British singer Morrissey on Thursday cancelled his concert in Valencia due to “lack of sleep” caused by the noise of the famous Fallas festival, currently underway in the eastern Spanish city.
“The show planned for tonight in Valencia has become impossible due to lack of sleep,” said the website of the former Smiths singer Morrissey on Thursday, who “drove from Milan to Valencia (…) was unable to rest in Valencia because of the noise.”
An initial message indicated that the singer of the cult 1980s group had arrived at his hotel in Valencia “late” on Wednesday night into Thursday.
“Any form of sleep or rest last night was impossible due to the noise of the festival/the techno singing at full volume/the announcements over the megaphone. This experience plunged Morrissey into a catatonic state,” the singer’s website claims.
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In an almost cryptic message, the site assures that it is not “the show [that is] cancelled. It is the circumstances that make it impossible”.
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Despite repeated attempts by AFP to contact them, the Palau de los Artes concert hall, where Morrissey was expected, could not be reached on Thursday morning.
Known for his deeply held vegetarian beliefs, Morrissey released an album in 1985 with The Smiths entitled “Meat is Murder”.
He actually requests that all the venues where he performs be vegetarian and once left the stage at the Coachella festival in California after smelling a barbecue.
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But the singer, who in recent years has adopted an increasingly reactionary discourse, even going so far as to participate in an American show in 2019 wearing the badge of a British far-right party, is also known for regularly cancelling his concerts, much to the dismay of his fans.
According to the specialist website weheartM.com, which compiled these statistics, Morrissey had cancelled 38 out of 84 scheduled dates between the beginning of 2025 and the end of January 2026.
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The Fallas festival, which usually brings together a million people in to Valencia March – including many foreign tourists – is famous in particular for the gigantic characters made of papier-mâché and reduced to ashes at the end of the festival in a gigantic fireworks display and continuous explosions of firecrackers.
Perhaps most ear-splitting of all are the mascletàs, which are pyrotechnic events that take place throughout the Fallas and aim to be as noisy and rhythmical as possible.
READ ALSO: ‘Impossible to sleep’ – How fun-loving Spain is even too noisy for locals
Morrisey’s gig snub will no doubt further fuel the reputation of Spain as being a very noisy country, the second noisiest after Japan according to some reports.
More than 12 million people in Spain – around one in four – live with noise levels exceeding 65 decibels.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), while not immediately damaging to hearing, long-term exposure to noise above 70 dB is considered a risk to health.
With additional reporting by The Local Spain’s editor Alex Dunham
