Fans of Morrissey were treated to a rather interesting treat recently, witnessing the debut live performance of The Smiths’ ‘I Won’t Share You’ during the rocker’s Broadway residency.
For the last few weeks, Morrissey has been located in confines New York City, performing a run of shows at the Lunt Fontaine Theater as part of his Broadway residency.
While the bare bones of the setlist remained relatively consistent each night, these performances allowed the musician to try a few new things, switch around some tracks, offer some stylistic differences, and even resurrect some old tracks.
While his performance on May 4th saw him resurrect his sole Hottest 100 place-getter ‘The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get’ for the first time since 2004, it was his Saturday night show that resulted in something rather special.
Check out Morrissey performing ‘I Won’t Share You’:
Back in 1987, The Smiths released their final album, Strangeways, Here We Come, months after the group had split up. As a result, fans never got the chance to hear many of the songs performed on stage.
While Morrissey has stepped up to the plate over the last few decades, Saturday night saw the group’s former frontman perform a rendition of album closer ‘I Won’t Share You’ for the first time ever.
Interestingly, these Broadway shows also saw The Smiths’ ‘Girl Afraid’ thrown into relatively constant rotation, following its live resurrection just last month.
Released as the B-side to ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’, the track saw a 35-year absence from the live stage following its last performance in Dublin back in 1984, with Morrissey bringing the song back for a show in Canada.
In similar news, Morrissey recently cancelled a handful of his Canadian shows due to a “medical emergency”. These performances were set to be his first in the country in 15 years, having avoided the country due to their treatment of baby seals.
“My decision to return to Canada after almost 15 years of protest against its savage and Neanderthal annual Baby Seal Kill is entirely because my stance was ultimately of no use and helped no one,” the singer revealed.
“My voice was drowned out by the merciless swing of spiked axes crushing the heads of babies. On my return to Canada I feel that I can be of more use by making sizeable donations to animal protection groups in each city that I play.”
Morrissey is set to release his covers album, California Son, later this month. It will feature appearances from the likes of Petra Haden, Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste, and Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong.
Check out The Smiths performing ‘I Won’t Share You’:
