Palladium, London
You Have Killed MeThis gig started really well and Morrissey seemed relaxed, chatty, funny and on good form. The audience was not the most energetic, but this didn't seem to have an effect on Morrissey. About two thirds of the way in, he started pulling pained faces, sticking his finger in his ear and asking the audience if they could hear him. He was clearly unhappy about the sound quality. Meanwhile to the audience everything appeared to be fine. What Morrissey didn't know at that point was that one of the stage monitors had started malfunctioning (he did find out what the problem was, the next night in Cardiff he kissed the monitor as soon as he got on stage). Morrissey probably thought that the audience was hearing what he heard and this seemed to affect his confidence quite badly for a while, although he was getting nothing but good vibes from the crowd. He seemed to sag for some time, although he perked up again towards the end. He didn't storm off or seem angry at the end - he threw his shirt into the crowd - but he never came back to perform an encore.
How Soon Is Now?
First Of The Gang To Die
I Will See You In Far Off Places
To Me You Are A Work Of Art
In The Future When All's Well
Girlfriend In A Coma
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
Let Me Kiss You
Life Is A Pigsty
On The Streets I Ran
Still Ill
Trouble Loves Me
Ganglord
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
At Last I Am Born
The fan favourite "Trouble Loves Me" was reintroduced in the setlist replacing part timer "The Father Who Must Be Killed". "Irish Blood, English Heart" was scheduled to be played for the encore, but because of the technical difficulties mentioned above, Morrissey never returned to the stage to do it.
Morrissey came on stage with his shirt tied in a knot in front of his middle and, seeing the audience cheering him, exclaimed "Me!?" Then as the first notes to opener "You Have Killed Me" were heard, he asked "Why? Why?" He was feeling playful and changed lines in the song to "Piazza Cavour, what the hell's my body for?" and "There's no point saying this again... why not?" After the song came his real greeting in the form of "Here I am, home at last!"
After "First Of The Gang To Die", Morrissey announced "Well very surprisingly, or perhaps not, 20 years ago I stood on this stage, and... of course none of you were here then... You were all listening to Phil Collins... but I forgive you!" After "I Will See You In Far Off Places", he asked "Anything else to say?". Then after "To Me You Are A Work Of Art" he returned to the earlier subject and used it to introduce the next song on the setlist, "In The Future When All's Well": "And, the difference between that night 20 years ago and this night is that it's now in the future, and all's well!"
Before going into "Girlfriend In A Coma" Morrissey announced "Well Floyd Patterson is gone..." This didn't get any reaction from the audience who was probably unaware of who the man was (heavyweight boxing champion who made history multiple times in the sport of boxing) so Morrissey continued "...in complete silence like that". After the song he teased the audience: "You're not really supposed to like those kinds of songs... because they're very depressing... very etc etc... (crowd boos) ...and they don't deserve to be played on the radio, blah blah blah blah". He was interrupted by the siren that kicks off "The Youngest Was The Most Loved" and said "Oh I see... excuse me!"
After the latter song Morrissey announced "That's our new single, and the great news of the week is that we have heard that not only will Radio One not play the single but also Virgin Radio have said they will not play the single... (crowd boos loudly, Morrissey changes tone to one of frustration) What the fuck do you have to do to get played on the radio?" In "Let Me Kiss You" Morrissey changed a line to "I hear that you'll try anyone twice". After the song he felt he needed to apologise for swearing "I apologise, I shouldn't have said the F-word, that was horrible... and (for) silly things that don't matter. Agree? (crowd: no!) So you don't agree? (crowd sends mixed response) So what do you agree with then? So I should say the F-word all the time? (crowd cheers loudly) But this is the London Palladium! Billy Dainty stood here! Ken Dodd stood there! Danny La Rue stood there! Jimmy Krankie stood here!"
"Life Is A Pigsty" was loudly cheered by the audience so Morrissey, when giving his thanks, added "...it's a really nice song". This is approximately when the monitor started malfunctioning. Very early in the following song "On The Streets I Ran" Morrissey seemed to be struggling with his singing. He said at some point "This is horrible!" and later in the song he asked "Does this sound okay?" He was answered by the audience in the affirmative, because from where they stood everything sounded fine. The whole last verse - the culmination of "On The Streets I Ran" - was skipped as Morrissey seemed overwhelmed. After the song he answered the cheers with "Thank you, I realise you're applauding the song..." This didn't get much reaction from the unaware crowd so Morrissey added "Sorry, please say something encouraging quickly..." This was met with loud cheers which were in turn answered by Morrissey with the cryptic line "It's later than you think, and you're all older than you realise..."
Following this he bent down to a fan in the front row and asked him "Do you mind if I ask you a question? Where do you live? (Fan: 'Long Beach') And how can you afford to go to every single concert? (Fan: 'Because I'm fucking crazy!') That's the reason! And how much has it all cost you? Say it to everybody... (Fan: 'Ummm... A lot...') Typical American answer... evasive..." In the following number, the Smiths-era and crowd favourite "Still Ill", Morrissey followed the line "Am I still ill?" with "Oh yes, thank Christ!"
As was customary on this tour "Trouble Loves Me" was segued from a short intro of a well known local song on the piano. On this date Mike played a few bars of Noel Coward's "If Love Were All". Usually the crowd sang along those well known intros, but on this date it kept silent so Morrissey said "This is your history, and you can't recognise the tune! Which is a relief... It's just (undecipherable)". Morrissey had more sound problems in "Ganglord". He made faces, put his finger in his ear and asked again "was that horrible?" in between lines. After the song, obviously unhappy about his performance and seeing the crowd's appreciation, he enquired "Why are you clapping?". He then moved on to the customary word about the opening act: "Did you see Kristeen Young? That means yes? She's a genius..."
At the very beginning of "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy", Morrissey followed the first line "Lord, these words I beg of you" with "...please, please, please". He was still visibly unhappy about his performance and said after it "Well you probably have nerves of steel". In "At Last I Am Born" even Boz could be seen smirking at the rest of the band. That song ended being the final one of the show. After it the band left and briefly said goodbye, the way they usually do when they know they are coming back for an encore. But no encore was to be. "Irish Blood, English Heart" was on the setlist, but as soon as everyone had left the stage, Frank Sinatra's "That's Life" came on and the house lights came up, signalling the end of the show. The audience was very disappointed, and a lot of booing ensued.
For the first time on this tour Morrissey didn't introduce the band.
An average-to-good audience recording of the full concert is circulated on bootlegs. It is also available on the internet, in original and 'remastered' form. The latter has the volume boosted, but in the process some of the sound quality was lost. An audio recording called 'Ganglord's version' has been reported, but this might just be the 'remastered' one mentioned above.
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