How old were you when the Morrissey show was cancelled? Mine: 29. The rest are 39, 40, and 41.
Last week, it was confirmed that the 66-year-old British singer was canceling his Latin American tour for the third year in a row, at the same time as the weekend plans of 15,000 people who had planned to see him in Buenos Aires on Saturday were also ruined. Morrissey achieved fame as a beautiful but troubled figure at the age of 25. front man According to The Smith, he is a serial canceller at this point. There are statistics to support this reputation. According to specialist site We Heart Music, cancellation rates rose from 0% in 2004 (perfect attendance) to 27% in 2014 and 39% in 2024.
There are various excuses for Mozu’s absence. At one point he blamed dengue fever, at another he spoke of a “credible threat to his life.” But most of the time, that argument is “exhaustion.” It won’t surprise anyone: his tour is forever work in progress This damage, along with the indolence of oil spills, will spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, reaching even the most remote coasts. If two days before arriving in your country Morrissey adds a series of new concerts at the Mapache Tuerto Casino and Resort in East Dakota, you already know how it will end.
These cancellations affect almost exclusively Latin America (the previous tour included Mexico City, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Lima, etc.), and citizens in this part of the world are disappointed and are making it known on social networks. “Please do me a favor and never schedule a recital in Brazil again,” she wrote on Instagram, “I don’t want you to come to Mexico anymore,” and “That’s why I prefer The Cure.” Accumulate. Of course he never answers. On X (exTwitter), people are taking this even more cynically. “No one can cancel Morrissey because he always cancels you first,” says the user. Perhaps my greatest inspiration was the haiku of journalist José Velas. “Morrissey saved my life/as a 16-year-old/and let me do whatever I wanted.”
I agree. I refuse to be angry at him. Even now, at the age of 41, I think he has a line for every human tragedy. Adolescent angst (“If you have five seconds to spare, I’ll tell you the story of my life. 16 years old, clumsy and shy. That’s the story of my life.”), adult ennui (“I was looking for a job and suddenly I found one. God knows how miserable I am right now”), and love (“It would be such a heavenly way to die next to you”). It’s all sung in a smooth baritone, somewhere between a bite and a plea.
Despite the sit-ins (and his “politically incorrect” opinions), Morrissey remains a great artist. Over the first 40 years of his career, he sold approximately 25 million records, and his work between The Smiths and Soloist currently adds the same amount of monthly plays on Spotify. I keep buying tickets to their concerts knowing it’s a terrible investment because I’ll get that money back months later and it’ll be worth less. I still sing their songs in the streets, just like when I was a boy. I keep waiting for him to come back. I still believe that this curse can be broken.
The other day, I imagined an East Dakota rancher drowning his sorrows at the bar at the One Eyed Raccoon Casino and Resort. Behind him on stage, a British man in his 60s sings “Last night I dreamed that someone loved me.” Ranchers will always remember the love they gave away while feeding on their crops and livestock. He believes he will never be the same, so intensely, completely happy again. He thinks he’s the saddest man on earth. He does not know that hundreds of thousands of people in the global south would do almost anything to take his place.
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