Tucson - Gotham (Oct. 23, 1997)

Summary by Todd Pringle

The Smoking Popes opened for Morrissey, beginning around 8:15. Not too bad, and they had a Matt Pinfield lookalike on bass. The venue was probably the best of the 10 or so shows I’ve seen since 1991- a new club called Gotham. Very small and the sound quality was truly excellent. The place seemed full (capacity 1500), and this was probably largely due to the size of the place. The Tucson crowd was pretty mellow, with the front rows consisting of the die-hards. Though I didn’t keep track of the songs, the playlist was fairly similar to his other shows on the tour, including the San Diego show. The only difference I noted from that show was that he played "Dagenham Dave" in Tucson. The crowd started getting a bit excited for "Paint A Vulgar Picture" and "Satan Rejected My Soul", and the encore - "Shoplifters" worked the crowd to a frenzy. Recognizing it was the last song, I went over the top and surfed up and over the barrier. I told the guard who caught me that I just wanted to shake Morrissey’s hand and he said "I know." The Mozzer reached down and shook my hand as I thanked him, and he smiled as if embarrassed. After my rush, the floodgates opened, the security was pretty cool while staying in control most of the time. Four to five more people made it up to shake his hand or give him a hug. He was appreciative and beckoned the crowd up. Though his opening "Tucson, hello!" didn’t quite match "It looks like a good night for a hurricane (San Diego)," there were several witty comments including "This one’s off our horrible new album," "Does anyone have a comb, please," and "You all came from Phoenix, didn’t you?" The Mozzer seemed pleasantly surprised at the Tucson turnout, and he was at his theatrical best throughout. An excellent show by all measures.

Summary by Jim Duke

Here’s the scoop from Tucson, AZ. The show was technically at the Gotham, but was really in a big bar area that is surrounded by four smaller clubs. After speaking with the bartender, it was discovered that there were 1,100 people in attendance. It was kind of funny seeing Morrissey playing with a blaring red "restroom" sign just off stage right!

It was nice to be in a club and be so close, and there were some people who were really into it. Most, though, didn’t seem to know too many of the newer songs. That was OK though, because Moz blistered through the set undeterred, and the crowd was pogo-ing like mad.

It was a great show, but once again the security were in full force, performing their duties all too well and not allowing anything interesting to happen. In fact, my friend got thrown out of the show for taking a picture. One picture, goodbye.. So please tell all your readers to be quite careful, especially in the smaller venues. The manager of the bar was pretty cool about it, and said something to the effect that it was a request of the artiste.

It seems Morrissey’s management doesn’t like people taking pictures. My question is: What the Hell are we going to do? Sell them? I truly think not. So even though it was kind of a bummer for me, I must say that the setlist was brilliant. Morrissey’s voice was on target. Boz was cool. One guy got up on stage, and Boz made sure that our heroes didn’t beat him up too much. Quite nice to hear "Hold On To Your Friends." Once again a great concert!