A Note For Morrissey

It's diva-ish behaviour enough to walk off stage mid-show and cancel two further performances because of a common cold (compare it with Steven Adams of the Broken Family Band gamely sniffling and coughing through an excellent set at Koko late last year), but it's another thing entirely to refuse to reschedule the cancelled performances. Are we really expected to believe that Morrissey cannot find a MERE THREE DAYS in his calendar to honour his commitments at any point during the entire year? Will Morrissey and his promoters also be refunding or compensating those ticket-holders who bought the exceedingly expensive 'gold passes', supposedly entitling them to attend all six of his Roundhouse shows? Of course, ticket agencies are unlikely to refund their outrageous booking fees and transaction charges (now pocketed for no benefit whatsoever to the consumer), and those foolish enough to purchase tickets from touts at 'market rates' are unlikely to get any money back at all (no doubt the government still thinks these people are offering music fans a good service).

Yes, Morrissey is a contrary bastard at times and that's part of why he's an iconic figure - but this comes on top of a poorly selected Greatest Hits set nobody wants, consistently short sets that don't offer fans value for money and a moody and confrontational performance at the Palladium a couple of years ago. If you're going to get indignant at the NME for merely highlighting some of your more contentious opinions, it might be best to uphold some standards of professionalism in your own career. This might well be the last time I bother.

Many of the posts left on the Morrissey solo.com message board argue the same position. Yes, artists and performers should not follow the every will of their audience, and should challenge them where necessary - but there is still a duty of respect to any paying audience. Morrissey is billed to appear on tonight's Jonathan Ross show, which would be something of an insult if it goes ahead in the same week that he has cancelled supposedly 'historic' performances.