Your Arsenal Tour Memories
While I was going through some old papers, I stumbled across three little concert summaries I wrote for the three shows I caught during the Your Arsenal tour. I thought it would be amusing to share them with you.
Concord Pavilion - 10/13/92
Morrissey came out wearing a blue long-sleeved button up shirt and jeans (per usual). He seemed in a very good mood, flirting with the crowd in his usual manner. At one point he said, "That's extraordinarily decent of you" in response to the applause. The best statement of the night was, "Someone has just requested I sing 'Achy Breaky Heart' and I would if it were true... I think I should".
Very few invasions were attempted. One idiot ran across the stage and tackled Morrissey hard. He was quickly manhandled off stage, much to the happiness of most of the fans. Morrissey threw a tambourine, maraccas, a sunflower, and his shirt into the audience. At one point someone tried to hand him a red spider ring which he looked at in puzzlement and handed back.
The crowd was actually quite mellow. The third row view was extraordinary. Morrissey came out for the encore in his copper satin shirt. His voice was in extremely fine form. He changed the line in "Such a Little Thing..." from "How I love all of the very simple things in life" to "How I love the complicated things in life". He coyly left the last word for the crowd to fill in: "Most people keep their brains between their... what?" - then the song merged into "The Girl Least Likely To". He played all of Your Arsenal except "National Front Disco" and nothing from Kill Uncle.
Morrissey took some flowers that we threw to the stage and put them in his hair.
Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA - 10/14/92
Morrissey came onstage wearing a green satin shirt and white jeans. He was very talkative, by his standards, teasing the crowd with his usual unfinished comments between songs such as: "I hope that you're all extremely..." before "Certain People I Know". At one point he said, "I wonder if anybody here wants to be in a band and make records? (crowd cheers) Do you think that you will? (crowd cheers) Hmmmm..." Another unfinished statement was "You may think that..."
The crowd was rather apathetic - a typical Sacramento crowd. After one song he remarked, "You didn't really like that, did you?" and he kept beckoning to the crowd to do SOMETHING. There were maybe 3 or 4 stage invasions. During "Seasick Yet Still Docked" a woman came up behind him and gently caressed him, which caught him off guard.
When singing "Certain People I Know" he pointed to the people in the pit when he sang the line, "They look at danger and they laugh their heads off." He changed the line "I won't tell anyone" to "I will tell everyone" in Tomorrow.
Morrissey threw the typical tambourine during "The Loop", two maraccas, his shirt (during "Seasick, Yet Still Docked"). He came out for the encore wearing a blue shirt and stayed through the feedback at the end of "November..." (Usually, he leaves the stage - and the venue - as soon as the singing is over.)
The backdrops used were the skinhead girls, Charles Richardson from the inner sleeve of Your Arsenal, and a girl's face. Morrissey took some daisies [my friends] David and Mark threw onstage and smashed them against the monitor. Another present for Morrissey was a plastic brontosaurus.
San Jose State Event Center - 10/15/92
The crowd was very rude during Gallon Drunk's set, chanting "Morrissey!" between songs. The first time, Gallon Drunk's singer/guitarist said, "You've got the wrong band. Doesn't Morrissey have five members?" But the second time he became (justifiably) angry, yelling, "You'll have to wait about 20 minutes for that, you sorry fucking assholes!" He later somewhat apologized for these remarks saying he though the crowd was rude. This was Grade A no class behavior by the crowd.
Morrissey came out wearing a black shirt and white pants. He opened with "The Loop" for a change, with the obligatory tambourine. "Sister I'm A Poet"'s lyric (which I finally deciphered) went "A plastic bag stranded at the light - this once was me". "Tomorrow" was changed from "my shiftless body" to "my useless body".
He was not talkative at all, saying only "I was ah...?" and "Before we go I'd like to say thank you aaaaahhhhh...." He changed the line "kiss her full on the mouth" to "kiss me full on the mouth" in "November Spawned a Monster". The bridge was played with sax (by Boz) instead of the usual clarinet-like horn. There was no feedback showcase at the end of it, unlike the previous two shows.
The final song was "We'll Let You Know" which ended with Morrissey saying, "I love you". He sang over the instrumental part in glorious falsetto, like the previous night. This time he took off his shirt during the end of "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful". He played the new song, which I believe is "Jack the Ripper" like in Sacramento. Beautiful, beautiful song. There were no stage invasions - very disappointing. He came out for the encore in a purple lamé shirt.
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Ahhhhh, so long ago... Do any of you old people also remember how frustrating it used to be at Moz shows, because he would barely talk and when he did, he wouldn't finish his sentences? "This one is called..." "This song was written by..." "You're all looking extremely..." and then the song would start. So annoying!!! I'm so glad he finally quit teasing like that and starting completing his sentences onstage.
This was one of my favorite Moz shows. Lots of chatting, flirting, stage invasion, hugging, crowd surfing and hand shaking. I remember at the end of National Front Disco, Boz smashed something on his guitar, like a bottle or glass or something.
Originally Posted by Comtesse
