This fucking blows.

This is Paige again. Fixed the exposure on the image from kiasuchick, much more legible:

http://thecolorawesome.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/morrissey-233x300.jpg

Hope he's feeling better :):)

If he's going to have the nerve to feign illness, he should at least have the courtesy to stay indoors the night of the gig.

Its not like you wont get your money back.

what a fuckin jerk. sick my ass!

Sitting in a seat to watch a concert is very different to performing live on stage and singing. Like none of you ever took a sick day from work and wasn't at death's door??? I swear u whingers are like a sewing circle hoping for Moz to be sick and caught out just so you can have something to piss n moan about :)

Not gallivanting around in the clubs of a city that you just canceled a show in is called "tact, or, as Morrissey might call it "tack."

All I know is, when I call in sick, I didn't go and hang out in the company's lunch room.

Are we even sure it's Moz himself that's ill?
It could be any of the other band members that's not well...

Not enough tickets were sold.

Period.

And yes, very insulting to be seen out on the town when your disappointed fans have been fobbed off with another tale of illness. But no-one really believes he's sick all the time, do they? Nine times out of ten, it's poor ticket sales, that's obvious to an infant.

Moz lost his voice ... you don't need your voice to watch a gig.

And this photo proves it. Seriously, Moz needs a reality check. For any of you sheep that actually believe he had a voice issue, you are delusional. While that was the case in Atlanta (and the following week), this was not the case here. He had a bad night the night before, and simply couldn't get over it. Ticket sales might have also been an issue.

He is such a man child, and so selfish that he cares little for the fans that traveled specifically for this show (not to mention his own band and crew). This was the only gig on the west coast as well as the final gig of the US tour. Obviously many fans traveled to see the show at great expense, but does he care? Clearly not. He is going to lose many of his diehard fans with this behavior. Ticket sales will also suffer for future gigs.

Morrissey was in fine health last night, he was just being a selfish child by canceling. No reason was given, but at this point, do we really need one?

When I'm sick I hate to stay inside- now keep in mind his voice is probably out, that's the illness. I saw Kristeen Young open up for Moz a few years ago and I couldn't stand her so I'm just worried that Moz is going to be in worse shape after listening to her screeches. I mean, his voice will recover, but I'd hate it if something happened to his hearing.

I like Bjork. I like Tori Amos, but I don't like singers who do on-stage impressions of their imaginary hybrid.

Finally, everyone else that posted in this thread must be either 9 years old or too stupid to leave their basement therefore rejoice that the show was canceled- think of the money you saved on your meds!

Holy fucking shit... I can't believe it. :(

I can't believe he has the gall. Oh my god. :( :( :(

Don't know what else to say.

I wish there had been a better pic, because I had to squint my eyes and had my nose up to my flatscreen monitor. And, it looks like a blond girl is with him. (maybe part of the entorage but who knows these days.

Hope he's having fun, and I'm sorry he cancelled Oakland. Doesn't realize the sheer impact of his fans feelings when he blithey (sic) cancels a show? Does he even know how disappointed we feel?

Don't be naive

is something one wouldn't normally attribute to Morrissey.

If he was ill then a cancellation was unavoidable. I take the point that you don't need to be able to sing in order to attend a club/gig, or even be in the best of health. But when there is a tour schedule ahead it would be reasonable to assume that resting, taking time to recouperate in order to fulfill future commitments would be considered a matter of importance. By not giving detail of his illness, by going out clubbing, Morrissey opens himself up to the suggestion (right or wrong) that he was not actually ill, but more seriously, that he had not considered future dates to be of importance. And to add insult to injury, he takes time to support an artist deeply unpopular (for whatever reason) among his "fanbase".

There is a difference between asserting individuality, refusing to follow the herd, and rubbing the salt in the wounds of those he has disappointed that day. Though the core of fanbase will be familiar with this behaviour, casual listeners will surely turn away. Why spend all that time and effort touring only to undermine it all with a spectacular act of contempt.

At a time when revenues from touring and ticket sales are falling, it's not a strong move. Perhaps this is the last tour, and it's of no future consequence. If he ends up playing a series of half-empty venues the rest of the tour it may be (at last) the touts who snapped up the most tickets who really lose out.

Moz has consistently over the years canceled any show that did not have a mostly sold out audience.

I understand his not wanting to do half-sold venues, but if his management are so incompetent to book these gigs at crazy high prices, he should have the professionalism and courtesy to "go on with the show" despite feeling miffed by less than stellar attendence.

As many stated, this was the last West Coast date, and I'm sure many like me traveled specifically for this show.

I didn't want to see him at Coachella because he is never in his element at these fests and it's never a good show. He has historically been unhappy with them.

It is so obvious that the reason he canceled was due to poor ticket sales and perhaps still being in a bad mood from Coachella.

Moz simply won't play to a half full venue.

The fact that he had the nerve to gallivant around town the night of his canceled gig is beyond me.

Agreed that calling for his head is a bit far as we've all bunked off work and not been at deaths door but then again if I pulled a sickie at work, then I turned up the next day and my boss (or at least the people I work) had a pic of my out at a gig I'd be feeling kinda sheepish

Looks like I got clowned..

Does anyone know if eBay will refund?

This was supposed to be a great show.

I'm heartbroken!! If I don't get my money back for these tickets that Mozza won't be seeing my lovely mug around for a while.

As if he gives a rat's ass!

Waah Waah.

Has always been Morrissey's motto.

It is true that you don't have to be in full fitting form to attend a concert, but in all honesty, this does not look good. If he is indeed sick, he should be resting for his European tour.

If by some reason, Morrissey really did "lose his voice," shouting to friends over loud music while downing pints til 1 a.m. certainly couldn't be the best vocal chord therapy.

Hey, I just realized something!

Arturo's in that pic too, to Moz's left!

Wow, he had the whole gang with him, ay?

I've always enjoyed Morrissey's taste in music, but I don't understand the Kristeen Young fascination. She makes my ears bleed with her screetching lyrics.

I mean, he fired her for that ridiculous and tactless comment she made last tour. He isn't a very forgiving man...so, yeah. I'm a bit confused. A bit disappointed, too.

He must have had at least SOME intent to carry out the Oakland show after his Coachella performance. Otherwise, why would he bother to go all the way to Oakland? To see Kristeen?

why would he pull a stunt like this when she sucks?
i mean really, nina hagen redux

who knew that a quick visit to the DNA lounge would have made moving out here from LA worth it :\

yeah thanks go ahead and push the knife in deeper Moz please, you are a miserable liar!!!!!!!!

Woah - internet users strike again!

You so-called "fans" who are calling the man all sorts of names should be absolutely ashamed.

No wonder Morrissey labels this site "Morrissey So Low".

Take a look at yourselves.

"Ill" doesn't always translate as "bed ridden", you know.

He could have a throat infection for all we know. The same people would then be on here MOANING that his voice wasn't up to scratch.

As for those "fans" who say the gig was cancelled due to poor ticket sales - entertain us by backing this reason up with fact.

Sorry you didn't see a Morrissey concert, sorry some of you paid over the odds for a ticket on ebay (if it wasn't sold out - why???) but please, let's have a bit of respect.

Some of the people who comment on this website are quite something - get a life.

You've never been there? There have been many times when I've had a cold and I can barely speak let alone sing, but I'm well enough to go out and live my life. In fact, that's the norm.

You people are just insane. Truly. Canceling a show is expensive and troublesome. I'm certain he only does it when he has reasons that are valid.

It's true that you don't need your voice to watch a gig. It's true that IMO he's not ill but disappointed.

All I really can think of is that I don't want KY back, ever.

I love the man as much as the next person, but that was kind of a slap in the face to those who drove/flew all the way to Oakland to see HIM. He really should have stayed indoors and called it a night, out of respect to his fans.

Morrissey and Kristeen Young have not played together since the Hammerstein incident. Inviting her to open a show seems to me a public gesture of forgiveness and/or friendship. It' s not as if he simply couldn't find anyone else to open that one show.

She and Baby Jeff and their equipment traveled across the country to play this show with him. I would guess that Morrissey felt badly canceling on them as well. Call me naive and other nice names but I think showing up to watch their short set and say hello at the DNA Lounge was a sweet gesture of loyalty and friendship. Especially considering that he wasn't feeling well and probably had some idea he would be "spotted" and chastised...

Just got back from my San Francisco weekend planned around the sole purpose of seeing Moz. Let's see... 3 roundtrip flights $750, two night hotel stay $300, Paramount Tix $300, meals & entertainment $400. Hey Morrissey, you can make the check in the amount of $1750 payable to Bullet in my Gullet. I'll accept cash if you prefer.

Maybe he did have a bad voice, but chances are he was fine. I think he gets a sadistic kick out of pissing people off. Morrissey has cancelled more dates due to "illness" than any other performer alive, period. No wonder ticket sales are poor - people are not trusting he will show, and half the time he doesn't. No other concert act does this as often as Moz. So yesterday I can see why people were pissed and suspicious. If it was his first cancelled gig in years (or even this tour) it would be different, people would've been more forgiving. But alas, it was just another of many, many cancelled dates by either the sickest man in the world, or most selfish. Either way, it looks bad.

Oh god, I feel 100 years old and terribly provincial, but what does it mean to be "carded" by a bouncer?

I almost bought tickets to Oakland, living about 4 1/2 hrs south. This smelled of cancellation, so I abstained.

Not having any proper West Coast dates for the YOR Tour seems odd. As he extended the Quarry and ROTT, do you think West Coast dates will be added after a small break from the European Leg?

I hope so~

...as to what he had to put up with over the years.

Morrissey was sending a signal to all the Kristeen Young haters that he luvs her! He's throwing it in our faces! Muahahaha!

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2009/04/morrissey_calls_in_sick_at_the.php [sfweekly.com]

I just got back from the Bay and got screwed again it seems. I'm not going to ask for sympathy, I could have stayed home in Vegas but I chose to go to Oakland. No one to blame but myself considering Morrisseys track record of letting people down.

HOWEVER.

The truly stupid fucks saying "stop complaining", "Its not like you won't get your money back" and "big deal, so he went out" need to fuck right off! Let them fucking complain if they want, they fucking deserve the right to complain....and if you can't see how wrong this is, if in fact this story is true, that he went to a concert that very night, you have no idea of life outside of an internet chatroom and the concept of right and wrong. Leave the house every now and then, just not to a Moz gig.

How did Kirsteen Young get to schedule another performance in Los Angeles on this day and on such short notice even if no official cancellation notice was never issued to Morrissey's highly valued fans through any of Morrissey's websites and the tour busses went to Oakland to keep the image up? Wasn't she supposed to be all ready to work as support act at Morrissey's show that night? How long in advance did she know?

I went to see Kristeen and Jef at the DNA Lounge, where they were somehow able to grab a time slot the night the Oakland show would have happened. I love their group; so far as I was concerned the abandoned show was a double bill, so I was glad to be able to salvage something of the evening.

Yes, Morrissey was there, and it was shocking at first to see him out of context (I was unfortunately aware that he saw me stumble, double-take and scurry away when I spotted him.) When the show began he went to the front and so did I; he was several people away, but I saw his quiff bobbing around to the beat. It was a unique and touching experience to share the crowd with him, as a fellow fan, with both of us watching the show. People visibly recognized him a couple of times, but he called no attention to himself and had an very quiet, everyday manner.

The band were well-received. There hadn't been time to get their name on any publicity for the show (loosely carnival-themed night with several different acts), so they were announced as "our surprise guests, Kristeenyoung" or something similar. Lots of cheering and warmth in the room, from the first chords really; they seemed to figure out pretty quickly that the band were solid and pantingly into it. I'm sure the *entire* room wasn't converted in a massive sweep of joy, since Kristeen is always a polarizing performer, but there were a lot of calls for encore at the end, with people cheering if it looked for a moment as if they were stopping putting their stuff away. (Eventually they were allowed to do an encore.)

You could tell they had prepared the hell out of the set intended for the Moz gig; evening outfits, video footage playing behind them which was themed to the songs (even down, unless this was a happy delusion on my part, to timing things so that the pacing of the shots was right, especially on the one of Lili St. Cyr dancing to "Everybody Wants Me To Cry").

Kristeen started the show by enthusiastically quoting Shakespeare's Cleopatra: "All strange and terrible events are welcome, but comforts we despise!" Since her outfit was Cleopatra-themed already (at least, it had an asp), I have to assume this was planned from the start, and the aptness of the line to the circumstances of the evening was coincidental.

I just wish the set had been longer; the allowed time was only about 20-25 minutes, and it had obviously been cut heavily.

It was great, surprisingly, that there was no context. So far as the vast majority of that room was concerned, Kristeen and Jef were a heavy, enthusiastic two-piece who nobody knew anything about, and Morrissey, recognized or not, was a man, a member of the crowd, with no audience of his own to examine and explain him. The fact that this has become such an examined event is (while totally inevitable) pretty depressing to me. That was part of the appeal, seeing these people in an unexamined state, doing what they loved to do. I had no intention of ever even talking about this, since the impulse is to *keep* it unexamined, but hell, obviously everyone knows they played and he was there, so I may as well say a word.

It sucks that Moz' constitution gave out. It really does. I didn't make that huge drive *just* to see Kristeen and Jef. But this was significant consolation, and I sincerely don't understand how anyone could cry foul on Morrissey attending a gig on a night when he had canceled his own. There's a world of difference between "well enough to stand up for half an hour" and "well enough to front a rock band for a headlining set."

After just watching a video of Morrissey at Coachella, it is blindingly obvious that he was losing his voice. That is all that needs saying for the logical thinkers amongst you.

Too sick to sing (read: voice on the fritz), and too sick to go out are two entirely different things.

that people are still debating the illness issue when it's evident that not enough tickets had been sold. Plus ca change.

All Shook Down, the SF Weekly music blog in San Francisco, has a rundown on Moz's non-appearance at the Paramount and subsequent appearance at DNA Lounge.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2009/04/morrissey_calls_in_sick_at_the.php/ [sfweekly.com]

that is NOT the show i would go to

Hey everybody, haven't you heard?.....

Morrissey paying tribute to the Beastie Boys album 'Licensed to Ill' album....Yeah, expect 'Frequently Ill' in stores soon.

Excluding all American record shops in San Francisco and Oklahoma.

What a coincidence that he was just down the hill from moi! And, on a Saturday night, too! Ah, had he only known he could have had cocktails with me on a sultry Spring evening whilst gazing out at a breathtaking view of San Francisco. What a lovely heatwave we are having right now. :-D