6 August 1986
Pier 84, New York, NY
How Soon Is Now?
I Want The One I Can't Have
Still Ill
Frankly, Mr. Shankly
Panic
Never Had No One Ever
Stretch Out And Wait
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Cemetry Gates
What She Said (with Rubber Ring intro and outro)
Hand In Glove
Is It Really So Strange?
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
The Queen Is Dead
/Money Changes Everything
/I Know It's Over
//Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
///Bigmouth Strikes Again
This was a great show, both Morrissey and the audience were in a great mood. The setlist was the same as in Mansfield the night before.

Morrissey wasn't at his most talkative. His only major quips of the evening were "I hope you realise... you're missing Benson for this..." before "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and the introduction of "Panic" with "This is a new song... called... 'Panic'." He also said "We're glad you came" after "Still Ill", "you're very kind" after "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" and thanked the cheering audience with "We do our best" when he returned to the stage before encore "I Know It's Over".

There was a barrier between the seats and the stage, but quite a few fans made it up to hug Morrissey and give him gifts. The singer rolled around on the floor and draped himself over the monitor speakers in mock anguish at some point, possibly during "I Know It's Over". Johnny didn't move much, except perhaps during "The Queen Is Dead".

 


Five different audience recordings of this concert are to be found in more or less common circulation. The best one of the lot is quite good and the latest to have leaked (2010). It is said to have been tranfered from a 1st generation tape and features the complete set minus one bit of banter. Another recording is credited as having been "recorded directly off the board" by someone called Steve, but it is not quite soundboard. It does sound quite good (but not as good as the first one), and people can be heard talking between some songs. It only features the main set plus "Bigmouth Strikes Again" from a different recording, and in all appearances from a different date.

The third and fourth best audience recordings weren't put up in common circulation until 2009. They both feature the complete set and are of comparable quality to the latter one. One of these is found via two transfers, one of which sounding inferior and lacking the latter two thirds of the final song.

The other audience recording has been seen in circulation via two different transfers, both possibly from cassette copies. The best of the two is often circulated under the title "Money Changes Everything". Unfortunately it lacks "Is It Really So Strange?". The other one, sometimes seen under the title "Pier 84", features the whole set, but has minor Morrissey banter edited out and sounds slightly inferior. The latter is quite common on the internet, while the former is more scarce before there are clearly better options out there.

 

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