That was his unofficial farewell Smiths gig, so his material choice was understandable. He then relied on his solo career for live material until '95.
Well yeah, your right. He was with The Smiths (minus Marr) in Wolverhampton 88. They were The Smiths and had every right to play The Smiths songs at Wolves 88. But after that, he shouldn't really have played a Smiths song. Who knows why he actually played "London" 1995 and then started churning out songs like "Shoplifters" shortly after. I don't think there is an actual reason apart from pleasing the crowd. I don't know who he is actually pleasing because nobody seems to like many Smiths covers. I absolutely can't stand the new take on "This Charming Man"!! My ears cannot stand it!
questions like this suggest a complete misunderstanding of the status of Morrissey's so called 'solo' career.
the reality is that Morrissey's never ever been solo - he's always been the singer and lyricist in a pop group, and he's arguably been in about 4 or 5 different pop groups since the Smiths. it's just that each one was labelled and marketed as 'Morrissey'.
if there's an argument for not playing the Smiths songs, there's also one for not playing all the Stephen Street and Mark Nevin era songs.
and now Alain Whyte's disappeared, possibly for good, should he stop performing the 100 or so songs that Alain co-wrote too?