16 November 1997
The Ritz, Raleigh, NC

The Boy Racer
London
Alma Matters
Billy Budd
Reader Meet Author
Ambitious Outsiders
Spring-Heeled Jim
Paint A Vulgar Picture
Hold On To Your Friends
Do Your Best And Don't Worry
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils
Satan Rejected My Soul
/Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Morrissey was quite talkative and in a rather playful mood in Raleigh. There was a 3-foot pit between the crowd and the stage, with guards lined up in it, so only a few fans made it up to their idol. There were significant changes in the setlist. Five songs were dropped and "Ambitious Outsiders", "Hold On To Your Friends", "Do Your Best And Don't Worry", "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" and "Satan Rejected My Soul" were added again.

The first thing Morrissey said in the evening came after the very well received "London": "I'm so happy to be here, where am I?". In "Alma Matters" he sang "It's my life to wreck my own way" instead of "It's my life to ruin my own way". After the song, he said "You realise you're missing ER don't you?" and asked the audience if they minded. "Paint A Vulgar Picture" was introduced by Morrissey with the line "I was quite pleased to hear this week that this next song was covered by... Whitney Houston". After the longer and slower "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils", Morrissey said "You didn't really like that one did you?" In "Satan Rejected My Soul" he changed one line to "you'll never see, all the crap in life it's cost me".

Returning to the stage after a short break to perform the encore, Morrissey announced "Just one more song before bedtime" before going into "Shoplifters Of The World Unite". After a verse and a chorus, seeing a fan being manhandled by security, Morrissey stopped the song and shouted at security "Stop, stop, stop... what are you doing? You don't have to kill anyone... this isn't World War III, be gentle with them". The band then started the song again from the beginning and, this time, were able to finish it.

 


A very bad audience recording of the full concert is scarcely found on the internet.

 

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