The Queen Is Dead
Panic
I Want The One I Can't Have
Vicar In A Tutu
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Ask
(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame/Rusholme Ruffians
Frankly, Mr. Shankly
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
What She Said (with Rubber Ring intro and outro)
Is It Really So Strange?
Never Had No One Ever
Cemetry Gates
London
Meat Is Murder
I Know It's Over
/The Draize Train
/How Soon Is Now?
//Still Ill
//Bigmouth Strikes Again

As the band entered stage, Morrissey took the microphone and shouted a loud "Hello!". Before "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" he asked "Could I please ask the journalists to stop throwing things?". "Ask" and "Is It Really So Strange?" were both introduced, the former as "...our new single."

Over the beginning of "Meat Is Murder" Johnny picked notes that sounded like the slowed down intro to "The Headmaster Ritual". During "I Know It's Over" Morrissey gradually pulled his shirt over his head and spent the latter part of the song with his head hidden inside it. When everyone returned to the stage for the second encore he thanked the audience "Thank you you've been very nice, very kind, very generous". At the beginning of "Bigmouth Strikes Again" he threw in the crowd the t-shirt he had just changed into and sang the song barechested.

This concert was recorded by the BBC for later radio broadcast but the recording was never broadcast in full. The most complete sets still lacked "I Want The One I Can't Have", "Never Had No One Ever" and "Meat Is Murder".

The BBC recording was edited down to 14 tracks and released in 1988 as the "Rank" album. Click on the latter album name for full details.

An audience recording of the complete concert (sometimes minus the intro to "The Queen Is Dead") is circulated on bootleg VHS and DVDs (recorder: Steve from Soundsville International). The recorder also put together a 'remastered' DVD where most of the audio track was replaced by a mix of three different better sounding audio sources. The main source is the official live album "Rank", used in its entirety. For the songs not featured on "Rank" the audio was replaced with the one from a digital satellite radio broadcast, and for the few songs not released or broadcast, the DJ audience audio-only recording mentioned below was used. The original audio was left over short segments here and there which were not found on "Rank", the satellite broadcast or the DJ bootleg.

Quite a few audio bootlegs were produced from various radio broadcasts over the years. Because the concert was partially officially released on "Rank", the aim of bootleg buyers is to find the six songs excluded from the live album: "I Want The One I Can't Have", "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out", "Frankly Mr Shankly", "Never Had No One Ever", "Meat Is Murder" and "How Soon Is Now?". But only three of these are circulated in radio quality. The other three are only available from an audience recording.

The "Higher Rank" and "Unruly Girl" bootleg cds feature the excellent sounding 17 songs from the radio broadcast, so that's the 14 titles also found on "Rank" plus "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out", "Frankly Mr Shankly" and "How Soon Is Now?". The manufactured bootleg cd "Dance With Octopusses" features 12 songs from the radio broadcast, including the same three absent from "Rank" but included on "Higher Rank". Untitled bootlegs of the digital satellite broadcast only feature 15 songs, but these also include the same three missing from "Rank".

"Morrissey 1959-1986" was produced around a 4 February 1983 concert and four radio sessions, and it also features three songs from this gig, the same tracks missing from "Rank" mentioned in the previous paragraph. "Flowers" was produced around a 18 March 1985 concert and 2 radio sessions and includes "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and "How Soon Is Now?" in radio quality.

The "A Nice Bit Of Meat 2" mixed content bootleg LP and "A Nice Bit Of Meat" mixed content bootleg CD include "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and "Frankly Mr Shankly" among other live tracks, radio sessions and soundchecks. The "Acid Head" bootleg 7" available in a few vinyl colours is rather useless to non-completists. It pairs "Cemetry Gates" and "I Know It's Over" from this concert with the Peel session of "Half A Person".

Collectors interested in the complete concert and willing to settle for an audience recording will be interested in a scarcely circulated good quality lossless audience master which has made it onto the internet in 2007 (recorder: DJ). The only other full set in circulation is the audio from the video recording mentioned above. It is very common, but sounds significantly inferior. A double-LP bootleg titled "The Bad Boy From A Good Family" (also known as "That Funny Manchester Group") features one of the above audience recordings, most likely the more common VHS audio. It features "Rusholme Ruffians" twice, at the end of side A and the beginning of side B. A cd transfer under the latter title or the alternate title "The Complete Rank" features the video audio as well.

Digital files were produced for most of these bootlegs and are commonly found on the internet. The recording available on "Unruly Girl" can be found under its alternate title "Higher Rank".

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