Mike Joyce and Stephen Street have announced an ‘In Conversation’ UK tour celebrating 40 years of The Smiths‘ ‘The Queen Is Dead’. Find all the details below.
The drummer of the iconic Manchester band is set to appear at the forthcoming dates alongside Street, who engineered their 1986 third album. Street was then credited as a producer on the group’s fourth and final record, 1987’s ‘Strangeways, Here We Come’.
Fans can expect to see some archive video footage and memorabilia from that era, too.
The tour is scheduled to kick off in Stockton on October 1, ahead of further stops in Manchester, Frome, Kidderminster, Leicester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Edinburgh.
The run of dates is due to conclude with an event at Kings Place in London on December 5.
Tickets for the tour are on general sale now – you can buy yours here, and see the full itinerary below.
The full list of tour dates for Mike Joyce and Stephen Street’s ‘In Conversation: ‘The Queen Is Dead’ at 40′ tour is:
OCTOBER
01 – Arc Theatre, Stockton
04 – New Century Hall, Manchester
08 – Cheese & Grain, Frome
18 – Town Hall, Kidderminster
22 – Y Theatre, Leicester
NOVEMBER
08 – Tung Auditorium, Liverpool
12 – Foundry, Sheffield
26 – Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh
DECEMBER
05 – Kings Place, London
‘The Queen Is Dead’ previously topped NME‘s 500 greatest albums of all time list, where it was hailed as “one of those select few albums which seem to transcend its influences, working them into something singular and new”.
Street, who also engineered The Smiths’ 1985 album ‘Meat Is Murder’, spoke to NME in 2021 about crediting ‘Ann Coates’ as a backing vocalist on ‘The Queen Is Dead’, “which is Morrissey’s vocal put through a harmoniser”.
“That only happened during one session! [Laughs] Johnny [Marr] was a night-owl so sometimes we’d work late,” he told us. “There was no messing around in the studio, but that was the one night we let our hair down – Andy [Rourke] knew all the basslines to Spinal Tap songs and would play them at the drop of a hat.”
Street then discussed whether he would work with Morrissey again, following the pair’s dispute over royalties after the producer helmed his 1988 debut solo album, ‘Viva Hate’.
“Yeah, I think so,” he told NME. “It’s well-documented that he’s said some dubious things in recent years, but because of our long-term past relationship – The Smiths gave me my first big break – I feel a certain loyalty to him so if he asked, I would be interested.”
Morrissey recently started selling new versions of The Smiths’ iconic merchandise, but with his name on the items instead. The T-shirt designs are based on the official artwork for ‘Meat Is Murder’ and ‘The Queen Is Dead’, with Morrissey’s name replacing the group’s logo.
This spring, the singer claimed responsibility for the initial idea for the photo of The Smiths taken outside Salford Lads Club in Greater Manchester – which was used on the inner-sleeve of ‘The Queen Is Dead’. He said it was “solely my idea, to which as usual the other three initially viewed as more unnecessary Morrissey lunacy”.
Morrissey also shared another statement at the time, in an attempt to correct Johnny Marr on the history of the band and Rough Trade.
This followed Morrissey sharing his intention to sell off all his business interests in The Smiths last autumn, saying he was “burnt out by any and all connections” to his former bandmates.
A year earlier, Morrissey had claimed that Marr now owned all of the “trademark rights and Intellectual Property” of The Smiths, and could therefore tour as a band without him.
The long-running feud between the pair reignited last month, when Morrissey launched a lengthy attack on Marr.
In August 2024, Morrissey hit out at Marr for turning down a “lucrative” Smiths comeback tour, alleging that the guitarist “ignored” the offer.
The singer later said he was keen to embark on a comeback trek as a “thank you for those who have listened for what suddenly feels like a lifetime”. He denied that he wanted to tour because of any “emotional attachment” to Marr.
Marr will release his new solo album, ‘The Age Of Everything’, on October 2. Morrissey, meanwhile, shared his latest record ‘Make-Up Is A Lie’ in March.
