Morrissey just booked Fresno on his spring tour. Here’s his local concert reputation

Here is a concert announcement to excite the Gen X.

Morrissey is coming to Fresno this spring.

The English indie-rock crooner announced Monday a set of 12 U.S. tour dates, including a stop April 28 at Warrnor’s Theatre in downtown Fresno. That’s followed by a concert at Fox Theatre in Bakersfield on April 30.

Tickets go on sale at noon Friday, with presales beginning Thursday.

Tickets prices have not been released, but will be available at Warnors Center box office or by phone at 559-264-2848.

Morrissey is a Brit-pop icon. He made a name for himself as the well-dress, well-coiffed frontman/lyricist of the Smiths, a relatively underground band that became a darling of college rock radio in the 1980s. He managed to find continued success as a solo artist in the ’90s, releasing a string of well-received albums.

The singer “made a career of turning gloom and doom into pithy lyrical observations, then setting them to enchanting rock ‘n’ roll,” to quote a Fresno Bee story that ran in advance of his performance at the Rainbow Ballroom in 1999.

He played the venue again in 2002.

More than a decade later he returned to the central San Joaquin Valley, for a concert at the Visalia Fox Theatre in 2015. That show sold out within days of tickets going on sale.

Controversies and concert cancellations

A 2017 concert at Vina Robles Amphitheater in Paso Robles was canceled at the last minute (people were already in their seats) because of cold weather and an “inoperable heating system on stage,” according to the promoter at the time.

A story in Spin Magazine reported the news thusly: “Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Morrissey canceled a show last night.”

The singer has a history of bailing on or otherwise interrupting his own concerts. It’s a joke among fans.

He famously left the stage (briefly) during a performance at Coachella in 2009, after being overcome with fumes from a barbecue backstage.

He canceled a pair of arena shows in Southern California last year for what the venues cited as “unforeseen circumstances.” It turned out to be “physical exhaustion,” according to a story on Deadline. His previous show lasted all of 20 minutes before the singer walked off stage, the publication reported.

In November, he called a concert early in Dallas after a fan rushed the stage.

The singer has also become known for his outspoken nature (on animal protectionism, for example), eccentricities (insisting that his autobiography be released by Penguin Classics) and oft-contrarian views (a visible support for far-right politics in Britain). In an interview with the Telegraph last year, Morrissey claimed his album “Bonfire of the Teenagers” remains unreleased because record labels are afraid of its content.

This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 9:23 AM.