11 December 1997
Northgate Arena, Chester, UK

Do Your Best And Don't Worry
The Boy Racer
Billy Budd
Reader Meet Author
Paint A Vulgar Picture
Spring-Heeled Jim
The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils
Alma Matters
Trouble Loves Me
Speedway
Now My Heart Is Full
Roy's Keen
Satan Rejected My Soul
/Shoplifters Of The World Unite
The final show of the Maladjusted tour went down well, but Morrissey looked tired and slightly absent-minded. He distractedly made a few lyrical mistakes which were followed with growls of frustration. The band didn't seem satisfied with the sound. The venue was a gymnasium and wasn't really appropriate for this type of concert. There was a high barrier about three meters from the stage so only a few lucky fans managed to reach their idol. It was still possible to touch Morrissey's hands, so there was a lot of action against the barrier. All in all, despite those conditions, fans were in great spirits and very receptive. They broke into chants of Morrissey's name more than once.

Only minor changes were made to the setlist order as "Ambitious Outsiders" was replaced with "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils".

As he entered stage, Morrissey greeted the audience by shouting "Goodbye Chester!" He changed a line in opening number "Do Your Best And Don't Worry" to "against the worst of what you are what the hell, you won't win". After "The Boy Racer" came the second part of his greeting "I'd like to say hello to the - Can you hear me? I'd like to say hello to the bruisers from Merseyside... I don't know why..." Then after the next song he added "So nice to be away from Altrincham!" (Altrincham is where Morrissey lived when in England).

"Paint A Vulgar Picture" was introduced with the line "We'd now like to do a song from the album 'Strangeways, Here's My Bum'." However there was a delay because either Alain or Boz started to pick the first notes to "Spring-Heeled Jim". Someone probably needed to change guitars or tune them and Morrissey waited patiently for everyone to be ready, meanwhile reassuring the waiting audience with the words "it's a minor technicality..." After "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils" he cryptically said "Thank you fortune..."

Morrissey seemed distracted during "Alma Matters" and made a few mistakes. After the song he asked the crowd "Are you bored?" to which he obviously got a negative answer, so he enquired further "Why not?". The crowd was really honest in their answer because following "Trouble Loves Me" it broke into a chant of Morrissey's name. In "Now My Heart Is Full" the singer slightly changed a line to "Every jammy Stretford poet". Main set closer "Satan Rejected My Soul" was introduced with the words "We're about to release a Christmas single..." After the song but before going into the pre-encore break Morrissey simply shouted "Merry Christmas!". After "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" he just said "I love you..." before exiting the stage for the last time of 1997.

 


A quite good audience recording of the full set is circulated on bootlegs and on the internet, occasionally under the title "Sweet December" (recorder: Patrick).

 

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