Edge Hill College, Ormskirk (Liverpool)
Handsome DevilSmithsmania had reached Liverpool and this gig was a complete success. People traveled from all around North West England and even from Ireland to witness the phenomenon that was the Smiths. Security had to be increased on the college campus. Many people already knew the words to the songs and titles were being requested in between numbers, enough for Morrissey to have to shush the audience at times.
Still Ill
This Charming Man
Pretty Girls Make Graves
This Night Has Opened My Eyes
What Difference Does It Make?
Wonderful Woman
Hand In Glove
Reel Around The Fountain
Miserable Lie
/You've Got Everything Now
/This Charming Man
Morrissey greeted the audience by saying "You don't have to be so shy..." Set opener "Handsome Devil" was very well received and he had to shush the crowd before going into the second song. Latest single "This Charming Man" was in the charts at the time and had just been performed on Top Of The Pops so it's no surprise that it was the hit of the evening. The fans sang along with Morrissey to every word and cheered profusely after its performance. This date saw the re-introduction of "Wonderful Woman" which had been generally left out of the setlist in the previous two months. In this show's performance of that song Morrissey sang "Ah answer me" instead of "I ask myself".
Back in 1983, before "How Soon Is Now?" and "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out", "Reel Around The Fountain" was the fans' favourite number. So in Liverpool, just like in London and Manchester, the song was constantly being requested. Incidentally, as the band was about to launch into it someone loudly shouted the title and Morrissey just answered "okay!", as if agreeing to the request. "Miserable Lie" was the standard main set closer at the time. At the end of its fast paced outro, Morrissey shouted the traditional "Goodbye!" and the band left stage. They were soon cheered back on for an encore consisting of "You've Got Everything Now" as well as a second helping of "This Charming Man".
Support band: the Red Guitars.
A reasonably good audience recording of the complete concert is being traded on compact discs and in digital format on the internet. There are actually at least two transfers of this recording in reasonably common circulation. The one that sounds just slightly inferior is sometimes found under the title "Gladioli All Over". Alternate recordings of "Wonderful Woman" and "Reel Around The Fountain" can be found on "College Heroes" which mainly features a concert from 17 November 1983.
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