12 November 1984
SFX, Dublin, Ireland
William, It Was Really Nothing
Handsome Devil
Nowhere Fast
How Soon Is Now
I Want The One I Can't Have
Barbarism Begins At Home
Girl Afraid
Rusholme Ruffians
This Charming Man
Still Ill
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Jeane
You've Got Everything Now
These Things Take Time
/Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
/Hand In Glove
Note: There is confusion about the dates of the first three concert of this Irish tour. This first Dublin concert is usually credited as from 13th of November, but it actually took place on the 12th. The confusion stemmed from an incorrect advertisement of these Irish dates in the UK music press.

New live addition "What She Said" which had been introduced at the previous concert was skipped. However the other four new songs which would appear three months later on "Meat Is Murder" were played: "Nowhere Fast", "Barbarism Begins At Home", "Rusholme Ruffians" and "I Want The One I Can't Have". The latter title was planned at this stage as the next single but of course those plans would change in favour of a re-release of "How Soon Is Now?".

The Smiths entered stage at the end of the intro song, the "March Of The Capulets" from Romeo & Juliet. After "William, It Was Really Nothing" Morrissey said "Thank you so much we're glad you came..." Over the first bars of "How Soon Is Now?" he said very slowly "This song (pause) is called (pause) 'How Soon (pause) Is Now'." The newly added "I Want The One I Can't Have" was being performed for the second time ever and was introduced as "...our next single... it's called 'The One I Can't Have'."

The new and unfamiliar "Rusholme Ruffians" blended into "This Charming Man" the same way it did when the Smiths had introduced the song in September. Morrissey changed a line in "This Charming Man" to "This man said it's gruesome that someone so ugly should care". Before "Still Ill" he asked "So what now? 'Still Ill'." He changed a line in the latter number to "Dublin is mine and it owes me a living", which made the audience cheer.

The crowd sang along loudly to "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now". As usual many changes were made to the lyrics of "You've Got Everything Now" and "These Things Take Time". At the end of the latter Johnny made a wall of noise with his guitar while Morrissey wailed in a high pitched voice, marking the end of the main set. When he returned to the stage for the encore he said "Thank you you're very kind" before launching into "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want".

 


An average sounding audience recording of the full set is circulated on fanmade cds and in digital format on the internet. Collectors should be aware that there are at least two different transfers of this recording on the internet. The one usually found in lossless format is the best of the two. The other one, usually found in lossy format, was very likely transfered from a high generation tape and sounds quite bad. It is often miscredited as being from Gloucester 24 September 1984.

 

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