Morrissey steals all Chicago hearts

April 4, 2009, at the Aragon Ballroom

By Kirstie Shanley
Published: April 5th, 2009 | 11:00pm

Unlike most musicians, Morrissey makes use of any extra time he has with a captivated audience. Before he even graced the stage at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom, he had a huge film projector playing all of his favorite videos to whet the crowd’s appetite. Included were several Shocking Blue tracks, (the most famous of which was “Venus”), old footage of the New York Dolls (whose fan club he started back in the day), and Vince Taylor’s “Whole Lotta Twisting Goin; On.” It was impossible not to see the resemblance to a young Morrissey.

The videos seemed calculated to make the man that is Morrissey even more anticipated and when he emerged on stage with “This Charming Man” against a backdrop of a flexing, muscular sailor with the simple but effective word “refusal” splayed across his chest, the audience roared an absolutely eruptive approval.

An entourage of musicians backed up Morrissey’s vocals and, at one point, after introducing them, he proclaimed in true Oscar Wilde fashion that he himself had no identity. However, no one could deny that it was Morrissey who took charge of the stage, pacing back and forth at times and even leaning to touch hands with audience members. Beginning the night in a tuxedo equipped with a bow tie, the charming man went through several wardrobe changes until baring his chest timely with the melodramatic lyrics of “Let Me Kiss You”: “But then you open your eyes and you see someone that you physically despise. But my heart is open. My heart is open to you.”

Morrissey did well to create a setlist that garnered some of his more stellar recent material, such as the politically charged “Irish Blood English Heart,” with some of his famous classics such as “Death of a Disco Dancer,” “Ask,” and “How Soon is Now.” The lyrics on even his earliest written tracks have truly become classics for entire generations — no doubt they gave a voice to millions of people in unrequited relationships, whose anthem quickly became “I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does.”

Morrissey’s vocal range also has pulled through the years to support the lyrics that can sometimes be as sarcastic as they are melancholy, causing the young to eternally debate what he truly really meant when he sang such lyrics as in “Ask” — “If it’s not love then it’s the bomb that will bring us together” — or how ironic he could get in the unfortunately not played “We Hate it When Our Friends Become Successful.”

The live songs also had a tremendous gusto to them that even the recordings could not capture: Between Morrissey’s soaring words and an actual gong banging, most of the set contained a youthful vigor. Morrissey has enough solid tracks to play at least 10 consecutive nights without any repeats. Perhaps the only disappointment was that after playing a full 75-minute set, he only played a one-song encore while the crowd demanded more. Tossing flower petals to the audience and writhing on stage, he sang “First of the Gang to Die” and, much like the protagonist of the song, Morrissey stole all hearts away.