How Cliff Richard Ended Up On The Morrissey Tour And How It Could All End
the dish that threatens a tour
Think about this. Sir Cliff Richard is a legend. He hasn’t toured in forever and BAM out of nowhere.. Moz calls? Yep.
Richards spoke to the BBC to explain what went down that magical moment. Its fabulous enough to have Morrissey tour again (let’s hope he stays healthy!) and so openers tend not to matter but this strange pairing deserves a bit of investigation.
So heres the BBC Banter:
Q. How did this come about?
A. About a month ago my manager rang me and said: “I’m going to throw a curve ball at you. Morrissey wants you in New York with him.”
I said “My initial answer is yes but can you check it’s not a joke? Is there an ulterior motive?” He got hold of Morrissey’s management and he said: “No, Morrissey’s a fan and he’d like you to be there.”
So I said: “Yes please.” The chances of me singing for 15,000 people in New York are pretty well nil for me at the moment anyway. So I thought it would be great.
I checked on the internet and saw a couple of shots of him live, and his audiences look really – I don’t know how to say this – they look really nice. They were swaying in the crowd and mouthing lyrics and I was thinking: “Oh, my audiences do that.” So maybe his audience will be kind to me.
Q. How aware of his music have you been over the years?
A. I knew of him, even when he was lead singer of The J… The Smiths. I can’t say that I’ve followed his musical career but I’ve followed the success. I’ve Googled him a couple of times now and I’m thinking, I could be a fan.
…
Q. He also has very strict vegetarian rules surrounding the gigs – will you be going vegetarian for the day?
A. Certainly not. No, of course not. I like to think he might eat some meat when I arrive, but I wouldn’t expect him to. So I don’t think he’d expect me to be vegetarian. If I found he was offended by people eating meat then I won’t eat it in front of him. But I’ll have a chicken curry afterwards.
The question now becomes.. Will Morrissey toss Cliffs ass off the tour for the chicken remark? We all know that Moz is the captain vegetarian (who should really be vegan) and has taken some pretty drastic steps in the past when people scoffed at his beliefs. I wonder though if this is an example of Moz the fan-boy. I cant imagine him letting it slide, I just cant. As I write this it has been a few days with no word or statement from the Morrissey camp… could it be?
I would be disappointed if my idol didn’t at least compose a polite statement. To ignore it seems nearly impossible. I consider Sir Cliffs response tacky and ignorant. a couple of attributes Moz is infamous for destroying.
We wait.. and I wonder and hope that Morrissey doesn’t let me down on this one.
