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Added 5th June 2007 by jsz

Artefact

Ticket
The Smiths
Free Trade Hall
13th March 1984

This is from their first major tour in support of the classic debut album.

The Smiths' fans were a little more rowdy than the venue's (very few and old) security staff were expecting. Consequently the first 4 rows of the stalls collapsed as the audience jumped on the backs of the seats. This caused some panic as everyone had to get quickly out of the way of the collapsing rows (some less successfully than others). There may have been some minor injuries but nothing serious.

The gig carried on and was fabulous.

Setlist:

01. Hand In Glove
02. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
03. Girl Afraid
04. This Charming Man
05. Pretty Girls Make Graves
06. Still Ill
07. This Night Has Opened My Eyes
08. Barbarism Begins At Home
09. Back To The Old House
10. What Difference Does It Make?
11. I Don't Owe You Anything (with Sandie Shaw)
12. Reel Around The Fountain
13. You've Got Everything Now
14. Handsome Devil
15. These Things Take Time
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Latest Discussion

“I was in row EE (for the start of the first song anyway) and the reason the seats collapsed was because so many people ran to the front that the weight of the crowd in front of the stage bent and then broke the seats backwards as they were on wooden frames. The crowd had to walk along the backs of the seats to escape from being crushed. A girl in front of us was trapped by her legs and we weren't able to pull her free - I suspect there could have been broken bones. We ended up at the back after trying to get help from - as correctly stated, staff more used to dealing with classical concerts. Gave up and watched from the back - totally pissed off. At the end we went to recover our coats and found wooden spikes sticking up where the seats had broken off. I am still mentally scarred to this day. So much for getting good seats. The Red Guitars were good as support.”
04 Nov 2009
“This was my first ever concert! I still have the stub for it (Seat U35) . I recall pandemonium as the front seats gave way and even briefy lost a shoe in the ensuing scuffle, only to be reunited with it a bit later. For me this was The Smiths at their peak. Regrettably though I never saw them 'live' again.”
20 May 2010
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