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After a rocky start that saw him cancel two shows at short notice, Morrissey finally opened his 2026 US tour on Saturday night at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. There was no word on upcoming album Make-Up Is a Lie, and he played much of the same mix of classics as last year.
Cynical view of the music industry and fan culture
But five songs in, he surprised the loyal audience with “Paint a Vulgar Picture” from the Smiths’ 1987 album “Strangeways, Here We Come.” He had not performed this song on a concert stage since 1997.
The song is a painfully cynical look at music fan culture, the record industry and how tragic deaths are monetized by greedy managers. “At the record company meeting,” Morrissey sings. “In their hands, a dead star at last / But they can never defile you in my eyes / They can’t touch you now / No, they can’t hurt you, my darling / They can’t touch you, no.”
The timing was a bit strange as this was Morrissey’s first concert since signing a deal with Warner/Sire for the release of Make-Up Is a Lie. In recent years he has repeatedly complained that no label wanted to release the album he recorded at the beginning of 2023.
Morrissey on censorship and freedom of expression
“As you know, no one wants to release my music anymore,” he told the audience at a 2024 concert in Newark. “As you know, because I am a leading advocate of freedom of speech. In England at least it is now criminalized. You can’t speak freely in England. If you don’t believe me, go. Express an opinion and you’ll end up in prison. It’s very, very difficult.”
“Paint a Vulgar Picture” was one of five Smiths songs he performed in San Antonio. The others were “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”, “How Soon Is Now?”, “I Know It’s Over” and “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me”. For many years it was common to hear only two or three Smiths songs at Morrissey concerts. However, recently he has increased this number significantly. At some concerts last year he even played seven of them.
Tour continuation with an uncertain outcome
Morrissey’s tour is scheduled to continue Tuesday night in Oklahoma City – at least that’s the plan right now. He has an unfortunate habit of canceling shows or even entire tour legs without much explanation or warning. In 2025 he canceled 32 of 63 planned concerts. By one count, there are a total of 404 concerts in Morrissey’s career that he either canceled or ended early.
What Morrissey fans can count on, however, is the release of “Make-Up Is a Lie” on March 6th. The album contains eleven brand new songs as well as a cover version of the Roxy Music classic “Amazona”. The title song has already been released.