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Sir Cliff Richard has spoken out about his upcoming and bizarre gigs with Morrissey - saying that he is 'deeply honoured' by the invitation, but won't go vegetarian for the former Smiths star.
Earlier this week, Morrisssey announced via his official fan site True To You that he'll be playing Los Angeles Sports Arena on 10 May supported by no less than Sir Tom Jones, and New York’s Barclays Center on 21 June with your nan's favourite, Sir Cliff Richard. Dates in Dallas and Boston are to be announced soon. For more information visit Gigwise gig tickets.
Now, in a new interview with the BBC, Cliff has opened up about how the strange line-up came about and what he hopes the gigs will bring.
Sir Cliff said: "About a month ago my manager rang me and said: "I'm going to throw a curveball at you. Morrissey wants you in New York with him." I said, "My initial answer is yes but can you check it's not a joke? Is there an ulterior motive?" He got hold of Morrissey's management and he said: "No, Morrissey's a fan and he'd like you to be there." So I said: "Yes, please".
"The chances of me singing for 15,000 people in New York are pretty well nil for me at the moment anyway. So I thought it would be great.
Thinking about how he think he'll go down with Morrissey's indie-loving hardcore fans, Sir Cliff said: "I checked on the internet and saw a couple of shots of him live, and his audiences look really - I don't know how to say this - they look really nice. They were swaying in the crowd and mouthing lyrics and I was thinking: "Oh, my audiences do that." So maybe his audience will be kind to me."
When asked if he'll be giving up meat to perform with the famously vigilant vegetarian, Sir Cliff replied: "Certainly not. No, of course not. I like to think he might eat some meat when I arrive, but I wouldn't expect him to. So I don't think he'd expect me to be vegetarian. If I found he was offended by people eating meat then I won't eat it in front of him. But I'll have a chicken curry afterwards."
Last month, it was announced that Morrissey had signed a record deal with Universal, and has plans to release a new album in 2014.
The outspoken former Smiths frontman will release his tenth studio album with the major label in the latter half of 2014, and it's said to be produced by Joe Chiccarelli, who has worked with the likes of The Shins, U2 and Beck. His guitarist previously said that Moz has 'loads of songs' written for the album.
Below: Photos of Morrissey slamming the Royals and Syria President at same gig
