Morrissey cancels Stockholm show, saying he and band are “travel-weary beyond belief”, citing “absolutely zero music industry support” for full Scandinavia tour

Morrissey has cancelled his Stockholm show, saying the band are “travel-weary beyond belief” and receiving “zero music industry support”.

• READ MORE: The Smiths: every song ranked in order of greatness

The former Smiths frontman is currently in the middle of a UK and European tour and was due to play at the Hovet Arena in the Swedish capital tonight (June 23).

However, the singer confirmed on his Morrissey Central site on Sunday (June 22) that they would not be able to play the show. “The pain at not reaching Stockholm this week is horrific for the band and crew,” he wrote.

“I know it’s impossible for people to understand, but we dream of Stockholm, Reykjavik, Trondheim, Helsinki, Aarhus … but there is no financial support from imaginary record labels to get us to such places,” he added.

“In the last seven days we have traveled into six countries, and we are travel-weary beyond belief. We can barely see. We pray to God that someone, somewhere can help us reach Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark … where we have thousands upon thousands of friends, yet absolutely zero music industry support.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MORRISSEY (@morrisseyofficial)

There had been no other Scandinavian shows booked for the current tour, and ticketholders for the Stockholm show have been told: “Due to exhaustion among the band and crew, the Morrissey headline engagement at Hovet has been cancelled. Refunds will be available at the point of purchase.”

Continuing his blog, Morrissey added: “No label will release our music, no radio will play our music … and yet our ticket sales are sensational. What does this tell us about the state of Art in 2025? The wagon rolls on to Berlin, 27 June.  With the grace of God we will all gather. I love all of you with whatever is left of my doomed heart.”

Last month, during the US leg of his current tour, Morrissey was forced to cancel two shows in California after being hospitalised with “a severe sinusitis attack”.

Morrissey’s comments about the music industry come amid the ongoing drama around his long-mooted new album ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’. The record was recorded between 2020 and 2021 and had been announced for a 2023 release on Capitol, but still hasn’t come out owing to the singer’s departure from the label in 2022.

He has since described ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ as “the modern version” of The Smiths’ 1986 classic ‘The Queen Is Dead’, and has said he is being “gagged” over its release.

Blaming the “idiot culture”, he said: “There is no arts media anymore in England, therefore there’s no one to whom I can sit and talk about this. The fact is, genuine artists in England are now being held hostage by people who object to any manner of alternative opinion.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MORRISSEY (@morrisseyofficial)

Last year, he said he had bought back the rights back to the album, as well as his 2014 record ‘World Peace Is None Of Your Business’. He later told Medium that “there are two albums” that he has completed but is unable to release, the other being ‘Without Music, The World Dies’.

“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.”

He added: “Labels say that they are both fantastic high-quality pop albums but they say that they can’t release them because they don’t want the wrath of The Guardian making their lives hell. The harassment campaign against me by The Guardian is worldwide knowledge now, and it is effective in the sense that labels do not want to become involved with this Gotcha! Journalism.”

Morrissey has made headlines in recent years after dividing fans with his politically charged comments. These have included him showing support for the controversial far-right, anti-Islam political party For Britain, having worn a badge for the party during a 2019 television appearance.

Last week, Johnny Marr spoke about why he turned down an “eye-watering” amount of money to play a Smiths reunion. “It was a little bit about principles, but I’m not an idiot, I just think the vibe’s not right,” he said.

It comes after Morrissey claimed last summer that AEG Entertainment offered the surviving Smiths’ members “a lucrative offer” to organise a worldwide tour. This, the singer claimed, was something he was interested in pursuing, but ultimately fell through as “Marr ignored the offer”.

He would later claim that the guitarist had blocked a greatest hits album and acquired the trademark rights to The Smiths without informing him. Marr responded to these claims by saying that they were “incorrect” and actually done in a bid to “prevent third parties from profiting from the band’s name”.

The post Morrissey cancels Stockholm show, saying he and band are “travel-weary beyond belief”, citing “absolutely zero music industry support” for full Scandinavia tour appeared first on NME.