28 October 1997
Bren Events Center, Irvine, CA

Maladjusted
Do Your Best And Don't Worry
Roy's Keen
Hold On To Your Friends
The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils
Trouble Loves Me
Speedway
Spring-Heeled Jim
Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself
Alma Matters
The Boy Racer
Now My Heart Is Full
Ambitious Outsiders
/London
This concert went down very well. Morrissey was in very good spirits and his fans were very enthusiastic. There was a good deal of crowd surfing and quite a few rather violent but unsuccessful attempts by fans to climb on stage. An incredible number of gifts for Morrissey were thrown towards the stage, many of which caught by the man himself as they were flying by him and thrown back into the crowd.

The setlist was mixed up quite a bit, with songs that were usually played towards the end switched with others that were usually played earlier. In the process, "Sunny" was dropped and replaced by "Roy's Keen". But more importantly, the encore of "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" was replaced by another Smiths-era song, "London", played for the first time on this tour, and consequently, for the first time in North America. After trying and dropping "The Queen Is Dead" a few days earlier, this was another attempt by Morrissey to change the encore from "Shoplifters Of The World Unite" to something else. However this one would not last either. The song would not be back on the setlist for many weeks, and when it would return, it would be usually be played early in the set.

As Morrissey came on stage, he shouted "Shalom!" then launched into set opener "Maladjusted". In the song he changed a line to "Still I maintain there's nothing wrong with me". After that opening number, he thanked the audience and asked "Comfortable?". In "Do Your Best And Don't Worry" he slightly changed a few lines from "this is you on a drab day, you in a drab dress" to "you on a pale day, you in a drab dress" and "the way you hang yourself" to "the way you watch yourself". Near the end of the song he was almost pulled into the audience when he crouched to shake some hands. He managed to pull himself free before that happened, but not before he found himself on the stage floor, near the edge.

During "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils" someone threw a cigarette on stage which Morrissey picked up and held in his mouth for some time. After the song he said "You certainly are very playful... so am I." "Speedway" began with a false start. In "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself", Morrissey sang "you just stand there" instead of "you just sit there". Before "Alma Matters", he said "You know, I always wished I'd been born Mexican but... it's too late now!".

As he returned to the stage after a short break to perform the encore, Morrissey thanked his fans "Thank you very graciously". Then came the surprise live performance of "London". Just as he did during the Smiths days or on the 1995 Boxers tour, Morrissey sang "My God he goes!" instead of "he really goes" and answered "do you think you've made the right decision this time?" with "Oh no! Oh no!". At the end of the song he removed the fresh shirt he had just changed into and threw it into the audience to be fought over.

 


An audience recording of the whole concert is circulated on fanmade videos and DVDs. The clear and steady footage was filmed from the rear of the venue.

The audio portion of this video recording was lifted and is circulated by itself on bootleg cds and on the internet.

 

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