Having lately received press coverage surrounding claims of “cancel culture”, former Smiths frontman Morrissey has recently faced a cancellation of another kind. Whilst on his American tour, celebrating the 20th anniversary of his seventh solo album You Are the Quarry, the 64-year-old singer’s management took to Instagram to post an update about the artist’s health. Speaking on January 26th, Morrissey’s tour manager, Donnie Knutson said that Morrissey is under “medical supervision for physical exhaustion”.
Morrissey was due to play two shows on January 26th and 27th in California, both of which have been cancelled. As well as his North American gigs, Morrissey’s South American tour which would run from the 3rd to the 24th in February has also been cancelled. The tour was intended to span South America, stopping at Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. The singer is to remain in Switzerland under medical supervision until he recovers.
Californian post-punk band, She Wants Revenge, was booked to support Morrissey on the Californian leg of his American tour. The band has since expressed their sadness at Morrissey’s poor health and subsequent cancellation. Taking to Instagram, the band said: “like many of you, though we are frustrated and deeply disappointed, we are not terribly surprised… We all knew this was a possibility, we just hoped it would play out different this time”.
Although these circumstances are outside of Morrissey’s control, the singer does have a history of last-minute cancellations. In July 2023, Morrissey cancelled the Nottingham leg of his UK and Ireland tour on the day of the performance. This tour was itself announced after he pulled out of a London show scheduled for the same day in July. Later in 2023, Morrissey was scheduled to play in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok as part of his 40 years of Morrissey tour. These events were also cancelled just days before they were supposed to go ahead. Morrissey’s 40 years of Morrissey tour has faced a slew of abrupt cancellations across the globe.
This latest wave of cancellations only continues Morrissey’s unreliable reputation, leaving the singer’s live career in stasis. In light of Morrissey’s claim that “cancel culture begins at home”, it seems appropriate that the singer has now cancelled himself abroad.
