22 October 1983
Liverpool Polytechnic, Liverpool
Handsome Devil
Still Ill
This Charming Man
What Difference Does It Make?
Pretty Girls Make Graves
This Night Has Opened My Eyes
Hand In Glove
Reel Around The Fountain
Miserable Lie
/You've Got Everything Now
/Hand In Glove
This concert was much quieter than the previous one which had taken place in London. Smithsmania hadn't caught on yet in Liverpool the way it did in the capital. Morrissey wasn't very talkative but he still seemed to be in his element. The only significant announcement in between songs was the one made just before

Whether intentionally or not, Morrissey reversed the first occurrances of "you did a good thing" and "you did a bad thing" in "This Night Has Opened My Eyes". Upcoming single "This Charming Man" was introduced with the line "I know it's unbearable, but we have a new single out... 'This Charming Man'..." while the band's first single was introduced with the words "It's not a bad little song, 'Hand In Glove'..." As he had been known to do at that point in time, Morrissey sang the first instance of the words "I really don't know, and I really don't care!" in the latter number in a different melody. Perhaps for the first time he sang the lines "I know the wind-swept mystical air" and "I recognise that mystical air" in "Miserable Lie" as on the album version which had actually just been recorded the previous week.

When the band returned to the stage for the encore Morrissey asked someone "What does this mean?" and someone made an official announcement to the audience. Morrissey then introduced the first encore with a quick "'You've Got Everything NOW'!". He yelped here and there in the latter number and playfully changed the melody or the lyrics. He particularly sang "No I've never had a job, because I'm too handsome" as he had done the night before. The song was followed in quick succession with a second helping of "Hand In Glove".

 


A fair audience recording of the whole gig is circulated on untitled bootleg cds. This is also available on the internet, but collectors of digital bootlegs should be aware that there are different transfers of the same recording out there. The scarcer lossless files are from a 2nd generation tape, while the more common MP3s are usually from an inferior higher generation source.

 

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