Brixton Ace, London
You've Got Everything NowThe Smiths were booked between Assaulto Decento and The Decorators (headliners). More and more people in the audience were coming for the Smiths, partly because of an interview recently published in Sounds magazine and also thanks to the broadcast of the band's first Peel session just a few days earlier. The band suffered a few sound problems and had to stop now and then to try and fix it. It is very likely that the main band's soundman was responsible for the bad sound. It was a very popular tactic at the time as it made the headliners sound good in comparison to the support bands.
Handsome Devil
Accept Yourself
Reel Around The Fountain
These Things Take Time
Miserable Lie
After opening number "You've Got Everything Now" Morrissey thanked the audience by saying "Thank you, handsome devils". This also turned out to be the introduction of the next planned number which happened to be "Handsome Devil". Following the latter title Morrissey thanked the audience again and introduced "Accept Yourself". After that the band had to take a short break to deal with sound problems. When everything seemed fine Morrissey introduced "Reel Around The Fountain" and the band launched into it. The sound was still not very good because following the latter number Morrissey apologised again while more time was spent trying to resolve the situation: "We're sorry again - so many problems. We're very (?), I'm sorry..." Typically on these very early days "These Things Take Time" started with a drum roll. By the time the band would record the song for release as a b-side on the "What Difference Does It Make?" single, this intro would be lost. After the final number "Miserable Lie", Morrissey shouted "Thank you, goodbye" and the band left the stage to the Decorators.
Out of the three bands playing that night, the review by Gaye Abandon which appeared in the NME in the following weeks gave good words only to The Smiths: "The Smiths graze plaintive prickly pastures but chew the cud with simple pleasing intensity, especially on "Miserable Lie"; and yes, they're handsome divils. Full marks."
Tickets were £2.50
A poor audience recording of the complete 6-song set, minus the ending of "These Things Take Time", is available on bootleg cds and in digital format on the internet.
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