Barrowlands, Glasgow
Shakespeare's SisterThis gig went down extremely well, and like most visits to Glasgow, it was very hectic. There was a good deal of pushing and shoving in the mad crowd, particularly at the front. Many fans were injured and had to miss the end of the show. The Smiths were on magnificent form, picking up the energy of the crowd. As the concert happened there was a progression of people being pulled from the crush at the front of the stage, and as the show reached the final stretch, an increasing number of people clambered up to hug Morrissey.
I Want The One I Can't Have
What She Said
What's The World
Nowhere Fast
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Frankly, Mr Shankly
Bigmouth Strikes Again
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
Stretch Out And Wait
Still Ill
(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame/Rusholme Ruffians
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Meat Is Murder
/This Charming Man
/Hand In Glove
//William, It Was Really Nothing
//Miserable Lie
"This Charming Man" was added to the bill while "How Soon Is Now?" and "The Headmaster Ritual" were dropped. The Smiths were probably not satisfied with the way the former sounded live, so it would be played once again on this tour and only return on the Queen Is Dead tour after Craig Gannon joined the Smiths as a second guitarist. "The Headmaster Ritual" would never be played live again, at least not until Morrissey ressuscitated it on his 2004 tour.
After "I Want The One I Can't Have", Morrissey asked "Oh no no no no, don't spit!" After "What She Said", he said "I can smell body odor..." then went into a conversation with someone in the audience "Uh?... Well... Why?... Who?... Then... Me?" The cover of James' "What's The World" was then introduced with "This song was written by... err..." Soon after, "Nowhere Fast" was "... dedicated to sweet little Prince William... Oh, so nice". In the song Morrissey changed a line to "every sensible child should know what this means". After that number, Morrissey made a sarcastic comment to Radio One who were recording the gig: "Due to excessive demand of Radio One, we have a new single out... it's called 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side'." After the song the crowd broke into one of many chants of Morrissey's name.
After the yet unreleased "Frankly Mr Shankly", Morrissey said, while trying to shush the enthusiast crowd, "Thank you... that was a new song called 'Frankly Mr Shankly' and... just for your journalistic notes, this is called... sshhh! this is called! shhh! 'Bigmouth Strikes Again'." After "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", he made another dedication, but this time it was a more cryptic one: "This song is dedicated to someone who gave me something this afternoon". The song in question was "Stretch Out And Wait", and after its performance Morrissey made another comment about people spitting "It's really annoying with the Barbra Dickson fans who keep spitting... trendsetters all..." After "Rusholme Ruffians" the crowd broke out into a "Here We Go!" chant while Johnny picked the notes on his guitar, which prompted Morrissey to sarcastically ask "Where are you going?".
The Smiths returned for the first encore while the crowd was chanting Johnny Marr's name. Morrissey thanked them "...for your great kindness and generosity" before launching into "This Charming Man" which was being reintroduced in the setlist, for the first time on this Scottish tour. In the song Morrissey changed a line to "Will nature make a mouse of me yet?". Before the second encore "William, It Was Really Nothing", Morrissey announced "Err... small announcement... found this backstage, don't know who it belongs to, but if anybody is missing a tree, come to my hotel room later and you can have it back..." and then was drowned in the huge cheer his comment provoked. In "Miserable Lie", Morrissey changed "Oh but please put your tongue away" to "Oh but put your mother's dress away".
This concert was recorded for broadcast on Glasgow's Radio Clyde. The songs "Stretch Out And Wait" and "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" were left out. The show or at least parts of it was also filmed by television programme the Tube to provide footage for a Smiths feature that was being prepared. The feature, an interview of Margi Clarke by Morrissey, was broadcast one month later. It was spiced up with soundcheck and live footage.
"What's The World" was lifted from the radio broadcast mentioned above and included on the "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" cassette single. This was later reissued on the "Sweet And Tender Hooligan" cd-single. When the latter was produced, the label couldn't get hold of the radio recording so the song was lifted straight from the cassette-single on which it had originally been released.
A so-so sounding transfer of the radio broadcast mentioned above has made it on a few bootlegs, notably "Kiss The Girls", "Go Glasgow 85" and "Go Glasgow". They all feature the complete show as broadcast (so minus "Stretch Out And Wait", "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and some of Morrissey's in between song banter), in a resequenced order. Tagged at the end are three tracks ("Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want", "Jeane" and "Barbarism Begins At Home") from the 17 June 1985 concert. This is available on the internet but collectors of digital bootlegs should be aware that some version found in circulation are better than others, even in lossless format. It appears that at least one version out there as been badly 'remastered' by a fan, it sounds more digitized that the original version circulated on compact discs.
A recording of the final 25 minutes of the radio broadcast is also circulated on the internet in MP3 format.
The "Wonderful Woman" bootleg features the recording of "What's The World", lifted from the official "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" cassette single along with 4 radio sessions, 3 Troy Tate outtakes, "You've Got Everything Now" from 21 April 1984 and a concert from 7 July 1983. This is also commonly found on the internet.
A more interesting alternative to all the above is an excellent audience recording of the complete concert (recorder: Soundsville International's Steve). The sound quality is almost as good as that of the radio broadcast, and the full set was recorded. This is mainly found from bootleg specialists at this point in time, and on the internet in lossless format. The more common full sets in MP3 format have inferior sound, they probably were produced from a tape copy. This transfer is often miscredited as being the Dundee recording from the following night.
Footage of a few songs recorded on this date, notably "Hand In Glove", "Meat Is Murder" and "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side", was shown shortly after the show on UK television programme The Tube alongside a conversation between Morrissey and Margi Clarke. This television interview with live footage is circulated on many DVD compilations of television performances and interviews.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.