Morrissey Ditches Coachella Stage Over Meat

04/20/09 11:46am

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Morrissey walked off the stage during his set at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on Friday night because the smell of meat offended him.

Mozzer (real name Steven Patrick Morrissey) has been a vegetarian since he was 11 and has drawn attention for his controversial views on subjects like Canada's seal hunt in the past. He stopped his Indio, Calif. performance on Friday to declare, "I can smell burning flesh and I hope to God it's human" before he left the stage midway through "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others." The U.K.'s Daily Mirror tabloid reports he was gagging before he left.

"The smell of burning animals is making me sick," Morrissey said after returning to the stage, according to NME.com. "I just couldn't bear it."

The Daily Mirror also reports Morrissey told organizers no meat could be cooked within 50 feet of him, and he didn't come out of his trailer all night because people manning barbeques at the festival wouldn't stop cooking hamburgers.

Morrissey threatened to not play Canada's Wonderland if he so much as smelled a hot dog years ago.

Billy Bragg told a Toronto audience at a 2001 show that he and Morrissey went on all the rides at Canada's Wonderland 16 years prior, were chased by Smiths fans and then got sick and barfed after going on an upside-down rollercoaster.

Morrissey's tour rider for a show in Tel Aviv, Israel last year was published by the website of Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Ahronoth. You can see the translation from Hebrew here. Here's an excerpt:

"Catering:

"All food should be vegetarian. For everyone. Including all crews, stands and attendants inside the venue and in its vicinity. If there is a barbeque spot nearby, the artists' room should be placed so that the wind will not be in their direction. All food should be fresh and healthy and mineral water should be supplied all the time. A balanced diet must be kept and upheld.

Morrissey is touring in support of the recently released Years Of Refusal. You can see him here:

April 28 Killarney, Ireland @ INEC
April 29 Galway, Ireland @ Leisureland
May 1 Omagh, Northern Ireland @ Leisure Centre
May 2 Belfast, Northern Ireland @ Waterfront
May 4 Stirling, Scotland @ Stirling Albert Halls
May 5 Dundee, Scotland @ Caird Hall
May 7-8 Glasgow, Scotland @ Barrowland Ballroom
May 10 Liverpool, England @ Liverpool Empire Theatre
May 11 London, England @ Royal Albert Hall
May 13 Birmingham, England @ Symphony Hall
May 15 Great Yarmouth, England @ Britannia Pier
May 16 Cambridge, England @ The Cambridge Corn Exchange
May 19 Hull, England @ Hull Arena
May 20 Hartlepool, England @ The Borough Hall
May 22-23 Manchester, England @ Apollo Theatre
May 25 Salisbury, England @ City Hall
May 26 London, England @ Mile End Troxy Ballroom
May 28-30 London, England @ O2 Academy Brixton
June 2 Paris, France @ Le Grand Rex
June 3 Lille, France @ L'Aeronef
June 5 Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Rockhal Club
June 6 Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Watt
June 8 Antwerp, Belgium @ Queen Elizabeth Hall
June 9 Offenbach, Germany @ Capitol
June 11 Cologne, Germany @ Palladium
June 12 Berlin, Germany @ Columbiahalle
June 14 Bremen, Germany @ Poer 2
June 15 Odense, Denmark @ Rytmeposten
June 17 Copenhagen, Denmark @ K.B. Hallen
June 18 Boras, Sweden @ Ahaga
June 20 Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
June 22 Gothenburg, Sweden @ Lisebergshallen
June 24 Stockholm, Sweden @ Hovet
June 26 Tampere, Finland @ Tampere Arena
June 27 Helsinki, Finland @ Cable Factory
June 29 St. Petersburg, Russia @ Maneshe
July 1 Moscow, Russia @ B1 Club
July 4 Tallinn, Estonia @ Rock Cafe
July 5 Riga, Latvia @ Dream Factory
July 7 Warsaw, Poland @ Palladium Warsaw
July 9 Prague, Czech Republic @ Archa Theatre
July 11 Vienna, Austria @ Gasometer