13 March 2006
Cain's Ballroom, Tulsa, OK
You Have Killed MeThe first of three warm-up dates for the upcoming Tour Of The Tormentors was a success. Unlike other tours' first dates, the band seemed in top form and at ease performing the new material. Morrissey was in great spirits, reasonably talkative and seemed to enjoy the response from the crowd. The fans were very energetic despite not being familiar with the new material. Security was very tight and no one made it on stage.
Still Ill
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
In The Future When All's Well
Irish Blood, English Heart
My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye
Girlfriend In A Coma
I Have Forgiven Jesus
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
Reader Meet Author
Life Is A Pigsty
Let Me Kiss You
Trouble Loves Me
How Soon Is Now?
First Of The Gang To Die
I Will See You In Far Off Places
Suedehead
At Last I Am Born
/Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
The new setlist featured seven songs from the soon-to-be-released album "Ringleader Of The Tormentors". Most of the audience was obviously still unfamiliar with the new songs, so they were more excited by the selections from Morrissey's back catalogue. The biggest surprise was the live introduction of two Smiths-era songs never played before by Morrissey without the Smiths, "Still Ill" and "Girlfriend In A Coma". Actually the latter had never been performed by the Smiths either. The encore of "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" was also almost new, it had never been performed by the Smiths, and only once by Morrissey in 1988 during a one-off gig in Wolverhampton. Previous album "You Are The Quarry" supplied its four singles and b-side "My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye". The only older material was, in reversed chronological order, "Trouble Loves Me" from 1997, "Reader Meet Author" from 1995, the debut solo single "Suedehead" and the Smiths-era "How Soon Is Now?", all previously performed in front of audiences.
Morrissey walked on stage to the new opening music, Jobriath's "What A Pretty", threw back into the crowd some bouquets that had been thrown on stage and went into upcoming single "You Have Killed Me". In "Reader Meet Author", besides updatinig the song to the time by singing "The year 2000, it hasn't changed anyone here", Morrissey also adapted to the place with "Have you ever escaped from a Tulsa life". "Trouble Loves Me" was preceded by a short old-style - and yet to be identified - piano intro. At the end of main set, Morrissey removed his shirt and threw it into the audience before going off stage. It took less than two minutes after that for the band to come back out. In encore "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" Morrissey changed all occurrences of a line to "...only slightly more than I used to, my love".
Morrissey addressed his audience on many occasions. He commented: "We arrived in Tulsa last night in the middle of an electric storm and tornado warnings... but i'm sure you're used to it... what a strange way to live!". He mentioned the next date "Tomorrow we take on Oklahoma City... I think we may lose..." He also mentioned the upcoming new album "We've got a new album soon, it's called 'Cheerleader Of The Tormentors'." After "The Youngest Was The Most Loved", Morrissey started "That song was called 'The Youngest Was the Most Loved'..." and was half-interrupted by someone shouting the title at the same time as him. He then continued "It's from our..." and was interrupted by the same person shouting "...new album!", which Morrissey echoed with "...blablalbum" in funny voice. After this, Morrissey didn't mention the titles of any of the new songs.
Having played about 4 songs from the new album and presumably noting that many sung along, he said: "Can I assume some of you have the album? (crowd screams) Does that mean you're not going to buy it? (crowd bood: no!) That's okay, I don't mind..." At some point Morrissey commented "Yes, our old drummer was poached, please say hello to Matt Walker!" The latter would be introduced again after "Life Is A Pigsty" when Morrissey answered the audience's cheers with "You don't have to..." and then followed "...but really if it doesn't put you out, would you say hello to Boz Boorer..." and went on introducing his musicians. For some strange reason Morrissey then said "God bless Brokeback Mountain!" Finally he had to comment: "Let us speak plainly, the television in Tulsa is absolutely dreadful (crowd cheers in agreement) Surely no one watches television here? (long silence, Morrissey looks like he doesn't know what to do)... So I am wrong?"
The only material that has surfaced from this concert at this point in time is a 14 seconds clip of "Girlfriend In A Coma" filmed from a cell phone.
Were you there? Do you have a recording of this concert? If yes please information and be credited.