# Event Details - **Event Name**: On the Trail of The Smiths in Manchester (The Queen is Dead at 40) - **Event Start and End Date**: Tue, 16 Jun, 2026 at 06:00 pm – Tue, 16 Jun, 2026 at 07:45 pm - **Event Description**: Join Mojo's Ed Glinert, Manchester's leading historian, on this tour of Morrissey's Manchester to honour The Queen is Dead at 40.About this EventOn the Trail of The Smiths in ManchesterJoin us to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Smiths' most lauded album, "The Queen is Dead".Where we go:• The Hacienda, vilified in The Smiths’ most famous song.• HOME cinema to recall The Smiths’ cinematic links.• The building where Moz actually had a job!, which inspired...• Central Station and its role in the Moors Murders that inspired the Smiths’ name.• The building where the Smiths rehearsed relentlessly in 1983.• The venue where they made their debut.• The Lesser Free Trade Hall where Morrissey witnessed a music revolution and earned his first appearance in the media.and more. Read on...***They were Britain’s greatest ever group, more melodic than the Beatles, more powerful than the Stones, cleverer than the Who, catchier than U2, funnier than Madness and better-looking than Jesus & Mary Chain (okay, not hard).They played music that lifted the soul with words that sharpened the mind.They played both types of music: fast and slow, soft and loud, country and western (???), and they came from Manchester.They were The Smiths.They sang about the city and shot its sites for their sleeves: the Hacienda, Manchester Central, “a river the colour of lead”, Coronation Street, the Holy Name Church...The Smiths’ Manchester walk takes a trip through their haunts and their dark underbelly. Unlike other Smiths’ tours, we don’t shirk from the difficult stories. We explain how the horrendous denouement of the Moors Murderers’ killing spree gave Morrissey the inspiration for the band’s name and affected much of his song-writing.This is a music-driven tour. We play the relevant song at the relevant stop.***Here’s an extractMorrissey’s stint in Yanks’ record shop, a dank and now defunct basement outlet in Chepstow Street’s Canada House early in 1979, partly inspired the line about jobs and misery in “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”. Yes, he could play records all day, but was still not satisfied. The contradiction of being unhappy with not having a job yet being depressed with job was a long running problem with Moz. As he once noted in his diary: “When I had no job I could pinpoint my depression. But when I did get a job I was still depressed.”The gestation of the song itself, two minutes-plus of sumptuous sardonic cynicism, was typically Smithsonian. Converting the title of an obscure Sandie Shaw number, “Heaven Knows I’m Missing Him Now”, Morrissey recorded the vocals for the first verse in London. He then insisted on travelling to Manchester to do the vocals for the second verse. Consequently the producer, John Porter, booked a studio, packed the tapes and went North. There Morrissey recorded another verse but then announced he was popping out to the chip shop. 45 minutes later he still hadn’t returned. Porter phoned Moz’s mother who told him, “Oh he was here but he’s gone back to London.”Suggest descriptionAdd textAdd imageAdd video https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events10/banners/6f7378e0-68f9-11f1-9578-a1beb0c0b8c8-rimg-w477-h740-dc616161-gmir.jpg - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/manchester/on-the-trail-of-the-smiths-in-manchester-the-queen-is-dead-at-40/100001989082649750 - **Event Categories**: trips-adventures, coronation-weekend, music, entertainment - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 - **Event Highlights**: - Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes - Location: Outside the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel - Languages: English ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: GBP ## Event venue details - **city**: Manchester - **state**: EN - **country**: United Kingdom - **location**: Outside the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel - **lat**: 53.479636 - **long**: -2.2373177 - **full address**: Outside the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, Portland Street, Manchester, United Kingdom ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: On the Trail of The Smiths in Manchester (The Queen is Dead at 40) - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events8/banners/96052e65189b5545b91880da4275746671f596130400af2cc4db8c7daaaab17c-rimg-w300-h300-dc2e3827-gmir.jpg?v=1779010398 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is On the Trail of The Smiths in Manchester (The Queen is Dead at 40) being held? - **A:** On the Trail of The Smiths in Manchester (The Queen is Dead at 40) takes place on Tue, 16 Jun, 2026 at 06:00 pm to Tue, 16 Jun, 2026 at 07:45 pm at Outside the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, Portland Street, Manchester, United Kingdom. - **Q**: Who is organizing On the Trail of The Smiths in Manchester (The Queen is Dead at 40)? - **A:** On the Trail of The Smiths in Manchester (The Queen is Dead at 40) is organized by New Manchester Walks. - **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me? - **A:** On the Trail of The Smiths in Manchester (The Queen is Dead at 40) is ideal for music lovers, fans of all genres, and anyone who wants to celebrate the power of music - from intimate gigs and live sessions to festivals and cultural performances. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Manchester, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. If On the Trail of The Smiths in Manchester (The Queen is Dead at 40) sounds like your kind of event, don't wait - spots fill up fast. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "On the Trail of The Smiths in Manchester (The Queen is Dead at 40)", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events8/banners/96052e65189b5545b91880da4275746671f596130400af2cc4db8c7daaaab17c-rimg-w300-h300-dc2e3827-gmir.jpg?v=1779010398", "startDate": "2026-06-16", "endDate": "2026-06-16", "url": "https://allevents.in/manchester/on-the-trail-of-the-smiths-in-manchester-the-queen-is-dead-at-40/100001989082649750", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Outside the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "Portland Street", "postalCode": "M1 4PH", "addressLocality": "Manchester", "addressRegion": "EN", "addressCountry": "GB" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "53.479636", "longitude": "-2.2373177" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Join Mojo's Ed Glinert, Manchester's leading historian, on this tour of Morrissey's Manchester to honour The Queen is Dead at 40.", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "GBP", "availabilityStarts": "2026-09-09", "availabilityEnds": "2026-06-16", "validFrom": "2026-09-09", "lowPrice": "0.00", "highPrice": "0.00", "price": "0.00", "url": "https://allevents.in/manchester/on-the-trail-of-the-smiths-in-manchester-the-queen-is-dead-at-40/100001989082649750" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "GBP", "availabilityStarts": "2026-09-09", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-09-09", "url": "https://allevents.in/manchester/on-the-trail-of-the-smiths-in-manchester-the-queen-is-dead-at-40/100001989082649750", "price": 0, "name": "General Admission" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "New Manchester Walks", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/new-manchester-walks/17624468", "description": "New Manchester Walks provides expert, enlightening and excitingly entertaining tours devised by Manchester's most energetic historian, Ed Glinert, author of Penguin Books' The Manchester Compendium, West End Chronicles, Literary London, John Alker and Lindsay Sutton." } ] } ] ```