Morrissey’s History of Cancellations In The Wake of His California Chillout

Morrissey canceled a concert at California’s Vina Robles Amphitheater in Paso Robles Nov. 5, reportedly citing a chill wind and lack of working heaters.

Alvin Ho / LAMC Productions – Morrissey
Marina Barrage, Singapore

The former Smiths frontman is known for being particular about his concert accoutrements, and California’s Central Coast was experiencing a mild cold front and temperatures somewhere in the 40s at the time of the show.

The blog Slicing Up Eyeballs, which specializes in 1980s college rock, reports that the postponement was announced over the 3,000-capacity venue’s PA system, including information that the shed’s onstage heating system wasn’t working properly.

A source with knowledge of the situation told Pollstar that the heaters were, in fact, working.  Representatives for Morrissey didn’t return Pollstar‘s call for comment.

Historically, buying a Moz ticket has been something of a risky proposition. The Paso Robles cancellation was only the third date of a 16-date North American tour and is followed this weekend by two shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles with Billy Idol.

Morrissey has had a run of what some might see as exceptionally bad luck, particularly in recent years. In Oct. 2016, he canceled a second leg of a Japan tour, on the morning of the opener in Yokohama, citing “logistical issues.”

He caused an uproar in Poland by storming offstage after only 30 minutes into a Warsaw concert on Nov. 19, 2014. There have been varying reports of why Moz walked off during his sold-out show at the Polish capital’s 1,500-capacity Lub Stodola. Local paper Gazeta Wyborcza said at the time he “did not feel safe” and that he had “been insulted,” while the UK’s Daily Express reckoned it was because “a member of the crowd made a tasteless joke about cancer.”

Morrissey did undergo a series of health scares earlier in the decade. In Feb. 2013 he told Rolling Stone that he was suffering from something called “Barrett’s esophagus,” explaining why he’d had to cancel six shows on a U.S. tour.

But when Moz announced his latest tour in support of his upcoming Low In High School, Consequence of Sound took note and claimed to have added up the total number of Morrissey concert cancellations since 2012 and came up with a staggering 123. Pollstar is unable to confirm the veracity of that count.

In 2014, the website – citing a Tumblr user named Torr – posted an item with cancellations going back to at least 1991 when he axed Australian and North American dates from his “Kill Uncle” tour, blaming the flu. In 1992, the singer even pulled out of Glastonbury.

In 2007, the blogger reports “The second and third dates at the Hollywood Palladium were cancelled because of a ruptured water pipe. It must be said that Morrissey was the last artist to play that venue, which was to be closed after those dates.”

All that said, however, Morrissey remains a successful touring artist. His Pollstar Box Office Summary, based on reports over the past 36 months, has his average gross at some $298K  and an average attendance of 4,377. Among these dates, some 21K turned out to see him at Mexico City’s Palacio De Los Deportes; nearly 14K at Manchester Arena, and over 16K at London’s O2. In North America Morrissey is is represented by WME’s Kirk Sommers and Dave Tamaroff; and internationally by Rod MacSween at International Talent Booking.

And for those keeping score at home, the weather in Los Angeles on Nov. 10-11 is expected to be cloudy with a ten percent chance of rain Friday with temperatures ranging from a 55 degrees to 72 degrees.