Morrissey Plays a Smith Classic for the First Time in 29 Years

After a bumpy start where he cancelled two shows at the last minute, Morrissey finally kicked off his 2026 U.S. tour Saturday evening at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. We didn’t hear anything from his upcoming LP Make-Up Is a Lie, and he largely played the same mix of classics we heard last year, but five songs in, he stunned the faithful by breaking out “Paint a Vulgar Picture” from the 1987 Smiths LP Strangeways, Here We Come. He hadn’t delivered the song on a concert stage since 1997.

The song is a painfully cynical look at music fandom, the record industry, and how tragic deaths are exploited for cash by greedy executives. “At the record company meeting,” Morrissey sings. “On their hands, at last, a dead star/But they can never taint you in my eyes/They can never touch you now/No, they cannot hurt you, my darling/They cannot touch you, no.”

The timing was slightly odd since this was Morrissey’s first concert since inking a deal with Warner/Sire for the release of Make-Up Is a Lie. He’d spent the past couple of years complaining that no label would distribute the album he recorded in early 2023.

“As you know, nobody will release my music anymore,” he told the crowd at a 2024 show in Newark. “As you know because I’m a chief exponent of free speech. In England at least, it’s now criminalized. You cannot speak freely in England. If you don’t believe me, go there. Express an opinion, you’ll be sent to prison. It’s very, very difficult.”

“Paint a Vulgar Picture” is one of five Smiths songs he played 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 typical to hear only two or three Smiths songs at Morrissey shows. But he’s ramped that number up recently. At some concerts last year, he played seven of them.

Morrissey’s tour continues Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, or at least that’s the plan for now. He has an unfortunate habit of pulling shows or even entire tour legs with little explanation or warning. In 2025, he cancelled 32 of 63 planned shows. According to one count, there are 404 concerts throughout Morrissey’s career that he either cancelled or ended prematurely.

What Morrissey fans can count on is Make-Up Is a Lie arriving on March 6. It features 11 brand-new songs and a cover of Roxy Music’s classic “Amazona.” The title track has already been released.