Morrissey has cancelled his concerts commemorating the 20th anniversary of ‘You Are The Quarry’ due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
The musician was scheduled to perform two shows in California celebrating the 2004 album, namely on January 26 at Anaheim, California’s Honda Center, and the following day, on January 27 at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum.
However, last night (January 25), the two venues took to X to announce that the shows will not proceed due to “unforeseen circumstances”, and that “tickets will be automatically refunded to purchasers”.
— Honda Center (@HondaCenter) January 25, 2024
— The Kia Forum (@thekiaforum) January 25, 2024
Morrissey is noted to have a history of cancelling shows. Last April, he pulled the plug on his concert scheduled for London’s Crystal Palace on July 9, before announcing a tour of the UK and Ireland during the same month of the Crystal Palace show. On July 9 itself, Morrissey cancelled the new show scheduled for that day – this time, at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall. In both cancellations, the venues hosting the shows cited “unforeseen circumstances”.
The announcement comes amidst the singer’s grapple with Capitol Records over the release of his upcoming album, ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’. In October, Morrissey appeared on Good Day New York to speak about the album’s current status, revealing that the label would return him the album “for a certain price”. “This album was recorded in January 2021 and Capitol signed it and didn’t release it, but they’re now prepared to give it back to me for a certain price,” he told journalist Rosanna Scotto.
“It’s been quite traumatic and quite sad because when you record something, you want it to be available immediately and it was very much of the time. For me, it was a very personal thing and the fact that it hasn’t been released has been torture.”
The album was initially scheduled for release in February 2023, and reportedly featured production from Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne and Post Malone associate Andrew Watt, and guest spots from Miley Cyrus, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and Flea, and Iggy Pop. However in late 2022, Morrissey not only “voluntarily withdrawn from any association with Capitol Records (Los Angeles)”, but also revealed that Cyrus requested for her feature to be withdrawn from the album.
In January 2022, Morrissey took to his blog responding to an interview his former bandmate Johnny Marr gave Uncut, demanding that he stop mentioning him when giving interviews. The following month, Marr opened up about his spat with Morrissey, stating that his response over Instagram was made out of the interest of “defending himself”.
“The letter was designed to be insulting, wasn’t it,” he stated. “That has to have been the idea. If it’s something that’s not based in fact, you have to react in kind, which is just with ridicule.”
Earlier this month, Morrissey – via a blog entitled ‘CANCEL CULTURE BEGINS AT HOME’ on his official website – claimed that he was being deleted from being the “central essence” of The Smiths. Quoting their debut single ‘Hand In Glove’, he concluded: “Hand in glove, I stake my claim! I’ll fight to the last breath!”