Morrissey played You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby tonight, otherwise the same songs as the recent gigs. He also picked up I keep mine hidden on this gig.

Just got back to the hotel. Flew in to Stockholm this morning and enjoyed a hot one in the city, though didn't enjoy the beer prices!
A very large hockey/arena style venue that had quite a few empty seats. The standing area was well filled but tame by UK standards. Moz seeemed very quiet, barely saying a word until gone half way through when he mentioned Norway winning Eurovision. He did do you just haven't earned it yet baby but the rest was as normal. He seemed quiet tired and going through the motions almost. Not sure if this was because of the arena style venue but I've been following the tour from The Bowery Ballroom in New York, which was electric and the few UK dates too. This just seemed like another night for Moz. No microphone hand outs or any real interaction, a few handshakes and a couple of attempts to get on stage at the end.
Getting the overnight ferry to Finland tomorrow so we'll see what Tampere brings...

Obviously it's excellent he's played 'You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby' however, am I only one who's disappointed by the lack of variety in his solo stuff? Since the Camden gigs of early '08 I can recall two solo songs which took me by surprise, they were Seasick (which now appears to have been dropped) and Best Friend (which, let's face it, isn't very good)... Yet there's been loads of Smiths song surprises. I'd much rather some excellent surprises from his solo catalogue than The Smiths'. Just a thought.

Just about missed the start as he started a bit earlier than I'd been led to expect (about 8.40pm instead of 9pm). We came in just as "Charming Man" kicked off the show. Moz sounded great though and the pretty large crowd were digging it. Sound got better as the show progressed - one thing that struck me was that you could actually hear the words coming out of Morrissey's mouth, which is quite nice when dealing with someone with such high-quality lyrics.

Anyway, I dunno, things kind of took a turn for the worse mid-show, personally, with "Bores", "Hidden" and "Kiss you" in a row slowing things down way too much.. felt like the momentum dropped off considerably. Stockholm crowds are quiet, in my experience, and this one never quite recovered (from where I was standing anyway). There wasn't a lot of reaction to the up-tempo album closers "Sorry" and "OK" (and ending the show on "OK"'s extended bass-outro was a lame way to end, IMHO.

Btw, is it just me or are they playing "Refusal"'s weakest songs? No "Skull", "Birthday", "Good in your Time" (OK, I get it that those last two aren't crowd pleasers but surely better songs..?)

Anyway, Moz was again pretty quiet, a bit of banter about Norway /Eurovision and Marabou chocolate. Introduced the band. Not much else, as far as I can recall. No stage invasions. One shirt-toss.

Oh yeah, what the hell was that tourettes-afflicted "FOTGTD" encore?? Seriously, his chance to go out with a crowd-pleaser and he larks around with grunts and tra-la-las instead of the lyrics, till it felt ruined for me. Shame, Morrissey.

One last thing: one of the roadies threw me a half-consumed bottle of Evian from the stage. I don't know what to do with it! Was it Moz's? Or the roadie's?! Thinking of feeding my plants with it...

Itwas really, really good... We had a good time

During FIRST he shook some peoples hands and screemed in a high pitch voice 'my hand, my hand'.

Looking at the YouTube clips the sailor with cigar backdrop has gone. Now it's a portrait of an Italian-looking man with dark hair. Not Sacha Distel or Pasolini but of that ilk maybe?

Anybody any clues as to who it could be?

I got the play list from a guy at the soundboard. The following songs were played:

1. This Charming Man
2. Billy Budd
3. Black Cloud
4. How Soon Is Now?
5. When Last I Spoke To Carol
6. Ask
7. I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
8. How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
9. You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby
10. Irish Blood, English Heart
11. One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
12. The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
13. I Keep Mine Hidden
14. Let Me Kiss You
15. Girlfriend In A Coma
16. Life Is A Pigsty
17. Sorry Doesn’t Help
18. The Loop
19. I'm OK By Myself
Encore
20. First Of The Gang To Die

Compared to the set list of Gothenburg, he dropped Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others and Best Friend On The Payroll.

Not so talkative this time, but he made some remarks. After he played You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby he said something like “that one was for Kirsty who are still with us”. More people at the arena than I thought it would be but the crowd were at bit reserved. Only one shirt was thrown to the crowd.

Great gig last night, Moz & band in top form. Also audience was wilder than last time at Ringleader tour in Stockholm. You just haven't earned yet was nice surprise, other highlights When i last spoke to Carol, Arms around Paris, How soon.
I managed to take 2 decent pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goebbels/3659810956/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goebbels/3659012377/

on my blog:

http://www.letmetellyouaboutsweden.com/morrissey-hovet-june-24th-stockholm/

The quality isnt the best, need a new camera I think.

Gig yesterday was very poor. I´ve seen Moz live in Stockholm three times before this one, this was by far the worst gig. Firstly why only play for 1 hour 15 minutes?? Tickets were very pricey at 475 SEK. You could really ask for more!! Debut artists or groups that have released one album normally play for that long. It´s not the case with Morrissey.

To add to that, he didn´t seem very interested, the gig reminded me more of a rehersal. Audience were much more involved last time 2006, not strange with his lack of interest.

He is just getting sloppier by the gig now, complete lack of interest, by the end of the tour he will just be humming the words!

Clearly the worst gig of all the Swedish dates, even the first row were dead except a few exceptions. After “When Last I Spoke To Carol” some people in the second, third and-so-on rows in the middle woke up and they really saved the gig for me. Got the feeling that many were there just to have seen him.
Hovet is a lousy venue, about twice as large as Lisebergshallen in Gothenburg and the stage is probably 150 cm high. Due to all the openings (it’s actually an ice hockey rink) the venue didn’t really get dark enough and it lacked some in acoustic. The sound quality was OK but it seemed as Pooley’s equipment wasn’t soundcheck properly (this was especially noticeable during the keyboard outros of “Life Is A Pigsty” and “Sorry Doesn’t Help”). Morrissey’s voice was not well, during the second verse of “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” it became really bad and I got a flashback to the Roundhouse gig. He kept on going (luckily!) but he had problems with the high notes.

He was a little bit more talkative then in Gothenburg but he didn’t look as comfortable as in other Swedish cities. The band was also less willing to move around on stage. And I don’t blame them, the audience never really responded (maybe with the exception for “Irish Blood, English Heart” and “First Of The Gang To Die”)

“Life Is A Pigsty” was done with the same outro as in Gothenburg (i.e. the “classic” outro) but as I’ve mentioned it was a bit ruined by sound problems. “First Of The Gang To Die” got quite a short jam at the end. No noticeable lyric changes during “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby”, it got a very cool response. Seemed like many in the crowd was unfamiliar with it so it didn’t become the gig highlight or anything. Sad.

During “First Of The Gang To Die” (which was introduced with the line “…remember, hold on to your friends”) five-six people attempted a stage invasion and if the stage hadn’t been so high they would probably have succeeded, it looked as if they were coordinated and had done it before. I do have to question the security’s response however, they were very brutal and Moz stopped singing for a while during the song while observing security’s action (it was during that time he did the grunt-singing a previous poster complained about). I almost hoped he’d abort the song to criticise security. Cause they were way over the line.

Other than this it was a quite eventless gig, below average I would say. I succeeded in catching one of Pooley’s guitar picks and touching both Moz’s and Boz’s (and giving Boz a military salute). Highlight for me was “I Keep Mine Hidden” which he performed with passion, almost as if enjoyed the blank response. He mentioned that Norway (which he called “Norvège”, French for “Norway”) had won the Eurovision and asked what we thought about our neighbour. There were mostly boo’s but also some cheers. But since there were maybe 10-20 responding he said “Solomon” who then began to play the intro to “One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell” (if I remember correctly). Band introduction was after “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby” and he introduced himself as “the child”.

As always, sorry for my bad English + I’m on a bumpy train home while writing this. Love to you all och all heder till ni som försökte ta er upp på scen. //Chartres

How long was the gig, from the first song to encore? I am trying to make myself a schelude for Tampere, Finland gig and trying to catch the right train or bus late in the night. Thanks in advance.

Wouldn't it be so appropriate if Morrissey put "Michael's Bones" in the current setlist?

I have seen a few Morrissey shows these past weeks and Stockholm was good. My friends and I had the best evening but I thought the sound was not that good. It sounded a little harsh compared to the smaller venues. Morrissey seemed to be in a decent mood and the band played really well. I have also been surprised to see Christopher Pooley playing the trumpet in "When I Last Spoke to Carol" and "One Day Goodbye". Many people on here don't seem to like him and said he did not play trumpet but it looks like he has learned it.

you cant blame the crowd, they are morrissey fans who paid and i'm sure they came to enjoy themselves, not be underwhelmed.

do you notice a theme over endless gig posts? the complaint that the crowd arent into it?

the facts are that morrissey plays one huge anticlimax of a set and has done so for years. i think any discerning fan can see this very clearly. i know it's been said a million times before, but some people just dont seem to be able to fathom it. it's hard for a crowd to get stirred up over average material, and moz concerts always contain a healthy chunk of a lull in the middle cos he has absolutely no sense in what to play.

dont you think its frustrating knowing that over these years and all these recent concerts after the difficult post-maladjusted years, the gigs could be classic moments and he could be the hottest property with people desperate to go and see him. but he chooses to play a dodgy setlist time after time, and it saps the passion of the audience members who arent just morrissey worshippers and have a sense of taste also!

from gothenburg gig:

"All You Need Is Me / The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores / How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?" - that's a 3 song combo sure to leave you bored.

"Life Is A Pigsty / Best Friend On The Payroll / Let Me Kiss You / The Loop / I'm OK By Myself" - another guaranteed lull.

from stockholm gig:

"One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell / The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores / I Keep Mine Hidden / Let Me Kiss You" - lulltastic.

"Life Is A Pigsty / Sorry Doesn't Help / The Loop / I'm OK By Myself" - come on people, this is uninspired.

yeah, we surely dont all agree on what moz's best songs ever are, but i dont think there's any fan on earth who would pick a setlist remotely like the one moz comes up with. he outdoes himself with average choices when he has so many classic (and b-side classics!) to choose from.

Nobody Loves Us / Interesting Drug / Boxers / Sunny / Interlude / Piccadilly Palare / Now My Heart is Full / I've Changed My Plea To Guilty / Little Man What Now / The Lazy Sunbathers...there's ten random ones off the top of my head that would go down better than a lot of the stuff he's currently playing.

75 minute average gigs when you're an absolute legend like morrissey...it defies belief!

I don't know about michaels bones - but i think hand in glove would be a very tasteful tribute.

It was my first Moz concert so I have nothing to compere whit. I thought It was amazing. I don't know what to say. Just hoping to get the chance to se him again. Was queing to get front row places in about 20 hours, so worth it.

I liked the setlist, just one song that was missing. (There´s a light...)