Heaven knows he’s sleep-deprived now – a grumpy Morrissey has called off a gig in Valencia after claiming the city is so loud that he’s been unable to rest.
The former Smiths frontman, 66, was due to play in the Spanish city on Thursday (12 March), but he pulled the plug after struggling to get any sleep “due to festival noise, loud techno singing and megaphone announcements” through the night, which he said has left him in “a catatonic state”.
He wrote on his blog Morrissey Central: “Tonight’s scheduled show in Valencia has been rendered impossible due to sleep deprivation. Morrissey drove from Milan to Valencia but has been unable to rest in Valencia due to noise.”
The singer, who said he was experiencing “indescribable hell”, wrote in a follow-up post: “The show is not cancelled. Circumstances render the show impossible,” adding in a third: “It will take me one year to recover. And that is an understatement.”
Morrissey’s arrival in Valencia coincides with Las Fallas, a week-long festival that, according to Visit Valencia, “overturns” the city into a celebration of tradition and art. He is staying in Plaza de Manises, a square based in the Ciutat Vella historic district.
The “Bigmouth Strikes Again” singer has become somewhat notorious for cancelling or postponing shows for a variety of reasons, including exhaustion and “toxic food poisoning” from a bowl of pasta.
According to Morrissey fan site Morrissey-Solo, the singer has cancelled 111 shows and postponed 100 more since 2012. The Valencia show is the sixth concert he’s cancelled in 2026, having called time on dates in North American cities St Petersburg, Rancho Mirage, San Diego, St Louis, and Atlanta earlier this year.
The singer’s latest tour follows the release of his new album Make-Up is a Lie earlier this month.
It marks the singer’s first album since 2020’s I Am Not a Dog on a Chain, and features appearances from collaborators and bandmates such as Jesse Tobias, Camila Grey, Carmen Vandenberg and Alain Whyte.
Among the songs featured are a cover version of Roxy Music’s 1973 song “Amazone” and the track “Notre-Dame”, about the fire that almost destroyed the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.
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Morrissey debuted “Notre-Dame” during a live performance in 2023, revealing lyrics such as: “Notre-Dame, we know who tried to kill you/ Notre Dame, we will not be silent… Before investigations, they said: ‘This is not terrorism!’”
The song appears to peddle a right-wing conspiracy theory that emerged at the time of the Notre-Dame fire in 2019, which claimed that it was “deliberate” and linked to “anti-Christian attacks”.
The Independent has contacted Morrissey’s representative for comment.
