31 August 2002
Paolo Soleri Amphitheatre, Santa Fe, NM

I Want The One I Can't Have
Hairdresser On Fire
Suedehead
Little Man, What Now?
First Of The Gang To Die
Jack The Ripper
Late Night, Maudlin Street
I Like You
Mexico
Sister I'm A Poet
Alsatian Cousin
Everyday Is Like Sunday
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Meat Is Murder
November Spawned A Monster
Speedway
/There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
This was another great concert, and an unusual one for this tour as the Paolo Soleri Amphitheatre was an open-air venue. There was a fence between the stage and the audience making sure fans couldn't get on stage to hug their idol. Morrissey was in an excellent mood, particularly playful and very talkative. There was no change in the setlist.

Morrissey's first words as he entered stage were "You've had the litteral rain, and we are the metaphorical rain, so... Hello!" After set opener "I Want The One I Can't Have" and a "Thank you shucks thank you", he returned to the subject: "How nice, I can feel the rain coming back... very comforting... however thank you for hauling yourselves along and... I hope you can stick the pace..." After "Hairdresser On Fire" he had a few words with fanzine editor Julia "Hello to Julia! You must be bored by now Julia... Oh yes you must be! I'm telling you, you're bored! I'm not asking you, I'm telling you!".

During the extended outro to "Suedehead" Morrissey introduced his musicians: "That's Boz... that's Alain... that's Deano... that's Gary..." New composition and yet-to-be-released "First Of The Gang To Die" was introduced with the line "We are capable of new songs and... just to prove it, this is called 'The First Of The Gang To Die'." In the song Morrissey reversed an occurrence of "Oh my" with one of "such a silly boy". After that he enquired "Who exactly was the last fascinating musical person to come through? (crowd shouts names like Moby) Deep Purple? What? Who? Moby!? No, I said who is the last interesting person to come (giggles)... Moby! Isn't Moby a DJ?".

After "Jack The Ripper" Morrissey replied to some heckler with "Speak up my man... just purge yourself, get it off your chest, we're all listening, you're amongst friends, tell us... not very interesting (giggles)... (shouts) What?!" In "Late Night, Maudlin Street" he slightly changed a line to "every swag waves me one, secretly wishing me gone". The song was very well received and Morrissey thanked the cheering crowd with a comment that sounded like sarcasm: "Thank you serious music buffs..." He then took someone's letter and started to read it: "Boz in honour of your return to New Mexico, I mean it this time... Should I read this in public? Are you sure you want me to? 'I beg'? 'I beg please'? Is that really good English? I beg please take me with you... shouldn't there be a 'you'? Uh? Shouldn't there be a y-o-u? 'I beg you... Oh sorry, yes, give her a break! Thank you for the sentiment! God it's err... you know it's really difficult when you look deeply into things... you can't enjoy anything... so I'm told... so Boz tells me... and Alain, and Dean and Gary, sorry, let's go ahead, babble-babble-blah-blah-blah!"

"Mexico" was introduced with "This song is about old Mexico because you can't have everything..." (Santa Fe is located in New Mexico, hence the joke) Morrissey punctuated the song at its very end with a 'shazam'. He then enquired "So you're not too chilly? (crowd: no!) You can stand it? (crowd: yes!) Can you stand me? (crowd: mix of yes and no) How very strange!... you are mad..." After one more song he introduced "Alsatian Cousin" with "Here is another song which is absolutely crippled with meaning, and if you see a dog running around would you catch it for me please?" The 'dog' question was an allusion to the barking-dog sample heard halfway into the live arrangement of that song. Right before said sample was heard Morrissey illustrated the line "With your tent flap wide open" by spreading his legs apart.

Following "Alsatian Cousin" Morrissey asked a fan "Asshole? Oh I thought you were calling me an asshole... which I thought was really nice... I was about to grab my cardigan and just run... Why do you laugh when it isn't funny? Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk..." The unfamiliar "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" was introduced with "This is a new song and it's about everybody in the entire world except... you. It's called 'The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores'."

After the latter title Morrissey thanked the audience for their appreciation and when he was thanked back by someone in the crowd, he added "No, thank you. But no thank you... (someone shouts that he loves Gary's shoes) Gary they love your shoes, he made them himself! Out of some old curtain material... Before Gary hits me I'd like to say that... (tries to introduce 'Meat Is Murder') Ha-ha! I'd like to say, I know this is err... as states go this is... an intelligent state and... and yet you're laughing! Maybe I was wrong? Ouch, yes I know, that was below the intellect... This song is really important to me and... I hope through the years it's been really important to some of you here... (someone shouts 'Double Decker Bus' probably meaning 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out') No, it's not 'Double Decker Bus' (he and fans giggle)... Isn't that by err... I think you're thinking of Alien Ant Farm, aren't you? (heckler at it again) Where is that voice from? (giving up) Boz, shall we begin... well let's do so..."

After "Meat Is Murder" Morrissey said "Thank you, we try our very best, always... Don't we, Boz? (Boz: yes!) See!" He then mocked a shouting fan's voice by repeating after them and adding in the same voice "You've got strep-throat my friend!" Between two verses in "November Spawned A Monster" he told someone "hide-seek, very clever..." Further into the song he followed the line "because it's the closest you will get to love..." with "...upon my soul". Before going into encore "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" Morrissey he the audience one final time: "They will never make you popular at college, but thank you for being so loyal through the years... Assuming that you have been... maybe you haven't been, I dunno, but thank you anyway..." After being done with his vocal part, over the song's instrumental outro, he thanked individually many people in the front rows, including the fan with the funny voice, who he imitated yet again while thanking him.

 


A good audience recording of the complete set is available on physical bootlegs, as well as in digital format on the internet.

A 23-minute recording of a portion of this day's soundcheck is also circulated on bootlegs. It features the songs "I Want The One I Can't Have", "Suedehead", "Little Man, What Now?" and "Jack The Ripper".

 

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