2-J writes:

I know this is news about an old story, Morrissey pulling out of the Inland Invasion, but for those who followed the story at the time, this might be an interesting insight into the events backstage on the day.

On the Franz Ferdinand official webpage, the frontman Alex Kaparanos keeps a sort of online diary. The entry for the day of the Inland Invasion reveals a version of events I hadn't seen proposed before - apparently the organisers wanted to break the news shortly after they got it (before Ian Brown's set) but Ian Brown insisted that they not break the news. And then, for some strange reason, given his reasons for asking them not to announce it, he took it upon himself to do so:-

"We played at the Inland Invasion show last night. Morrissey pulled out. He was feeling poorly backstage just before Ian Brown was about to go on. The promoters wanted to announce it to the audience. Brown said he wouldn't go on if they did. It would put everyone in a bad mood. They let him go on without the announcement. When he was on stage he said "by the way, Morrissey's not coming". I like Ian Brown."