2 June 2006
Rock am Ring Festival, Nürburg, Germany

Panic
First Of The Gang To Die
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
In The Future When All's Well
Girlfriend In A Coma
You Have Killed Me
I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now
I Will See You In Far Off Places
Let Me Kiss You
To Me You Are A Work Of Art
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
At Last I Am Born
How Soon Is Now?
Irish Blood, English Heart
Morrissey's first festival appearance of the Summer of 2006 went down just okay, it was nothing compared to the recent British gigs. Because Morrissey was playing in front of an audience formed of fans and non-fans, the reception was not the same. He was therefore more subdued in his banter and less playful in his lyric changes. As the concert progressed he appeared to be more and more annoyed at the audience's polite cheering and mild enthusiasm. It probably didn't help that he was visibly freezing (about 4°C). He was still very professional and probably still made some new fans.

Because he wasn't the headlining act Morrissey had to shorten his set to about 45 minutes and not play an encore. So recent setlist regulars such as "Still Ill", "Life Is A Pigsty" or "Ganglord" were not performed. However recent live addition "Panic" was again slotted as the opener.

Morrissey came on stage wearing a tuxedo, followed by his musicians all dressed in black. A few of them were wearing the medal sold as tour merchandise. They all made a line at the front, then bowed before going to their respective positions on stage. Morrissey first greeted the audience "Guten Abend" (Good evening) then, pointing at his band, he said slowly, "This... is... Morrissey..." before going into "Panic". A few songs down he introduced "The Youngest Was The Most Loved" with "This is our new single in Germany and... elsewhere...". He was visibly freezing so after the song he asked his most faithful fan in the front row: "Julia, you're not too cold... you're not too cold, really... No? Yes? Maybe?"

Morrissey didn't take as many liberties with his lyrics when playing festivals or countries other than the UK and the USA, but at this point in time he often improvised changes in "You Have Killed Me" and this date was not going to be an exception. Besides the now common changes reported earlier, he sang "Pasolini is me, sometimes, Mozalini I'm forced to be". At the very end of "I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now", after "It only hurts because it's true", he added "lies... lies... the end..." After the audience was finished cheering he said "We have a cd called 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors' which some of you have been kind enough to buy, so ha-ha-ha-ha thank you..."

After "Let Me Kiss You" Morrissey pointed at the backdrop of Sacha Distel and asked "Do you recognise the picture? (answers shouted) Who? (more answers) Who? You don't know... Who?" Looking desperate he then asked "Julia, help!" After "To Me You Are A Work Of Art", looking slightly annoyed, he said "Thank you for not throwing anything... bla-bla-bla-bla, bla-bla-bla!" In "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy" a line was changed from "Let's face it soon I will be dead" to "Thank God soon I will be dead". Possibly annoyed at the audience's subdued appreciation of "At Last I Am Born" he said after its performance "Thank you for trying". Fortunately the Smiths classic "How Soon Is Now?" seemed to wake up the portion of the audience unfamiliar with the new material before a high-energy "Irish Blood, English Heart" brought the set to a close.

This concert was recorded and shown in full on television about a week later on Germany's WDR-Fernsehen Rockpalast series.

 


The television programme mentioned above was put in circulation on bootleg DVDs within a few days of the broadcast. This is sometimes seen under the title "Pasolini Is Me". The image quality is obviously superb, but the sound mixing is slightly odd at times and the programmers did include perhaps too much footage of the audience and festival premises, as they often do.

The audio was ripped from the television broadcast, perhaps via the DVD mentioned above, and is circulated on the internet. It is sometimes seen under the title "Rock-am-Ring" with this artwork.

 

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