The Smiths’ third-ever concert, 28 years ago today at The Hacienda

[The Seeker of Good Songs]

Exactly 28 years ago today, The Smiths took the stage for only their third concert — and only their second with the final Morrissey/Johnny Marr/Andy Rourke/Mike Joyce lineup — opening for Factory Records funk band 52nd Street at New Order’s infamous Manchester club The Hacienda.
A chronicle of the show on Passions Just Like Mine calls the eight-song set “a milestone in the Smiths’ history,” and notes that, “Morrissey thought the Hacienda was too grey and had the place filled with flowers, beginning a recognizable tradition (fans bringing flowers) that would last many years.” The setlist (see below) is notable for its inclusions of early B-side “Jeane” and “What Do You See in Him?,” a rarely performed track that would later resurface with different lyrics as the song “Wonderful Woman,” another B-side.
The concert was professionally filmed, Passions Just Like Mine notes, but never broadcast — and remained largely unseen until surfacing online in 2009. Unfortunately, the uploader has disabled embedding, so we can’t post it here — but we’ve got the entire show playlisted on our Slicing Up Video channel on YouTube. Given the footage’s age and the band’s unknown status at the time, the quality’s fairly remarkable.


WATCH: The Smiths at the Hacienda, 2/4/83

(link to youtube)

Setlist: The Smiths, The Hacienda, Manchester, UK, 2/4/83
“These Things Take Time”
“What Difference Does It Make?”
“The Hand That Rocks The Cradle”
“Handsome Devil”
“Jeane”
“What Do You See In Him?”
“Hand In Glove”"
“Miserable Lie”

from: http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2011/02/04/smiths-hacienda-video-feb-4-1983

 

[Amy]

Fantastic footage, I wonder if Moz and Johnny know this stuff is floating about online?
I think the original lyrics for "These Things..." are better than the final version, too - the verse about blinding fire etc.

 

[goinghome]

A review and some videos:

As the band took the stage Morrissey greeted the audience by saying “Hello… We are the Smiths. We are not ‘Smiths’, we are the Smiths. ‘These Things Take Time’....” Following the latter set opener he simply said “Oh thank you” then the band launched into “What Difference Does It Make?”. Within a year the song would be released as a single and make it onto the band’s debut album. At this point it was played slower and featured slightly different lyrics. For example instead of “I’m so sick and tired” (album) or “I’m so very tired” (Peel session), Morrissey simply sang “I’m so tired”. Also, Morrissey sang “Oh my sacred Mother in falsetto at the end, instead of the more familiar “Oh my sacred one”.

Next up was “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” and it was introduced by Morrissey with a simple drop of its title. This song also featured different lyrics to the version which would be released on the band’s debut album. The outro of “as long as there’s love / I did my best for her” was absent and a line was then sung as “your mother she need never know”. Right before “Handsome Devil” Morrissey said: “I repeat: the only thing to be in 1983 is handsome… ‘Handsome Devil’.” The next track was probably seeing its live debut and was simply introduced as “Jeane!”. Strangely it would not be performed for long, it was soon to be dropped from the setlist until the Smiths reinstated it when touring the debut album more than a year later.

The performance of “What Do You See In Him?” was a very passionate one. The song would not remain in the Smiths’ set for long. After being dropped for a few months it would re-emerge in June as “Wonderful Woman”, with the same music, but different lyrics. The song that would become the Smiths debut single was then introduced with a slowly articulated “Hand. In. Glove.” It was also performed very passionately, and seems to have woken the audience into paying attention to the yet unknown opening band. The song was well received and this prompted Morrissey to shyly say “Oh you’re very kind… thank you…”

The evening’s final number was then announced twice as “Miserable Lie”. The song’s early lyrics didn’t yet include the line “I know the wind-swept mystical air” while the line “I recognise that mystical air” was sung twice. Instead of “I’m just a country-mile behind the world” Morrissey sang “I’d run a hundred miles away from you”. After the song Morrissey simply said “Bye bye…” twice and the band left the stage while a few new converts cheered and whistled.

A review written by Jim Shelley and published in the NME a month and a half later had only good words for the Smiths, comparing them to Magazine, Josef K and The Fire Engines.

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/the_night_the_smiths_changed_music/

 

[Stephane]

A review and some videos:

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/the_night_the_smiths_changed_music/

Actually the proper credit should be http://www.passionsjustlikemine.com/live/smiths-g830204.htm

The webpage you credited just stole my text and didn't give a credit for it.

Stephane

 

[modrevolve]

Hey Amy..In case you haven't read the story, this is from smithstorrents as posted by member "fludger" on how he obtained copies of the 3 Hacidena shows from 1983..

I obtained the vid of the three Hacienda performance from 1983 via eBay back in 2006. Happened upon it quite by chance and bizarrely nobody else bid on it!

The seller said she was selling it on behalf of her father who was a friend of Johnny Marr. Johnny had given her father the video way back when. I believe the majority of Hacienda gigs were professionally filmed during the mid eighties with cameras rigged up on either side of the stage - these are certainly not audience recordings - and of course a number of these recordings have been commerically released - The Fall; Gun Club; Cabaret Voltaire etc.

Never quite sure why it's taken so long to get round to upping it here and on Dime. Steven deserves the credit for all the technical stuff

Jon

follow-up ifno from member "Citizen 2"
Just to add to Jon's reply. The IKON logo appears at the beginning of the first gig. I think the eBay seller said that the shows were recorded and intended for commercial release. Sadly, Jon and I have lost the email correspondence that accompanied the sale of the tape. This gave excellent information about provenance. Attempts to recover this information also account for the delay in circulating this earlier ...

 

[goinghome]

Thanks for all the aiding and abetting, Stephane and modrevolve!!