Morrissey has cancelled yet another date of his 2026 US tour.
The former Smiths frontman was due to take to the stage at the Duke Energy Center For The Arts’ Mahaffey Theater on Tuesday night (20.01.26), but he has pulled out citing “artist illness”.
A Ticketmaster statement read: “Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event.
“You don’t need to do a thing. We’ll issue a refund to the original method of payment used at time of purchase, as soon as funds are received from the Event Organizer. It should appear on your account within 14-21 days.”
The latest cancellation follows the cancellation of concerts in San Diego, St. Louis, and Atlanta. The Suedehead singer also cancelled two concerts in California after having “an adverse reaction to prescription medication”.
It’s unclear whether Morrissey will be well enough to play his planned gig at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on Thursday (22.01.26).
Following the conclusion of the plagued US run, Morrissey will kick off a European trek in Denmark on February 13. He’s also set to play a one-off UK show at London’s The O2 arena on February 28.
Morrissey recently returned with the title track from his forthcoming solo album Make-Up Is A Lie.
The musician is set to drop his first studio album in more than five years after signing a new deal with Sire Records, a Warner Records imprint that once housed his old band. The record is scheduled for release on March 6.
The 66-year-old star reflected on the drawn-out journey to its release in a recent entry on Morrissey Central, acknowledging: “The wait has sometimes felt like a tragedy, but the release today of Make-up Is A Lie is like a reunion of lovers.
“And after several plays it seems to have existed always. We can now place our faith in what is visible. Please sit in your favourite chair in your dark cabin with the lights out – or, get off your head and enjoy some impulsive self-humiliation – as I often do. I hope you consider Make-up Is A Lie to be worth the attention that you give it. Many of us, here, and in France, Turkey, Poland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, America, England… We have waited because our belief is unchallengeable: let the squawkers squawk. What survives beyond their grasp is love. I insist on being myself in spite of much discouragement, and this new music is a valid portrait of much more to come in 2026.”
It was believed he would release his much-delayed album, Bonfire of Teenagers, on the new label, but the tracklisting was for a completely new record.
Morrissey’s career has faced difficulties in recent years.
Record label BMG cut ties with him in November 2020 – a decision the singer said was linked to the company’s “new plans for diversity”.
He completed Bonfire of Teenagers in 2021, with its title track referencing the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
Although initially due for release under Capitol Records in February 2023, Morrissey said at the end of 2022 he had “voluntarily” parted ways with both the label and his management, and claimed the record was being withheld.
In 2024, he revealed he had completed a second new album that he had been unable to release.
He told Medium: “The second one was re-recorded in France in late 2023, and given a new title. We scrapped half of the tracks and we recorded six new ones, and so it is not the album from the beginning of 2023.”
