27 September 1997
Riviera Theater, Chicago, IL

The Boy Racer
Alma Matters
Dagenham Dave
Speedway
Billy Budd
Reader Meet Author
Sunny
Satan Rejected My Soul (incomplete)
Maladjusted
Now My Heart Is Full
The second Chicago show on the Maladjusted tour went down even worse than the first one. Morrissey was still ill and this time it really showed. He hadn't even shown up earlier for soundcheck. He came on saying something like "Chicago, a wonderful town... sometimes". At one point later in the concert he crossed himself, joined his hands and touched his throat as if praying for his voice. He asked his audience "I'm still sputtering, can you tell?" and after he started having trouble with his voice during "Dagenham Dave", said "Thank you for being so patient".

"Nobody Loves Us" was on the setlist right before "Billy Budd", but Morrissey decided at the last second to skip it. Then "Roy's Keen" was also dropped and the band went straight into "Satan Rejected My Soul" which was the next planned song (under the title "Satan Loves Us"). Morrissey missed a verse after the first chorus and after trying in vain to catch up, finally decided to stop the song altogether. "Ambitious Outsiders" was supposed to be next but it was also skipped. In "Maladjusted" which came next Morrissey changed a line to "still I maintain there's something wrong with me" and "well I was English, what could I know?".

Morrissey then sat down on the edge of the stage before "Now My Heart Is Full" and looked rather weary. He seemed to give all he had to finish the song which would end up being the last of the concert. After its performance Morrissey just decided to end it there, he left the stage, followed by his musicians. "Paint A Vulgar Picture" wasn't on the set list. "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" was planned as the encore, but it obviously wasn't performed. So in total, four songs were skipped.

The crowd was rather rowdy before these event, there was a good deal of pushing and many fans made it on stage. But afterwards, it was worse. Many disappointed fans booed, were rude and insulted Morrissey, seemingly not aware despite the signs that Morrissey was too ill to continue.

 


This concert is one of the few from this tour not yet circulated on bootleg.

 

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