending my life".
Two different audience recordings of the complete concert are circulated on bootlegs. Both are of average quality. One is louder, while the other is less distorted.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.