Mike Joyce and Stephen Street set a 2026 UK talk tour

Mike Joyce and Stephen Street have announced a UK "In Conversation" tour for autumn and winter 2026, NME reported on August 4, marking 40 years since The Smiths released "The Queen Is Dead." Joyce drummed on the 1986 album and Street engineered it, later producing the band's final record, 1987's "Strangeways, Here We Come."

The pair will share stories, memories and behind-the-scenes insight at each stop, alongside archive video, memorabilia and audience Q&As. The tour opens at Stockton's Arc Theatre on October 1 and runs through Manchester, Frome, Kidderminster, Leicester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Edinburgh before closing at London's Kings Place on December 5.

NME's own list of the 500 greatest albums of all time put "The Queen Is Dead" at the top, calling it a record that transcends its influences. Street told NME the album's one-off backing vocal, credited to "Ann Coates," was actually Morrissey's own voice run through a harmoniser, recorded during a rare late-night session. "There was no messing around in the studio, but that was the one night we let our hair down," Street said, recalling bassist Andy Rourke playing Spinal Tap basslines at the drop of a hat.

Street also said he would work with Morrissey again despite a past royalty dispute over 1988's "Viva Hate," which he produced. "The Smiths gave me my first big break," he told NME, adding that "if he asked, I would be interested."

The tour lands amid a long-running feud between Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr over the band's history and rights that reignited again this summer. Morrissey has claimed Marr alone owns the Smiths' trademark and intellectual property, said last autumn he was selling off his own business interests in the band, and has more recently begun selling merchandise based on the group's classic artwork with his own name replacing the Smiths' logo.

Marr releases his own solo album, "The Age of Everything," on October 2, the day after Joyce and Street's tour begins; Morrissey released his latest record, "Make-Up Is a Lie," in March. The tour joins the rest of the year's shows in the tour guide and our rock coverage.