Opera House, Blackpool
Nowhere FastThis one was a great concert although things could have gone very bad. The audience was very energetic, constantly cheering and requesting songs. The fans not only ran to the front of the theatre but they climbed over the low wall into the orchestra pit to get just that little bit closer. However at some point a section of the flooring collapsed resulting in quite a few people falling into the basement room below. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt.
Girl Afraid
Handsome Devil
This Charming Man
William, It Was Really Nothing
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Still Ill
I Don't Owe You Anything
Jeane
Barbarism Begins At Home
Hand In Glove
/Pretty Girls Make Graves
/Miserable Lie
//What Difference Does It Make?
//You've Got Everything Now
After the last song on the intermission tape - Cilla Black's "Love Of The Loved" - Morrissey greeted the fans "Hello everybody we're the Smiths" and the band launched into the new and yet unreleased "Nowhere Fast". After the song Morrissey said "Thank you, it's very nice to be here". Perhaps because Johnny was having guitar problems, there was a slight delay before the band started the following number, "Girl Afraid". The crowd became restless and Morrissey apologised for the delay: "sorry about that".
"This Charming Man" was well recieved and Morrissey thanked the fans for their applause. He then introduced the other recent live addition, "William, It Was Really Nothing", as "this is a new song, and it's gonna be our next single". Despite being unknown to them, the audience loved it and Morrissey seemed slightly surprised by this. "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" got a rapturous reception, this time not suprisingly as it had been just made the top ten in the singles chart. Morrissey again thanked the appreciative crowd. After "I Don't Owe You Anything" he made a reference to Viv Nicholson, whose picture had been on the cover of the recent "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" single.
Returning to the stage for the first of two encores Morrissey apologized for the floor collapse: "Look we're very sorry (undecipherable), please don't blame the Smiths..." In "Miserable Lie" he sang "I recognise that mystical air / I'd really like to see your underwear." At was the norm at the time, the last two numbers were performed in quick succession.
Review collaborators: Nigel S and Martin McGowan.
A poor audience recording of the whole gig is available on a bootleg simply titled "Blackpool". This recording is also circulated on file sharing networks on the internet.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.