1 March 1985
Brixton Academy, London
William, It Was Really Nothing
I Want The One I Can't Have
What She Said
Handsome Devil
How Soon Is Now?
Shakespeare's Sister
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
Stretch Out And Wait
Rusholme Ruffians
Hand In Glove
The Headmaster Ritual
Nowhere Fast
Still Ill
Meat Is Murder
Miserable Lie
/Barbarism Begins At Home
//You've Got Everything Now
///These Things Take Time
The Smiths' return to London's Brixton Academy was mayhem. This wasn't one of the best performances of the tour, but it was one of the wildest concerts. Girls passed out, still clutching the daffodils they had brought. There were also fights in the audience. Whether the reviews for this concert were good or bad, the band was much appreciated by the fans who paid to see them. Morrissey was talkative like rarely before.

The lucky fans in the British capital were treated to a 19-track setlist. The older part-timers "You've Got Everything Now" and "These Things Take Time" were performed as a bonus to the regular 17-track setlist.

After "Handsome Devil" Morrissey teased the audience by saying "That song takes me back to the good old days of stage invasions... Where have all the truly brave people gone?... They're all at home watching Eastenders..." The crowd responded to Morrissey's comment with several successful attempts. The most recent single "Shakespeare's Sister" was introduced with the line "This is our new single and, for the benefit of all you sloppy bootleggers with bad typing, it's called (articulating very slowly) 'Shakespeare's Sister'."

"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" was introduced with the line "This song still applies... I wish that it didn't, but it does... life is cruel..." The new and still unreleased "Stretch Out And Wait" was announced with "This is a new song, which has a lot of meaning... it's called 'Stretch Out And Wait'... (answers someone) I don't have a clue..." In the latter song Morrissey sang the slightly different line "What's really at the back of your mind". After the song he enquired "Okay what was that all about?" Following "Hand In Glove" he asked "Would anybody like to discuss this before we begin?... Yeah it's all that I say... it's invalid, it's invalid..." After "The Headmaster Ritual" he warned the audience "If anybody spits we're going home to bed!"

"Nowhere Fast" was introduced with the words "This is a kind little song..." As soon as the first notes of "Meat Is Murder" were heard some troublemakers in the crowd started booing. This didn't stop Morrissey from singing with a passion and drama like rarely before. "Miserable Lie" had sensibly evolved in 1985. It was less throwaway than the version performed in 1983. In it Morrissey slightly changed a line to "Into the depths of the criminal world I followed me".

After the first encore ("Barbarism Begins At Home") a public announcement was made about someone's lost bags that had been found and that were to be picked up at the police station. After the announcement Morrissey said "And now here's even worse news..." People kept shouting guesses about what the 'worse news' might be and Morrissey replied to each guess with "No..." The correct answer was "You've Got Everything Now" and as he sang it Morrissey was very playful and changed some lines to "You've got nothing now" and "No I never had a job because I've never even had an interview". He was also very playful in the final song "These Things Take Time". He changed the melodies of certain lines and roared, as in "You said I was ill and you were wrrrrrrrong!".

Thanks to Jem Aswad for providing some of this information.

 


Two different audience recordings of the complete concert can be obtained from traders of physical and digital bootlegs. One is said to be from the mixing desk, and is often listed as 'soundboard', but although it sounds good, it still is an audience recording. The other one, recorded by Steve from Soundsville International, sounds slightly more muffled but still rather good. One of these is circulated under the title "Young Guns For For It".

 

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