13 March 1984
Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Hand In Glove
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Girl Afraid
This Charming Man
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Still Ill
This Night Has Opened My Eyes
Barbarism Begins At Home
Back To The Old House
What Difference Does It Make?
/I Don't Owe You Anything (with Sandie Shaw)
//Reel Around The Fountain
//You've Got Everything Now
///Handsome Devil
///These Things Take Time
The Smiths were very well received by a very energetic audience as was always the case in Manchester. The set was shortened with the deletion of "Miserable Lie".

After set opener "Hand In Glove" Morrissey shouted "Hello!" before going into the following number. "Pretty Girls Make Graves" was introduced with the words "This is a lesson for everybody, sad but true..." Crowd favourite "Still Ill" was introduced in its turn as "A song about the best of predicaments." Before "Barbarism Begins At Home" Morrissey said "Alright let's face it... this is something that we all know about... barbarism begins at home!... which is true..." Then the mellow "Back To The Old House" was preceded by the dedication "This is for all the usual dribblers."

Sandie Shaw joined the Smiths on stage as she had done the night before in London to perform "I Don't Owe You Anything". After her performance, the crowd engaged in a chant of "Sandie Shaw! Sandie Shaw! Sandie Shaw!", but they were shushed by Morrissey when he returned to the stage to resume the show. After "Handsome Devil" the singer asked "More? What should we do?" before going into the planned set closer "These Things Take Time".

 


Two different audience recordings are available from bootleg traders and on the internet. They both feature the complete concert and are of comparable quality. The slightly better one is usually seen split over 14 tracks. The other one is circulated via two different transfer, both split into 16 tracks. The better transfer unfortunately lacks the intro to "What Difference Does It Make?". The other transfer doesn't, but it is very staticky.

 

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