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Morrissey attempts to shut down rival gig in same venue he's performing

08 May 2014, 23:46 | Written by Luke Morgan Britton

Morrissey was scheduled to perform at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California on Thursday night but the show very nearly didn’t go ahead, as Morrissey was refusing to play unless a rival gig was called off.

​According to a post on the Facebook page of Scottish band Paws, Moz attempted to shut down their gig with We Are Scientists in the venue’s second room “because he is playing in another room in the same venue and wishes for their to be no other artists performing in his vicinity”.

While both gigs did indeed go ahead as scheduled, We Are Scientists had this to say on the matter:

When it became apparent that Morrissey’s set was going to overlap with the WAS/PAWS bill, everybody really did agree that couldn’t work — even though the two venues are separated by a reasonably thick wall, Moz fans wouldn’t have been able to hear a lick of what they’d paid to see. Both bands on our bill play at nuclear volume, triumphant volume, and it goes right through walls. Putting on the two shows simultaneously would be like screening a mumblecore film and a Michael Bay movie in theaters divided by a cotton bed sheet. So we’ve moved the WAS/PAWS show a little later, which will probably come as a nice surprise to our fans, many of whom have had to set their alarms especially early this afternoon in order to make the show.

Paws, however, weren’t as forgiving. Read their original post (now deleted) beneath:

Morrissey is currently trying to have our slot at tonights show in Santa Ana, California cancelled because he is playing in another room in the same venue and wishes for their to be no other artists performing in his vicinity.

This is an unbelievable act of complete and utter selfishness that should not be tolerated. This rich, has-been, ego maniac acting like a baby throwing toys from a pram. To satisfy his little power hungry brain. A complete disregard for others and a baffling lack of support/respect for young, hard working musicians.

People like this, with attitudes like this displays a classic example of why the music industry is still awash with disgusting garbage that should by now have been snuffed out. Pedestals, self righteous entitlement, disrespect and “competition”. Geez. It’s not like we’ve come all the way from Scotland to play for nothin’...

I’m just going to leave this photo and sentiment with you and we’ll report back with developments. We won’t go out without a fight!

What do you all think?

UPDATE: A representative of Morrissey has told Pitchfork: “Morrissey had nothing to do with this. As long as there was no sound bleed, Morrissey was completely fine with another show going on inside the same complex.”

[via CoS]

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