Click on date for concert information:

Musicians: Boz Boorer (guitars, clarinet), Jesse Tobias (guitars), Matt Walker (drums), Solomon Walker (bass) and Kristopher Pooley (keyboards, accordion, trumpet, trombone, flute and more). Morrissey played tambourine on a few songs.

The bass drum had on its skin the spangly butterfly from the baby's head on the "Years Of Refusal" album artwork.

Doll And The Kicks.

The merchandise seems to have been more or less the same as on the recent British dates of the tour. The following items were reported:
-White t-shirt with red and blue stripes horizontally across the breast with a Union Jack shield over the heart that says "MORRISSEY", 30 euros, view.
-Greyish blue t-shirt with "All You Need Is Morrissey", 30 euros, view.
-Black t-shirt with white Morrissey face Johnny-Cash style, 30 euros, view.
-White t-shirt with nude Morrissey and musicians, 30 euros, view.
-Greyish blue t-shirt with new "Southpaw Grammar" artwork, tourdates on back, 30 euros, view.
-Black t-shirt with "Years Of Refusal" album artwork on the front and tour dates on the back, 30 euros, view.
-Blue women's t-shirt with Eiffel Tower and "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris", 30 euros, view.
-Black women's top with "Morrissey England" in white, 30 euros, view.
-Black t-shirt with "Morrissey Tackle Me" and broken heart on the front, 30 euros, view.
-Blue "Lancashire" t-shirt with coat-of-arms style Eagle with Union Jack, 30 euros, view.
-Dark blue "Tour Of Refusal" t-shirt with Morrissey head over Union Jack background, 30 euros, view.
-White t-shirt with Morrissey and more text in green. More info and image needed.
-White tie with Morrissey face, cash-style, 25 euros, view.
-"Something Is Squeezing My Skull" cd-single, 6 euros.
-"Years Of Refusal" album cd, 15 euros.
-"Years Of Refusal" album LP, signed by Morrissey, limited and numbered, 40 euros (not sold everywhere).
-Sticker with "Years Of Refusal" album logo, view.
-Sticker with new "Southpaw Grammar" album artwork in Johnny Cash-style black and white, view.
-Keychain, view.
-Poster showing "Years Of Refusal" album artwork, view (available in two levels of quality: normal at 5 euros and thicker card and perhaps numbered at approximately 20 euros).

In Denmark shirts were 200kr and postcards 40kr. In Sweden signed vinyl was 500 SEK. In Poland shirts were 100 zł.

Music, before opening band:
(unidentified opera music; probably Klaus Nomi or Maria Callas)
Johnny Burnette: "Rockbilly Boogie"
(unidentified cajun song)
The John Barry Orchestra & Tom Jones: "Thunderball"
(unidentified rock’n roll song)
Kristeen Young: "You Must Love Me"
Hasil Adkins: "Chicken Walk"
The Fall: "Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul"
Morrissey: "When Last I Spoke To Carol (Toy Selectah remix)" (not everywhere)
Doll & The Kicks: "I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris"
Al Martino: "Granada"
The Pretenders: "Love’s a Mystery"
The Shangri-Las: "Never Again"

Videos, between opening act's and Morrissey's sets:
Content and order are approximate.
-Sparks: "Lighten Up Morrissey"
-Shelagh Delaney interview about not being able to leave England/Salford (excerpt from "Shelagh Delaney's Salford")
-Anthony Newley: "I'm The Boy You Should Yes To"
-Vince Taylor: "(There's A Whole Lotta) Twistin' Going On"
-Shirley Bassey: "To Give Is The Reason I Live" (prob from RAI TV; until tour reached Prague)
-Lou Reed press conference excerpt (replaced Shirley Bassey clip in Prague and after)
-Jobriath montage tribute
-New York Dolls: "Looking For A Kiss" (live Musik Laden)
-Shocking Blue: "Mighty Joe"
-David Johansen (from the New York Dolls): short interview in a tub (edited from earlier shows, without mention of 'Turkish tobacco' cigarette)

Morrissey walked on stage at the end of an instrumental piano version of Nina Simone's "You'll Never Walk Alone", until he reached Copenhagen (or perhaps Odense) when this was changed to the instrumental drone outro to his song "You Were Good In Your Time".

After the show, fans exited the venue to Frank Sinatra's "That's Life".

Luxembourg and Rotterdam:
Black and white vintage photo of a sailor with a cigar in the corner of his mouth, flexing his arms. The photo is by Robert Austin Atherton Jr., and may have been taken from a book titled "Uniforms", published by FotoFactory Press. The word 'refusal' was added in black typewriter font over the sailor's chest. View original or in situ 1 or in situ 2).

Antwerp, Offenbach, Köln, Berlin, Bremen and Odense:
Shiny curtain, no image.

From Copenhagen on:
Italian actor Walter Chiari. View in situ.

The sets on this European leg of the Tour Of Refusal were still mostly a mix of songs from the latest album "Years Of Refusal", 2004's "You Are The Quarry", and the Smiths catalogue. Surprisingly, very little from 2006's "Ringleader Of The Tormentors" was played, and very little from Morrissey's early solo years.

Three songs made their live debut on this leg of the Tour Of Refusal: the Smiths song "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" (which had never even been done live by the Smiths), the 2009 b-side "Because Of My Poor Education" as well as the Sparks cover "Moon Over Kentucky". The latter is one of those live-only covers, it was never recorded by Morrissey in a studio.

It's no surprise that the newest album "Years Of Refusal" was the most represented. "Black Cloud", "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris", "I'm OK By Myself" and "When Last I Spoke To Carol" were played every night. "One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell" was played almost every night. "Sorry Doesn't Help" was played in average on one date out of every two. "Something Is Squeezing My Skull", "All You Need Is Me", "Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed" and "That's How People Grow Up" were played here and there for variety, each for a handful of times or less. The latter title actually returned to the set for the first time since the American dates at the beginning of this tour.

2006's "Ringleader Of The Tormentors" was only represented by the epic "Life Is A Pigsty", which was reintroduced one third into this leg and was played regularly afterwards, as well as "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy", reintroduced two thirds into the leg and played almost regularly afterwards. The latter song had not been done earlier on this tour while the former had been absent from the set for three months before its reintroduction.

2004's "You Are The Quarry" was surprisingly well represented. "Irish Blood, English Heart", "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" and standard encore "First Of The Gang To Die" were done every night or almost, while "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?" and "Let Me Kiss You" were played very often.

Morrissey's earlier solo years were represented by regular "The Loop", semi-regulars "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?" and "Billy Budd" and part-timers "Seasick, Yet Still Docked" and "Best Friend On The Payroll".

The Smiths years were also very well represented. "Ask", "How Soon Is Now?", "Girlfriend In A Coma" and standard set opener "This Charming Man" were done every night, or almost. "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" was played very often. "I Keep Mine Hidden" and the newly added "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" were semi-regulars. "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" returned to the set near the end of the tour and was played a handful of times. It had not been played on this tour prior to these performances.

Here is the number of times each song was performed on this leg, in descending order of frequency. This is based on 26 concerts.

Ask - 26
Black Cloud - 26
First Of The Gang To Die - 26
How Soon Is Now? - 26
I'm OK By Myself - 26
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris - 26
Irish Blood, English Heart - 26
The Loop - 26
This Charming Man - 26
When Last I Spoke To Carol - 26
Girlfriend In A Coma - 25
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores - 24
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell - 22
Let Me Kiss You - 20
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others - 19
Billy Budd - 18
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel? - 18
Life Is A Pigsty - 18
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? - 17
I Keep Mine Hidden - 11
Sorry Doesn't Help - 11
Seasick, Yet Still Docked - 9
You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby - 9
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy - 7
Best Friend On The Payroll - 6
Something Is Squeezing My Skull - 5
All You Need Is Me - 4
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want - 4
Because Of My Poor Education - 3
Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed - 2
Moon Over Kentucky - 2
That's How People Grow Up - 2

Click here for more tour statistics.

Before going into specific lyric changes, it must be said that Morrissey must have been going through an Elvis phase at this time because, besides quoting a few of his songs, he would sometimes sing a line (of his own songs) in an Elvis drawl. Something else that has been noticed is how Morrissey often punctuated lines in various songs with "thank God!" or "thank Christ!", or extended them by adding "excuse me", such as "excuse me would you let me cry on your shoulder".

Morrissey tends to improvise lyric changes in older numbers more often than in newer ones. So it's no surprise that the songs most transformed on these dates were the Smiths classics "Ask" and "How Soon Is Now?". In the latter number, the first occurrence of the line "of a shyness that is criminally vulgar" was rarely altered, but the second occurrence was always changed to "...that is crippling and vulgar". In similar fashion, the first occurrence of "how can you say, I go about things the wrong way" was never changed, but the second occurrence was often changed to "how can you say, I live my life the wrong way". The second occurrence of "I am the son and the heir" was almost always changed to "I am the son, the son and heir", and it was sometimes followed with a shout of "of what!?". Morrissey replaced "you could meet somebody who really loves you" with "you could meet somebody who can even stand you" for the first half of this leg, then reverted to the original studio form. He usually followed the line "so you go on your own and you leave on your own" with a shout of "oh what a big surprise!". The change to "When you say it's gonna happen now, now! well, when exactly do you mean? You see I've already waited too long and most of my life has gone" was always done. On the final few dates of the tour Morrissey punctuated the latter line with a few "Thank God! Thank God..." The studio version's final verse was still excluded from the live arrangement of the song.

As for "Ask", in the first verse and its repeat, Morrissey now stuck to the original "from doing all the things in life that you like to". In the second verse he sang "from being all the things in life that you'd want to" on most nights, with a few minor variations here and there. He often followed the first occurrence of "nature is a language, can't you read" with a shout of "NO!" and replaced the second occurrence with "nature is a language, can anybody read" on and off. The change to "if it's not love, then it's military might, it's macho military might that will bring us together" was standard. Now and then Morrissey would follow this with variations on "in the meantime, ask me, ask me, ask me", "meanwhile, ask me, ask me, ask me" or "you choose, ask me, ask me, ask me".

"This Charming Man" and "I Keep Mine Hidden" were more transformed musically than lyrically, as they were all given a pub-rocky sound and "This Charming Man" was stripped of its jangle line. The only lyric change in the latter number was the one to "when the pleather runs smooth on the passenger seat". The only obvious change in "I Keep Mine Hidden" was the song's final line. Instead of singing "use your loaf" Morrissey would sing "I'm forever blowing bubbles", or simply shout something improvised and undecipherable. He usually extended the line "force emotions to the fore" to something that sounded like "may force emotions to the fore" or "lay force emotions to the fore".

The most interesting new lyric in "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" was its last verse. The song had only been done once by Morrissey with the Smiths and at the time he had added a new verse not found in the studio version (see here). In 2009 he dropped the song's second verse and chorus (the 'Anthony and Cleopatra' one), and playfully changed the new verse to "On the shop floor there's a calendar, and it's pointing out to you, something you never knew". He generally changed "and I have just discovered" to "and you have just discovered". The only change in "Girfriend In A Coma" was the very minor "let me whisper my last goodbyes". It must be mentioned here how Morrissey would often purposely miss the note on the word "strangled" in the line "there were times when I could have strangled her", in the process sounding as if he was being strangled.

The newly added "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby" was very faithful to its studio counterpart. The only reported change was the slight one from "You just haven't earned it, son" to "You just haven't earned it, my son". Morrissey was more reserved with "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" than he had been the previous few years. He still repeated the song's second half to extend it, but in this 2009 vintage he generally didn't replace "let me get what I want" with "let me have who I want". He also dropped any other lyric changes that he may have done over the 2006-2008 period.

The crowd favourite "The Loop" was kept to its original form. Morrissey only changed "when you're bored" to "if you're bored", as he always does. "Seasick, Yet Still Docked" was also quite faithful to the original. "Billy Budd" featured old changes as well as new ones. Morrissey often started by singing "Say Billy Budd, yes you!". He usually changed the second occurrence of "so you think that you should" to "do you think you even could". After "things have been bad", he often added "Really? Yes!" He alternated between the usual "12 years on" line or its variation "30 years on". He also alternated between the original "Did you hear, they turned me down" or the variations "So what! they turned me down" and "Thank Christ! they turned me down".

Morrissey stopped doing most of the previously heard changes in "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself", or he would do them once only, on a whim. The only change heard more than once was the very occasional "some men here, here!". In "Best Friend On The Payroll" the singer often changed the second consecutive occurrence of the line "it's not gonna work out" to "it's just not gonna work out", but not to "this is not gonna work out" much anymore. He would sometimes change one occurrence of the latter words near the end of the song to "how the hell can it work out".

The only regular change in "First Of The Gang To Die" was the on-and-off one to "the first lost lad to go - where else? - under the sod". If there was any action on stage or if he was distracted by people trying to reach him, he would sometimes adlib or replace words with la-la-la's. He stopped singing "you can see me standing by the flag not feeling shameful..." in "Irish Blood, English Heart". Here and there in the latter number he would sing "never racist or partial" but on most nights he would stick to that line's original form. He would add to the song's outro an improvised and undecipherable series of shouts (ed notes: has anyone ever been able to decipher anything?).

Morrissey now always started "Let Me Kiss You" by singing "There's a place in the sun for anyone who has the nerve to chase one" and constantly changed a line further into the song to "I've zig-zagged all over the planet". He alternated between the studio version's "you'll try anything twice" and the change to "you'll try anyone twice", but would sometimes take these to "just about anyone twice" or "just about anything twice". Of course he still always ended the song by ripping his shirt off and throwing it into the crowd following the line "and you see someone you physically despise". In "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?" he sang variations such as "the future is passing you by, I'm sorry but the future is passing you by" or "the future is passing you by, my friend the future is passing you by". He still sometimes added emphasis to a few lines by singing "she said she loved me, me!" or "why? because you wear a uniform". The change to "everybody look, see pain and (just) run away" was done on and off while the new "I would never be you, officer" was done almost every night.

In "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores", the changes to "they who wish to crush you" and "say a quick prayer 'cause he's still there" were the only common ones. In the epic "Life Is A Pigsty" Morrissey still replaced "I only live for you" with "I have lived only for you", "I'm falling in love again" with "I am in love again" and "but I'm still the same underneath" with "how come I'm still the same underneath". But he also introduced new changes, as he sang "once again I turn to you, yes you!" and replaced "I can't reach you" with "I can't help you". The most interesting (and to some, funny) part was the bit of choreography that followed the line "can you please stop time". In time with the crack of thunder that follows that line, he and his musicians would let their knees buckle and they would half-fall to the ground, looking like the stage floor had collapsed under their legs.

In "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy" Morrissey always sang "for my own life I never cared anything" but never the previously heard "why is this so impossible. In "That's How People Grow Up" he usually made the very minor changes from "someone who does not exist" to "somebody who does not exist", and from "someone's sweetie" to "somebody's sweetie". In the few performances of "All You Need Is Me" he sang something that sounded like "you roll your eyes up to the skies, trans-horrified" or "you roll your eyes up to the skies, absolutely trans-horrified". He still sang "all you can do is stand there and complain about me". He also sang "I was a small fat child in a council house" the way he usually does in the UK (but not in the USA where he usually sticks to the original lyrics).

Morrissey barely made changes in "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" anymore. He stopped singing "in the absence of any kind of touch". He would sometimes improvise a change such as "I ski all over the place", but most of the time he would stick to that line's original form. In "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" he almost always changed the line "when you peel it back and bite me" to something different, such as "would you peel it back and bite me", "somebody peel it back and bite me" or "for God's sake peel it back and bite me". There were no significant or regular changes made in "I'm OK By Myself".

The only change left in "One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell" was the one to "look at me I'm a savage beast". In "Sorry Doesn't Help" Morrissey almost always sang the very busy "you lied and then you lied about the lies that you lied about". He never reversed the lines "sorry will not bring my teen years back to me" and "sorry will not bring my love into my arms" anymore. "Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed" and "Black Cloud" were quite faithful to their original arrangements. In the latter number Morrissey usually sang "and I can sink even lower than usual". In "When Last I Spoke To Carol" he sang "I can't pretend life gets easier" on and off, "along life's narrow ledge" always and "across this ugly face of mine" most of the time. He always replaced "something I always knew" with "one thing I still know".

The only change in the newly added "Because Of My Poor Education" was the one from "kind-hearted view me and say" to "kind people look at me and say". The cover "Moon Over Kentucky" was faithful to the Sparks original.

Eight songs from the Warsaw concert were officially released on the bonus disc included in the limited double cd edition of the album "Swords", released later in the year. Click on album link for complete details.

There are only two significant recordings widely circulated in video form at this point in time: Luxembourg and London-Troxy. Both are audience recordings of good quality and, because they are from different ends of this leg, their setlists are slightly different. There is an audience recording of the final date (London-Brixton #3) of the tour out there, but this has yet to be shared by the recorder.

Collectors may also be interested in a DVD featuring seven songs from Stockholm, eight songs from Tampere and six songs or song excerpts from Helsinki, all recorded by Wiltteri. A different compilation DVD, this one titled "Scandinavian Refusal", features material from all the Scandinavian dates of this tour. It was put together by FamousWhenDead by mixing the Wiltteri footage mentioned above with footage found on Youtube.

There are quite a few treats from this final leg of the Tour Of Tormentors for collectors of audio bootlegs. The best options are without doubt the recordings of the Warsaw and Vienna concerts. Both feature the complete set and the quality is comparable to soundboard. Casual collectors should be careful however, as in both cases, other inferior recordings are also widely circulated. Click on dates for full details.

Fans in need of more may be interested in good quality audience recordings of Luxembourg, Antwerp, Offenbach, Berlin (2 available), Stockholm, Tampere (2 available), Helsinki (2 available), Prague and London-Troxy. These recordings usually feature the full or near-full set.

Only completists will be interested in the low quality recording of the Moscow show. A recording of the Köln concert and a partial recording of Rotterdam are found on the internet, but these were produced by ripping audio from Youtube footage.

Unfortunately for those in search of the seldom played "Moon Over Kentucky" and "Because Of My Poor Education", those two songs were only done at the Brixton Academy and there are no recordings of either of those three dates in common circulation at this point in time. On the other hand, the rarely played 2009 vintage of "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" is available on both excellent recordings of the Warsaw and Vienna shows.