Meat is Murder

By Robert Wilonsky Fri., May 25 2007 at 12:03 PM

Categories: Music

Just heard the craziest rumor about tonight's Morrissey show at the Palladium Ballroom. A well-informed Friend of Unfair Park who was trying to score Morrissey tix for tonight's sold-out show caught wind of the fact that the former Smiths frontman has in his rider a no-meat clause -- not surprising, as he's a well-known, long-time vegetarian (since the age of 11, matter of fact). The man known to his family as Steven Patrick Morrissey can't even smell cooking meat -- it's not succulent, tasty or kind, after all, merely death for no reason.

Only there's one big problem: Unfair Park has confirmed that adjoining Gilley's has booked tonight a wedding rehearsal dinner where, in fact, barbecue is on the menu. Indeed, it's the entire menu. And there's a concern that sensitive Steven will get a whiff of grilled cow.

Says our Friend, this small booking mishap has caused "a huge rift between Morrissey and the Palladium." Now, David Ireland, who handles marketing for AEG, tells us he's heard nothing about it; then again, he wouldn't necessarily know about this, so he's calling some production folks to confirm. We will let you know when he does.

That said, Morrissey has made some, ah, unique requests in his contracts in the past. To wit:

In his 80s heyday, with The Smiths, his contract used to stipulate that his dressing-room should contain vegetarian food, wine, fruit juice and 'flowers to the approximate value of £50 sterling, including gladioli, no roses or flowers with thorns' though later he replaced this with the demand for 'a live tree with a minimum height of 3ft and a maximum height of 5ft'.

Yeah, he's not high maintenance at all. --Robert Wilonsky