11 August 2002
Convention Hall, Yuma, AZ

I Want The One I Can't Have
Suedehead
Hairdresser On Fire
First Of The Gang To Die
Jack The Ripper
Late Night, Maudlin Street
I Like You
Mexico
Sister I'm A Poet
Alsatian Cousin
Little Man, What Now?
Everyday Is Like Sunday
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Meat Is Murder
Speedway
November Spawned A Monster
/There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
As the tour progressed Morrissey's performance was getting better and better. He was very talkative on this date and his musicians seemed more comfortable with the new material and with being back on the road. Security was rather tight, but a few fans still managed to successfully make it up on stage. There was no change in the setlist.

As he came on stage Morrissey simply greeted the audience with "Hello Yuma!", but after opener "I Want The One I Can't Have" he extended this with "Welcome to an evening of show tunes!". After "Suedehead" he joked "Now you must be honest, you all traveled from San Diego..." Besides the numerous other usual lyric changes in "Hairdresser On Fire", he adapted the song for the local crowd by singing "Where is Yuma? Where is Yuma?" instead of "Here is London, giddy London".

New composition "First Of The Gang To Die" was introduced by Morrissey with a sarcastic comment about his position of being without a record contract "We have a new album which is scheduled for release in 15 years time and this is a song called 'The First Of The Gang To Die'..." After the song he tried to decipher something shouted to him: "What? I'm the bond?" After the very well received fan favourite "Jack The Ripper" he joked "Just release everything because if you hold it back it will create gas... (someone screams very loudly) You haven't had gas..."

Following "Late Night, Maudlin Street" Morrissey enquired "Has anybody ever seen the film '3:10 To Yuma'? No? Has anybody ever seen that film? '3:10 To Yuma'? What? (shushes someone) Where is Yuma?" At this point Alain repeated Morrissey's pun from the previous night about having a "...sense of Yuma" and Morrissey answered "Alain just spoke!" and screamed like a little girl. After "I Like You" he teasingly announced "That was a new song, and it was called 'I Lust You'..."

After the new song "Mexico" the crowd engaged into a chant of "Mexico! Mexico!" so Morrissey introduced the following one with "This is a new song, and it's called 'Yuma'! Joke! Just kidding..." After "Sister I'm A Poet" a female fan with a very acute voice shouted something to Morrissey and he replied by imitating her "Say what? What d'you say? You have a lovely voice". In "Little Man, What Now?" he changed "Oh but I remember you" to "Oh but I remember me". Further into the song he made a throat cutting motion with accompanying sharp sound right before "...they axed you".

The latter song was very well received and this prompted Morrissey to answer the audience's enthusiasm with "Crazy, crazy..." Then someone threw a tour shirt on stage and he asked the fan "Why have you given me this? I know who I am!" He must have been enjoying himself quite a lot because he changed a line in "Everyday Is Like Sunday" to "how I'm dearly pleased that I'm here". The following song was then introduced with "This next song is a mere fact of life which I'm sure you all know... when you watch your television, you go to school and you look around you... which you never do of course... and it's called 'The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores'..."

After the latter title Morrissey teased "Have courage there's a few more... and then you can go back to Mexicali!" The 2002 live arrangement of "Speedway" started with an intro of Morrissey very slowly singing "And when you slam down the hammer can you see it in your heart?" followed by a short break to build tension before the motor sound kicked in. On this day Morrissey teasingly stretched it and followed the latter line with the additional questions "Can you?... Can you?... Do you?..." and successfully drove the audience crazy with anticipation.

At the beginning of "November Spawned A Monster", Morrissey put on a hat that was thrown to him by someone in the audience. It had the word "Vile" on it, just like the one he wore in the video for that song. When he returned to the stage after a short break, he teased "I feel as if I have just taken a hot shower with all of you" before going into the encore. The latter was another fan favourite and it sounded like the whole venue was singing along.

 


A very good audience recording of the complete set is circulated on physical and digital bootlegs. Its only downside is the proximity to the recorder of very vocal fans who talked and screamed a lot.

 

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