New Brunswick, NJ - Nov. 21, 1997
State Theatre (capacity: 1800)

Set List:

The Boy Racer / Alma Matters / London / Billy Budd / Spring-Heeled Jim / Now My Heart Is Full / Speedway / Reader Meet Author / Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself / Roy's Keen / The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils / The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get / Paint A Vulgar Picture // Shoplifters Of The World Unite

Set list provided/confirmed by: Craig Smith, Torr Leonard and Trevor.

* According to Torr "Satan Rejected My Soul" was on the set list after "Paint A Vulgar Picture" but not played.



Summary by Robert Gavula

I had been to film festivals at the State many times before, but never to a concert there... It was a little unusual, in that the State Theater is a play/movie house and there are rows of seats right up to the stage... The stage was only about 3 and 1/2 feet high and there was absolutely no barricade... Security was present, but seemed relatively friendly (more on that later).

I ran into Alain and Spencer in a pizzeria (Filippo's Famous) before the show... They were just sitting in a booth right by the counter, talking... Nobody seemed to recognize them, but then the place was full of some kind of prep-school convention... Weird... Anyway, I said a barely audible hello to them, and they just kind of put on their tour passes and walked out... I had a slice of pizza... The Smoking Popes came on at 8:00 sharp and were pretty well received by the crowd... They played for about a half hour... I don't really know their songs well, but they sounded pretty good...

After the usual intermission of Morrissey's favourite tunes, the smoke came on and the lights went down at precisely 9:15. Following the drum solo from "The Operation", Morrissey and the band appeared to a roaring ovation... I had heard people saying that the theater was not nearly a sell-out (and tickets were still available just prior to the show), but the place seemed pretty full... I was in the balcony this night, first row, and had a great view of everything (unlike the Central Park show)... Morrissey was dressed a little oddly, I thought, in baggy grey dress slacks, black shoes (loafers?) and a loose fitting pink button down shirt... He took the microphone and growled, "hello... Hello... HELLO!", and the band launched into "The Boy Racer". The band sounded great and Morrissey seemed in good spirits, if not all that talkative... He did mention something like, "Welcome to a quiet Friday night in...", and "You see, you should have gone to McDonald's". There was another bit of conversation later in the show, but he seemed to be speaking down his shirt, and I could not understand...

Morrissey was much more gracious with the crowd here than at the Central Park show in September... At one point he crouched at the corner of the stage and held hands with two girls for what seemed like an eternity...  At another point he sat and stared seductively into a group at the other end of the stage... I unbuttoned my shirt and flashed my bare chest at Morrissey during "Paint a Vulgar Picture" (Pitiful, I know) and he just looked at his feet and shook his head slowly...

"Shoplifters..." was the only encore and quite a few people made it onto the stage... It almost seemed to me that the security was allowing people to slip through... They seemed much gentler than what I had read, with the people that did make it... A funny moment... One guy dove on stage, got up and started rushing to the spot where Morrissey had been, only to have Boz point his guitar at him like a rifle... The guy looked very confused for a moment before he realized that Morrissey was now standing right behind him...

Morrissey finished the entire song, and immediately ran off the stage... We bolted out the door and around to the back of the theater, where one of the band (couldn't tell who) yelled at us out the dressing room window to, "Stop bloody runnin'"... After waiting outside in the rain for about fifteen minutes, Morrissey was whisked out the back door, wearing a tan 'dad hat' and onto the bus... The band came out, one by one, and they were off...

 


last modified: 29 Nov 1997 11:42 AM

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