10 February 2000
Chicago Theater, Chicago, IL

You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side
The Boy Racer
Tomorrow
Hairdresser On Fire
November Spawned A Monster
Break Up the Family
Is It Really So Strange?
Lost
Speedway
Meat Is Murder
Now My Heart Is Full
I Can Have Both
Alma Matters
The Teachers Are Afraid Of the Pupils
Half A Person
A Swallow On My Neck
/Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
This gig went down well, although portions of the crowd weren't as enthusiastic as others and the sound wasn't the best. No one made it on stage, there were very few attempts to do so actually. There was no change in the setlist content but the songs were resequenced.

Morrissey was wearing his PVC suit when he came on stage. He greeted the audience, and after the opening pair of "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side" and "The Boy Racer", he commented on his outfit as he did each time he wore it: "Here we are live from death row... This is PVC and so am I... and, it's very nice to see your happy faces... well, some of them..." After "Tomorrow" he announced "If you're sick to death of alternative music, which we are, then we're still a reasonably good alternative (crowd cheers)... I said reasonably..."

At the end of "Hairdresser On Fire" Morrissey changed out of the PVC outfit and on returning to the stage announced "These t-shirts say English Martyrs because... I am one..." A few songs down the setlist the Smiths' "Is It Really So Strange?" was introduced with the line "Now it really is time to kiss the past's ass!". After the song, amid the incredibly loud cheers, he added "How nice of you to remember when millions and millions forget... What did they forget? I don't know..." After "Lost" he changed into another fresh shirt, disposed of the sweaty one in the crowd, and said "By the way whoever gets the shirt gets me..." Aware that he had been saying this at every show for some time, he then added "I've never said that before!"

"Meat Is Murder" was introduced with "This song is for... those of you who are... still vampires and... still cannibals and things like that... surely, something will change your mind one day..." After the song he returned to an earlier subject: "I realise that we haven't released a, you know, an album or a cd, you know, for almost three years, but I still don't have a record deal... MTV still hate me... VH1 still hate me... and it just occurred to me recently that... I don't actually have anything to do with the music industry... which is just about as alternative as you can get, really..."

After "Now My Heart Is Full" Morrissey changed yet again into a fresh shirt and as he threw the previous one in the crowd he joked "When your body is as good as mine you have to show off as much as possible (crowd cheers)... I thought you might disagree with that somehow..." He then introduced the following number with the line "I believe this song is called 'I Can Have Both'... I could be wrong..." Before going into it however he asked someone "D'you know who you look like? Do you know who you look like? Do you know?" Someone shouted 'Morrissey!' and the man replied "No you don't look like me... even I don't look like me..."

In "I Can Have Both" Morrissey changed a line to "Smiling through the window to the one who never picks you". After being done with his vocal part in that song, as the band was playing the instrumental outro, he asked the fan again what he looked like. After the song he had his customary American television programme related comment: "And if you understood the words to that song... I think you should phone 1-800-96-JERRY... and tell us about it..." Then to someone shouting Johnny Marr's name Morrissey replied "Johnny Marr was Stephen Spielberg's first choice for E.T." The crowd booed this comment very loudly so as the opening notes of "Alma Matters" were heard he added "It was Steven Spielberg's, not me..."

In "Alma Matters" Morrissey followed the opening line "So the choice I have made, it may seem strange to you" with the question "does it?" Further into the song he followed the similar "So the life I have thrown away" with "there it is..." After the song he shouted "Somebody in the 5th row is having too much fun, quick, security!" After wearing the PVC suit and many t-shirts throughout the evening, Morrissey returned to the stage for the encore dressed in his sailor suit.

 


An average sounding audience recording of the complete concert (minus the intro to the opening song) is limitedly circulated on bootleg compact discs. It is sometimes seen with artwork under the title "So Much For London". This is also found on the internet but collectors of digital bootlegs should be aware that most users have the following Chicago concert listed under this date. They should therefore have a look at the setlist to make sure that they are downloading the proper recording.

 

Do you have information about this concert? Or do you own an uncirculated recording of it? If yes please contribute and get credited.