{"id":55437,"date":"2026-01-12T15:31:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/12\/morrissey-plays-a-smith-classic-for-the-first-time-in-29-years\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T15:31:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:31:58","slug":"morrissey-plays-a-smith-classic-for-the-first-time-in-29-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/12\/morrissey-plays-a-smith-classic-for-the-first-time-in-29-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Morrissey Plays a Smith Classic for the First Time in 29 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAfter a bumpy start where he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/morrissey-cancels-california-concerts-1235493804\/\">cancelled two shows at the last minute,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/morrissey\/\" id=\"auto-tag_morrissey\" data-tag=\"morrissey\">Morrissey<\/a> finally kicked off his 2026 U.S. tour Saturday evening at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. We didn\u2019t hear anything from his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/morrissey-new-album-make-up-is-a-lie-1235495353\/\">upcoming LP <em>Make-Up Is a Lie<\/em>,<\/a> and he largely played the same mix of classics we heard last year, but five songs in, he stunned the faithful by breaking out \u201cPaint a Vulgar Picture\u201d from the 1987 Smiths LP <em>Strangeways, Here We Come.<\/em> He hadn\u2019t delivered the song on a concert stage since 1997.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Morrissey - Paint A Vulgar Picture [HD] LIVE SAN ANTONIO 1\/10\/2026\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_piTMikYNps?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe song is a painfully cynical look at music fandom, the record industry, and how tragic deaths are exploited for cash by greedy executives. \u201cAt the record company meeting,\u201d Morrissey sings. \u201cOn their hands, at last, a dead star\/But they can never taint you in my eyes\/They can never touch you now\/No, they cannot hurt you, my darling\/They cannot touch you, no.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe timing was slightly odd since this was Morrissey\u2019s first concert since inking a deal with Warner\/Sire for the release of <em>Make-Up Is a Lie<\/em>. He\u2019d spent the past couple of years complaining that no label would distribute the album he recorded in early 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cAs you know, nobody will release my music anymore,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/stereogum.com\/2288051\/morrissey-says-nobody-will-release-his-new-album-because-free-speech-is-criminalized\/news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">he told the crowd at a 2024 show in Newark.<\/a> \u201cAs you know because I\u2019m a chief exponent of free speech. In England at least, it\u2019s now criminalized. You cannot speak freely in England. If you don\u2019t believe me, go there. Express an opinion, you\u2019ll be sent to prison. It\u2019s very, very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Morrissey (4k live) San Antonio, TX 01-10-2026 Timecodes\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w7e7R6il5Ew?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cPaint a Vulgar Picture\u201d is one of five Smiths songs he played in San Antonio. The others were \u201cThere Is a Light That Never Goes Out,\u201d \u201cHow Soon Is Now?,\u201d \u201cI Know It\u2019s Over,\u201d and \u201cLast Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.\u201d For many years, it was typical to hear only two or three Smiths songs at Morrissey shows. But he\u2019s ramped that number up recently. At some concerts last year, he played seven of them.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Morrissey - Make-Up Is A Lie (Unofficial Music Video)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SNGVScH6j9Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tMorrissey\u2019s tour continues Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, or at least that\u2019s the plan for now. He has an unfortunate habit of pulling shows or even entire tour legs with little explanation or warning. In 2025, he cancelled 32 of 63 planned shows. <a href=\"https:\/\/wheartm.com\/every-date-that-morrissey-has-ever-cancelled\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">According to one count,<\/a> there are 404 concerts throughout Morrissey\u2019s career that he either cancelled or ended prematurely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tWhat Morrissey fans can count on is <em>Make-Up Is a Lie<\/em> arriving on March 6. It features 11 brand-new songs and a cover of Roxy Music\u2019s classic \u201cAmazona.\u201d The title track has already been released.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/morrissey-smith-classic-first-time-29-years-1235498088\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a bumpy start where he cancelled two shows at the last minute, Morrissey finally kicked off his 2026 U.S. tour Saturday evening at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":55438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}