Earlier this week, Morrissey caused a bit of a stir when he criticized an Icelandic venue for its "cannibalistic flesh-eating bloodlust," with semi-official site True to You reporting that plans for a show had been scrapped due to the Harpa Concert Hall's apparent refusal to stop selling meat on the night in question. Now, the story has taken a strange turn, as the venue has claimed that the issue of food was never addressed in negotiations.
Halldór Guðmundsson of the Reykjavik venue told NME that a date for the show had never been confirmed and it was never asked to stop serving meat.
"We were never asked about anything," Guðmundsson said. "I was never asked to speak to the restaurants here about whether they would serve meat on the night of the gig. There was no contract or anything. The date mentioned to us was towards the end of March. It's totally his decision, but it was strange for us to read about it on the internet before we were asked about it."
Lisa Hanson of the concert promoters RR reiterated these comments, saying, "We were just starting to look at venues for him and we thought this one [Harpa Concert Hall] would be good. The restaurant there is three floors up on the other side of the venue, it's not like they sell hamburgers right outside. He said he didn't want to play there and we said 'fine.' It was never a date. It was never booked."
It's not a surprise to learn that the show was never officially booked; we noted as much when we first wrote about the story. But it's a little confusing to learn that Moz apparently didn't give the venue the opportunity to stop offering meat on the night in question. After all, he's played meat-serving venues before, with the stipulation that the night of his concert would have to be vegetarian-only.
It looks like this will go down as yet another case of Morrissey being Morrissey.
Halldór Guðmundsson of the Reykjavik venue told NME that a date for the show had never been confirmed and it was never asked to stop serving meat.
"We were never asked about anything," Guðmundsson said. "I was never asked to speak to the restaurants here about whether they would serve meat on the night of the gig. There was no contract or anything. The date mentioned to us was towards the end of March. It's totally his decision, but it was strange for us to read about it on the internet before we were asked about it."
Lisa Hanson of the concert promoters RR reiterated these comments, saying, "We were just starting to look at venues for him and we thought this one [Harpa Concert Hall] would be good. The restaurant there is three floors up on the other side of the venue, it's not like they sell hamburgers right outside. He said he didn't want to play there and we said 'fine.' It was never a date. It was never booked."
It's not a surprise to learn that the show was never officially booked; we noted as much when we first wrote about the story. But it's a little confusing to learn that Moz apparently didn't give the venue the opportunity to stop offering meat on the night in question. After all, he's played meat-serving venues before, with the stipulation that the night of his concert would have to be vegetarian-only.
It looks like this will go down as yet another case of Morrissey being Morrissey.
