The Smiths - April 21, 1984 Vinyl Party, De Meervaart, Amsterdam, Netherlands


One of my favorite early Smiths concerts - and maybe even the earliest one I have. I had a 3-inch disc with a few of these tracks from this that was a bonus with a book that my friend bought (thanks Mike) and looked for the whole show for a while. Thank God for the internet and fellow music junkies - we are united against paying exorbitant amounts at import record stores where you'd have to be on fire to even be looked at, even if it's just to tell you "there's no smoking in here". There are some interesting tidbits online that I will paste here about this show that maybe you will find useful -

"This was the Smiths' first concert in a country where the main language wasn't English. Everything went well, although Morrissey sounded rather reserved at first, he was probably intimidated by the language barrier. But by the end of the show he seemed to be more comfortable. He did say a few things in between songs but didn't really alter song lyrics the way he sometimes did in England where the Smiths' material was probably more familiar.
During the recent UK dates, the intro to "Hand In Glove" had been extended by a few bars when it was moved to set opener. For some reason, even if the song was still opener, the usual intro was brought back. The following song on the setlist was introduced by Morrissey: "Thank you, this song is called 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now'." The song had just been recorded for release one month later so this live performance was much closer to the studio version. Only minor differences remained.

"Girl Afraid", which was next on the setlist and planned as the latter single's b-side, had also just been recorded in the 4-week break between the end of the recent UK tour and this concert. So not only was "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" closer to its 'final' version, but so was "Girl Afraid". In the instrumental bridge in the middle of the song, Morrissey hummed "Mmmmm that mistake again", as he does on the studio version. He had never done this before.

"This Charming Man" was introduced as being "...a song about a bicycle". Then before "Barbarism Begins At Home", Morrissey said "Incidentally, it's a great privilege to be here." "Miserable Lie", "I Don't Owe You Anything" and "These Things Take Time" were brought back into the setlist. They were rarely performed at this point in time. The latter two were almost at the end of their live career."

Hand In Glove
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Girl Afraid
This Charming Man
Barbarism Begins At Home
This Night Has Opened My Eyes
Miserable Lie
Still Ill
I Don't Owe You Anything
What Difference Does It Make?
Handsome Devil
You've Got Everything Now
These Things Take Time


link in comments