17 October 2007
Waukegan (IL), Genesee Theatre

Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
Tomorrow
Sister I'm A Poet
London
The Loop
Jack The Ripper
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
Stretch Out And Wait
I Like You
The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Billy Budd
All You Need Is Me
Death Of A Disco Dancer
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Irish Blood, English Heart
You Have Killed Me
Dear God Please Help Me
How Soon Is Now?
/First Of The Gang To Die
This was a great concert. Morrissey was in top shape, playful and talkative. Only half of the venue was filled, but the crowd present was very energetic. The fans danced and sang along to their favourite songs. Several of them managed to make it on stage during the encore when it seemed the whole crowd wanted to be there.

For the first time in many weeks there were only minor changes to the setlist. "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" and "Irish Blood, English Heart" took the place of "Let Me Kiss You". This means that the crowd in Waukegan was treated to a record seven songs from the Smiths days.

When he came on stage Morrissey greeted the audience with the line "It's wet, it's Wednesday, it's Waukegan, I've been sent to cheer you up!" One verse into set opener "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" a fan in the front rows shouted something and Morrissey matter-of-factly said "yeah?" Over the final bars of the song he went next to the drumkit and slowly articulated what was printed on the bass drum's skin: "Some... of... us... is... turning... nasty!". After the song he thanked the cheering crowd and added "...and thank you for dragging yourself along..." After "Tomorrow" he asked someone who was wearing one of the tour shirts, "Very nice shirt if I may say... Who designed it? Me!..." Following "Sister I'm A Poet" he teased the crowd into action by saying "Now I gather, because this is such a ornate theatre, that you're all stuck in those dreadful mouse glue traps that they sell at Home Depot... Are you trapped?" The crowd shouted in the negative, but it backfired on them because Morrissey then asked "So you're willingly static? (crowd: no!)... Yesss! My fault..."

Morrissey followed the line "and do you think you've made the right decision this time?" in "London" with a shout of "ME? NO!" After the song he proceeded with the introduction of the band: "You can see by the name tags on their shirts... faking brutes(?), Boz Boorer... Solomon Walker... Matt Walker... a real Mexican, Jesse Tobias... and would you please wish Happy Birthday to Michael Farrell" The crowd cheered but didn't wish Michael happy birthday, so Morrissey shouted "You didn't say it!" and this time the crowd complied. Following "Jack The Ripper" he said "I have to confess that (someone shouts 'we love you Morrissey!')... Ah, you must never feel pressurized, really, you must never feel pressurized... However, when I was in school (someone shouts something) Why, why is that? When I was in school - I have to confess - history lessons never mentioned Waukegan (crowd laughs)... I don't know why, but they never did. However I'm sure when you were in school, they never mentioned me! So that's it really!"

Kenny Loggins was booked to play Waukegan as well in the following weeks, so after "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself" Morrissey joked "I'm not really sure, is it as good as Kenny Loggins? I don't know... I can't tell..." After the line "is there any point ever having children" in "Stretch Out And Wait" he grunted "No!". After the song he pointed to the backdrop showing Richard Burton and asked "And the historical figure behind me is?" He walked along the first row and took fans' answers, until someone shouted the right one and he said "very good..." Then someone shouted for "Speedway" and Morrissey immediately shouted "No!" As an introduction to "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" he said "One of the fascinating horrors about the American media is that obsession with really dull women. For example Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton... they're never interested in intelligent women, always really stupid women and... Why do you think this is? Oh, you must know... you must know, somebody must know, I mean does anybody care about Anna Nicole Smith? (crowd: no!, someone points out Hillary Clinton) Well, there's no point discussing her really, 'cause she's not human (crowd laughs)... However I think we have to realise that... Well Hillary, you know, is she a woman? I've never seen Hillary and Bill together, I think it's the same person... I think we can safely gage that the world is full of crashing bores."

The latter number was very well received so Morrissey had to tell the crowd "Steady on... it's only Wednesday!" After "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" he asked "Any question?" then immediately said "Too late!" He walked to his favourite fan Julia, said "oye" and handed her the microphone. She asked him how he was, but before he answered he turned to a fan who had just shouted a request for "Golden Lights" and said "What, you like 'Golden Lights' do you? (returns to Julia) Sorry... I'm quite well... How are you? (she answers and asks him about his stay) We stayed in Lincoln Nebraska, oh yeah... Yes, you? (she answers) There!" The yet-to-be-released "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" was very well received and Morrissey gratefully told the audience "If we think we can cheer you up for four seconds... it hasn't been in vain... If!... If we think!" After "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" he said "Written in pain... written in staggering pain, staggering pain, not just ordinary pain...", but it unclear if he had the latter song in mind, or the one he was about to go into, "Irish Blood, English Heart".

After "You Have Killed Me" Morrissey said "It's very (?)". He extended a line in "How Soon Is Now?" to "So you go on your own, and you leave on your own, so what! so what!" His final words to the audience before going into the encore were the quick "Well thank you for listening..." The "mouse glue trap" came undone during that encore. Fans crowd-surfed their way to the front, and quite a few of them made it on stage. Actually some of the successful stage crashers surprisingly just ran across the stage instead of going to Morrissey.

 


A recording of "Death Of A Disco Dancer" from this date was released in 2009 as a b-side on the "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" 7" single.

 


A fanmade video recording of this show is circulated on bootleg DVDs (recorder: Ivory88). The quality is excellent, the image is very sharp. The footage is generally steady and clear, only now and then does the camera point down, probably because of nearby security. Unfortunately, only the first 17 songs (so up to "Shoplifters Of The World Unite") were recorded.

An audio-only audience recording is also out there. This one features the full set. The sound is reasonable, but more muffled than the sound of the video recording mentioned above.

 

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