We thought this was already over. On June 10th, an announcement on Morrissey’s Facebook page officially cancelled the remainder of his spring U.S. Tour, citing virus and respiratory infection as reason for the abrupt cancellation. However, bizarre follow-up statement posted on Morrissey’s personal website True to You blames opening act Kristeen Young for passing on her “horrendous cold” to Morrissey. And it gets weirder from there.
The full finger-pointing secondary statement, straight from Morrissey’s website:
Morrissey announces the close down of the present U.S. tour with “unimaginable sorrow”. On Saturday, June 7th, following the show at Boston Opera House, Morrissey collapsed and was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital where doctors treated Morrissey for “acute fever”. Difficulties had arisen on May 31st following Kristeen Young’s opening set at the Miami Knight Concert Hall, after which Kristeen confessed to “a horrendous cold”, the symptoms of which were passed on to Morrissey resulting in the cancellation of the next show in Atlanta. For the good of all, Kristeen was asked to step down from the immediate upcoming shows, but instead she decided to leave the tour entirely. Morrissey and the band wish her well and hope she is now in good health. Morrissey received medical attention in Miami, and once again in Boston, but it was not enough to shake off the virus, the recovery time for which is too lengthy to meet the final 9 shows of the tour. Morrissey and the band are otherwise delighted and very grateful for their experiences on the U.S. tour, some shows of which they considered to be their best-ever, most notably:
1 BOSTON Opera House
2 LOS ANGELES Sports Arena
3 BEAUMONT Julie Rogers Theater
4 NASHVILLE Ryman Auditorium
5 MEMPHIS Orpheum Theater
Then, Young posted a response on her own Facebook page, denying having had a tour-ruining cold. She suggested that she was simply asked to leave the tour:
Ok. Regarding the recent True-to-you statement from Morrissey: I did not “confess to a horrendous cold”. On Monday, June 2nd, I had an allergy attack that was over within 16 hours. I went to a doctor (on Monday, June 2nd), an allergy specialist, who gave me drugs for allergies…and they worked. I explained this (early on Tuesday, June 3rd) and offered this doctor’s phone number to Morrissey personally, via email, and the tour manager, Donnie Knutson (for proof….since they seemed to doubt me). But, they NEVER followed up with me or said doctor. Also….it is incorrect that I “decided to leave the tour completely”. I was asked to leave. Was called (in the presence of my band as witnesses) by Morrissey’s booking agent, Dave Tamaroff, and told that there would be a new support band in Boston. I am very sorry that Morrissey is not feeling well. But I will not tolerate these lies….particularly about my health. This is really too much and bizarre.
This isn’t the first instance of trouble between Morrissey and Young. They’ve been connected since 2006, when Morrissey adopted the then-unknown Young as his protégé and invited her to open for him on tour. Their relationship soured when Young shared with the audience fairly personal remark about Morrissey’s sexual abilities; Morrissey promptly kicked her off the tour.
However, until now, the pair seemed to have reconciled their differences, since Young rejoined the Morrissey tour in 2011.
Meanwhile, Morrissey’s new album World Peace is None of Your Business is still set for release on July 15th, and Morrissey is still up to his old confrontational antics, most recently feuding with We Are Scientists and PAWS over sound interference in an LA venue.
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