Lawrence - Liberty Hall (Nov. 05 1997)

Summary by Greg Stearns (Olathe, KS)

When I arrived at 7 pm, the line from Liberty Hall was still wrapped around the corner. I was anxious to get in after bearing the blustery November weather. When I got in, I chose to sit in the upper balcony because the people on the floor were packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes. Soon thereafter, the Smoking Popes took the stage and performed a fabulous set. One of their songs was augmented with a touch of "Alison" by Elvis Costello. After the Popes’ set, it wasn’t too long until the main event occurred.

After the drum intro to "The Operation" played over the flashing, blinding lights, Morrissey and Co. took to the stage with a great rendition of "The Boy Racer." I was on cloud 9 because I had been singing that song to myself while waiting on line to get in. One of the first things Moz said to the crowd was "We’re five bastards from England." After a false start to "Paint A Vulgar Picture" and the crowd going crazy, Morrissey said "See, you were wrong." He then said "I used to be in a band called The Clash." Everybody laughed and then the band commenced again with "Paint A Vulgar Picture." At one point in the show Moz asked the crowd how much they paid for their tickets and said he wouldn’t have paid that much. I was thrilled to death when they started "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" because after reading some previous set lists, I was afraid he had dropped that from the show. He only did two songs from Maladjusted which I found interesting but towards the end of the show he did a barrage of Vauxhall And I songs. When the band came on to perform their finale "Shoplifters Of The World Unite," the crowd went into a frenzy. Many people tried unsuccessfully to get up on stage and everybody was screaming. Morrissey shook as many hands as he could, though. Overall, the show was excellent but Moz needs to reach further back into his solo catalog.

Summary by Josh Baze

This was my first time seeing Morrissey and it was amazing. The venue was an old theatre, with painted ceiling and balcony. The show was sold out and there were probably 750-900 people there. The crowd was rabid but well behaved. There was the usual show of floral arrangements and cards. Morrissey’s voice was flawless — sounded terrific, and was smiling as he prowled the lip of the stage, reaching out to the crowd. Some of his more memorable banter included "We’re 5 bastards from England." Going into "Paint a Vulgar Picture", the tamborine started, I screamed "YEAHHHHH!!!", the tamborine stopped, Moz smiled and laughed, looked at me and said, "You were wrong." The whole place cracked up. Moz then says "As some of you probably know, I used to be in the Clash." He laughed, everyone laughed. Then they started into it again, and the crowd went wild. Highlights included the two Smiths numbers, of course, "Now My Heart Is Full" — one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard performed — slowed way down tonight, and "Why Don’t You Find Out..." "Shoplifters" was the catalyst for the most incredible bout of stage jumping I’ve seen. About 15 of so people made it into the barrier, maybe half getting on and touching him. It was a great show — definitely a top ten ever, I think.