Moz meat ban good for business

Jun 17 2011 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

FAIR City restaurateur Paco Galea believes any publicity is good publicity, even when diners try to cancel bookings as a result.

On Tuesday the PA broke the story about vegetarian pop star Morrissey’s meat ban as a condition of performing at venues on his sold-out UK tour, including Perth Concert Hall two nights ago.

After sparking a national media feeding frenzy, the legendary crooner’s anti-meat crusade yesterday received mass exposure on BBC Radio 2’s Chris Evans Breakfast show, which has an audience of nine million.

According to a source, Moz’s minders had also requested that Perth restaurant Paco’s did not dish up carnivorous fare either, such as burgers and steaks, on gig night.

But while the memo did not reach the popular 21-year-old eatery, news that meat may be off the table prompted some carnivores to reach for the phone.

“It was great publicity – there were four occasions where people called up after reading the PA story,” explained a bemused Mr Galea.

“Three who wanted to cancel a booking for Wednesday night as meat was not being served, and a fourth to enquire if it was true.

“The BBC also called asking to interview me but I said no.”

The restaurateur, who typically does big business with Concert Hall patrons and also caters for vegetarian palates, said he had many loyal long-time customers who loved their meat.

“My butcher, Simon Howie, wasn’t happy about the Morrissey story, it left a sour taste in his mouth,” he said.

“I’ll be honest with you, my musical knowledge is zero – I didn’t know who Morrissey was, I prefer Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald!

“I can’t really comment on the meat ban, we all have views and obviously it’s a free country.”

Some PA readers though waxed lyrical about the caveat, including Michael McDougall, who described it as “unbelievable”.

“To stop Paco’s from serving meat dishes is ridiculous,” he said.

“It could only happen in this town – what’s next, meat patrols up and down Mill Street? A £10 fine if you’re caught eating a sausage roll within 200 feet of the Concert Hall?

“The man should have been told where to go.”

Concert Hall management, however, said they were more than happy to satisfy the staunch animal rights campaigner’s strict conditions that no meat be prepared or consumed on the day of his gig.

Otherwise the 52-year-old UK icon could well have stormed off stage as he did at a 2009 festival because he could “smell burning flesh”.

At the Fair City gig, beefy security guards took no chances, frisking patrons to ensure no animal products made it inside.

The outspoken Moz, however – who argues that eating meat is on the same moral level as child abuse – let his music do the talking, with his final pre-encore number the incendiary 1985 Smiths track Meat is Murder.

The anthem includes the verse: “And the flesh you so fancifully fry is not succulent, tasty or kind, it’s death for no reason and death for no reason is murder.”

As Morrissey sang with heartfelt conviction, disturbing footage of poultry and livestock being slaughtered and processed by abattoir workers played on a cinema-sized screen behind the band.

One fan later told the PA that Moz’s anti-meat message had made a big impact.

“It was pretty shocking actually, and I’d have to say that it really made me think about what I eat,” she said.

Read the full Morrissey gig review in Music Scene in Tuesday’s PA.