20 October 2007
Merrillville (IN), Star Plaza Theatre

Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
Tomorrow
I Like You
Sister I'm A Poet
That's How People Grow Up
Jack The Ripper
London
The Loop
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
Stretch Out And Wait
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
Irish Blood, English Heart
I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
You Have Killed Me
Dear God Please Help Me
How Soon Is Now?
/First Of The Gang To Die
All in all, this was a great concert and Morrissey was in excellent form both vocally and physically. He was chatty, but perhaps slightly less than usual. The crowd was appreciative, but overall rather mellow until the encore when it looked like everyone was trying to get on stage. Five or six fans did make it there, and about three got hold of Morrissey. Security was particularly violent. Fans trying to reach Morrissey were thrown back into the crowd without any precautions, so some of them landed on other peoples heads and backs. It's a miracle no one was severely hurt.

The setlist was slightly resequenced, and in the process "Life Is A Pigsty" and "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" were respectively replaced with "Dear God Please Help Me"and the yet-to-be-released "That's How People Grow Up".

When he came on stage Morrissey growled at the back of security at each corner. As he picked up the microphone he greeted his audience by asking "So you're still here?" He then mentioned how happy they were to be at the Star Plaza and said that it must mean they are the stars. Throughout the evening a few references to Indiana people, such as Michael Jackson, were made. Morrissey asked a fan about famous people from the state and when handed the microphone the fan answered James Dean. As he was about to go into the encore Morrissey actually said "If you're passing by Marion say hello to Richard Davalos, Julie Harris and James Byron. By the latter name Morrissey actually meant James Dean (whose middle name is Byron), and the three actors he mentioned played together in the classic "East Of Eden".

Early into the show Hillary Clinton was again the subject of discussion. Morrissey joked that she couldn't really be good for America because she can't reach the microphone. When he introduced his musicians, he started with Boz, introducing him with the words "You know King Kong? Godzilla? Then you must know Boz Boorer!" He then introduced his other musicians as being played by their instruments, such as "The bass guitar plays... Solomon Walker!" After "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris", he said "Only 8 of you liked that song..." This was followed with more applause so he added, "...12". Requests were constantly being shouted by fans in the audience so at some point he sarcastically said "keep shouting those suggestions..."

A regular fan in the audience had a sign saying "You are too frinky!" After "The Loop" Morrissey asked her "You are too frinky. What does frinky mean?" She answered "Frinky is a combination of frisky and kinky. If you look it up in the dictionary, you will see your picture there". Morrissey then asked her "And that's complementary, right?" He then handed the microphone to another fan, and asked this one who was the last act to play at the venue. The fan answered "Probably Clay Aiken..." and Morrissey added "And I take it you were not in attendence?... Why does that suprise me?" Following "One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell" he commented that it is how the world goes or something to that effect. He then handed the microphone to another regular fan and this one said "Morrissey, I have to tell you that you're criminally addictive. You ought to be banned!" Morrissey retorted again as he had done earlier in the show: "You mean that in a good way, don't you?"

Besides the usual lyric changes in "Billy Budd" Morrissey also sang "So you think you even could, but everyone's laughing" and "If it meant you could die free". He changed the line "and is there any point ever having children?" in "Stretch Out And Wait" to "and is there any point ever having puppies".

 


No audio or video recording of this show are to be found on bootlegs at this point in time. One audience recording of the complete or near-complete concert has been reported, but it has not made it to common circulation yet.

 

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