Morrissey wrapped up his seven-night run at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre‘ on Saturday evening with an epic set that featured the live premiere of the Smiths classic “I Won’t Share You.” The song appears on the Smiths 1987 LP Strangeways, Here We Come, but the group broke up before they had a chance to tour it, meaning this was the first time that Morrissey sang live it since the original recording 32 years ago. (He has now performed every single song from Strangeways, Here We Come except “Unhappy Birthday.”)
Many of Morrissey’s recent tours have focused on songs from his recent solo albums with setlist that didn’t change much from one night to the next. But during this Broadway run he’s dug deep into his catalog, moved the setlist around each night and dragged out gems like “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get,” Trouble Loves Me” and “Dial-a-Cliché.”
During a show in Montreal late last month, he shocked fans by resurrecting the 1984 Smiths obscurity “Girl Afraid.” He hadn’t performed it since a Smiths show in Dublin, Ireland 35 years ago. Morrissey played it again at three of the seven Broadway shows. Other Smiths songs performed during the Broadway run included “How Soon Is Now,” “What She Said” and “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore.”
After a performance Sunday evening in Philadelphia at the NON-COMMvention, Morrissey takes a long break before returning the road on September 5th for another North American tour. On May 24th, he’s releasing the covers collection California Son, where he tackles songs by Laura Nyro, Bob Dylan, Jobriath and Tim Hardin.