Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL
How Soon Is Now?This concert went down well, but Morrissey wasn't as talkative as he had generally been on this tour. The stage at the Aragon Ballroom was very high, this might have had an effect on his communication with the audience. It certainly stopped anyone with plans of making up to hug Morrissey. The sound was also subpar and the audience wasn't the most enthusiastic, which didn't help. Morrissey still teased the audience by caressing himself suggestively and by throwing two or three of his shirts into the crowd to be fought over.
First Of The Gang To Die
November Spawned A Monster
I Like You
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference
Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice
Bigmouth Strikes Again
Let Me Kiss You
I Have Forgiven Jesus
Rubber Ring
Irish Blood, English Heart
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Subway Train/Everyday Is Like Sunday
You Know I Couldn't Last
/There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Morrissey brought the setlist length back up to 18 songs by dropping part-timers "Jack The Ripper" and "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" and reinstating "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me", "Rubber Ring", "Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice" and "I Have Forgiven Jesus".
After set opener "How Soon Is Now" Morrissey welcomed the audience into his ballroom and said "You are our honoured guests". During the bridge in "November Spawned A Monster" he fell to the floor and writhed languorously. He then announced "This tour is brought to you tonight by MTV... that was a joke, of course... (grinning) Does anybody even watch MTV? (crowd boos) Then why does it exist?" This was an election period in the States so as an introduction to "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" he said: "You do realize that if that Bush character is re-elected, Iraq will be safer than America?"
"Let Me Kiss You" had just been released as a single in the UK and it looked like it was going to finish its first week at about #6 in the British singles chart, so before its performance Morrissey congratulated himself for three top 10 singles in Britain this year. After the song he told the cheering audience "It sounds better on the album, but thanks anyway...." After "I Have Forgiven Jesus" he said "Not too loud for you? It could be cranked up..." The album track "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel" was simply introduced with "This song is off 'You Are the Quarry'."
At some point Morrissey commented on the height of the stage: "The stage is too high and I'm blind as a bat... If I fall, well, I guess you will catch me." When one fan tried to get on stage but failed, he still got the consolation prize of being told by Morrissey "Nice try". Before "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" the singer asked "Are you sure you like these songs?... Have you ever asked yourself why?" When he came back on stage for the encore, his final words before going into "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" were the sombre "You know this world is changing... The truth is we are all specs of dust in this world... What's the point?"
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