Ilford Island, London
Billy BuddThis concert was a very good one. Very few fans made it up to their idol because of the size of the pit between the stage and the barrier. The ones who were successful were often helped by Morrissey during the encore. The man himself was a bit more talkative than on the previous few nights. There was no change in the setlist.
Have-A-Go Merchant
Spring-Heeled Jim
You're The One For Me, Fatty
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
Whatever Happens, I Love You
We'll Let You Know
Jack The Ripper
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself
The National Front Disco
Moonriver
Hold On To Your Friends
Boxers
Now My Heart Is Full
Speedway
/Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Upon entering stage Morrissey greeted his fans with "Hello to you... too!". After "Whatever Happens, I Love You" a fan shouted that he was sexy and he replied with the question "Did somebody just say that I'm sexy?". Some male fan replied that he was "fucking sexy" to which Morrissey enquired again "Who me?... I never realised that..." Besides the usual lyric changes in "We'll Let You Know", Morrissey sang "I may seem old, and I may even be the most depressing person you've ever known...". After the song, he said "Of course, I realise that we're all completely grown-up now but, nonetheless, I'm still here, and..."
As was standard on this tour the noisy "The National Front Disco" ended in an extended chaotic jam of feedback, then segued into a very gentle performance of "Moonriver" with acoustic guitar. After that, to someone who shouted at him to forget London and come back to Manchester, Morrissey replied "I'd rather not, actually". Before "Now My Heart Is Full" the man had this to say about Eric Cantona who was making the news back then: "Since you keep mentioning him, I thought Eric was completely innocent... however, I could be completely wrong..."
The crowd broke into a chant of Morrissey's name during the break before the encore. When the man finally returned to the stage he introduced the encore of "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" with "And now, for the older section of the audience..." The fans went crazy for this only number from the Smiths' repertoire in Morrissey's live sets at that point in time. They sang along in ecstasy, almost drowning out Morrissey himself.
An audience recording of the complete concert is available on bootleg VHS and DVDs. The filming was done from the right balcony and is relatively steady.
A rather good audio-only audience recording of the full concert is also circulated among collectors of bootlegs, either on cd or on the internet. The recording is sometimes listed under the title "Ilford Station 1995". It is not the audio from the video recording.
Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.