Rodon, Athens, Greece
You're Gonna Need Someone On Your SideMorrissey was incredibly well received in the Greek capital. The fans sang along to most songs and chanted their idol's name every chance they got. Morrissey himself seemed surprised about the welcome. He was throughout quite talkative. The setlist remained more or less the same, only "Sunny" was replaced by "Lost".
The Boy Racer
Billy Budd
Reader Meet Author
Is It Really So Strange?
Hairdresser On Fire
November Spawned A Monster
Alma Matters
Lost
Break Up The Family
Meat Is Murder
Trouble Loves Me
Tomorrow
Now My Heart Is Full
Speedway
/Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Morrissey greeted his fans at the beginning of the concert with "Athena, we've come to play with you... so take it!". After "Billy Budd" he said "It's really good to be here after all these years... it's nice to see you... we're glad you waited, we're so glad you waited!". After "Is It Really So Strange?" he replied to one of many song requests with the question "Did you say 'Mute Witness'? Why?"
Morrissey seemed to be surprised at the reception "November Spawned A Monster" got so he asked the crowd "Did you really like it that much? (crowd: yeah!) Wow..." In "Alma Matters" he sang something that sounded like "it's my life to rescue my own way". After that song the audience went into one of many chants of Morrissey's name and the object in question replied "I know that one..." He then introduced the following song on the setlist with "This one is called 'Lost'."
After "Lost" Morrissey had a few words with fans in the front rows: "Where is my West Ham t-shirt? (undecipherable) You can't say it..." After "Tomorrow" he said "I think you forget the words, you're just about the music, there's a big difference..." He came back for the encore dressed in a sailor suit.
A fair but crowd-noisy audience recording of the complete concert is available from bootleg collectors, sometimes under the titles Athens 1999 or Live In Athens 11/06/99. This is also circulated on the internet in digital format.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.