5 October 1983
I.C.A., London
You've Got Everything Now
This Charming Man
Handsome Devil
Still Ill
Reel Around The Fountain
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Miserable Lie
I Don't Owe You Anything
Hand In Glove
What Difference Does It Make?
/These Things Take Time
/Hand In Glove
This concert was part of the I.C.A. Rock Week. The Smiths were second on a bill also featuring Quando Quango and The Impressions. Tickets were £3.00.

The concert started rather quietly. The audience as well as Morrissey didn't sound very enthusiastic at first. Morrissey's voice was straining at times, perhaps because of the sound system or because he was in a transition phase in his singing. He rarely addressed the audience, he only introduced "Hand In Glove" both times it was performed.

The newer songs "Still Ill" and "This Charming Man" were very well received. The latter had evolved into something very similar to the studio version in just a few week since its live inception, but "Still Ill", even if it had evolved, was still slightly different lyrically to the version that would be recorded for release. Instead of singing "it just wasn't like the old days anymore no it wasn't like those days" Morrissey returned to "but we cannot cling to the old dreams anymore no we cannot cling to those dreams". The former line had been used at least once before, and it would feature in the song's definitive version, but in early October 1983 it was temporarily forgotten.

"Pretty Girls Make Graves" was the other recent live addition and after its performance Morrissey replied for the first time of the evening to the (gradually less subdued) crowd: "Thank you friends... what?" Someone was trying to say something so Morrissey handed him the microphone and the fan said "This Night Has Opened My Eyes". Morrissey feigned not to understand the request and retorted "True... mine as well..." The latter song had not been released or even played live yet, but it had been featured on a John Peel radio session broadcast by the BBC just a few weeks earlier, hence the request. In "Hand In Glove" Morrissey seemed at his most playful of the evening. He sang the line "I really don't know, and I really don't care!" in a completely different happy-jolly melody.

At the end of the main set Morrissey simply shouted "Goodbye!" and the band left the stage. After a few minutes of cheering they returned, Morrissey shouted "Nooo! Nooo!" and they launched into the first of two encores. In "These Things Take Time" Morrissey changed one line to "You said I was ill and you were wrong". There must have been a lot of action on stage or in front of him because he missed quite a few lines in the latter number as well as in the repeat of "Hand In Glove" which followed.

 


An audience recording of this concert is circulated on fan-made CD-R bootlegs and in digital format on the internet under the titles "Youth Gone Wild" and "ICA Rock Week". The latter also includes interviews. Both of the above bootlegs were produced from tapes that were obviously not first generation ones. Serious collectors will want to put in a bit more effort and make sure they get a scarcer first generation transfer of this same recording to cd and digital.

A soundboard recording of this date is rumoured but unconfirmed. It may simply be that the better first generation transfer mentioned above was listed as soundboard on some bootleg trader's list.

 

Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.