Matty Healy to open for The 1975 after Caroline Polachek pulls out of Dublin show

7 June, 2023

Matty Healy of The 1975 (Photo by Burak Cingi/Redferns for ABA)

Matty Healy is set to perform a solo slot opening for his own band, The 1975, tonight (June 7), following Caroline Polachek pulling out of the show.

The gig is set to take place at St Anne’s Park in Dublin tonight, and is the latest show as part of the band’s extensive ‘At Their Very Best’ world tour.

Originally, the show was meant to be headlined by The 1975, featuring support from Caroline Polachek. However, in a new update shared by the band this morning, the American singer-songwriter has been forced to pull out of the Ireland show due to ill health.

“Our dear friend Caroline Polachek is unfortunately not in good enough health to join us at our Dublin show today,” they confirmed to fans on Twitter. “We wish her all the love in the world and a speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing you all this evening.”

In the update, the band also shared a simple new poster for the upcoming show, declaring Healy — going only by the name ‘Matty’ — as the new support act for the show. It is not yet clear what his set will entail.

In a follow-up Twitter post, Polachek also shared an update on her health — explaining to fans why she has been forced to pull out of the show and declaring that she will return to the stage “soon”.

“Dublin ::: very sadly i’ve lost my voice and won’t be able to support The 1975 tonight as planned,” she wrote. “I was so excited to finally play Dublin and will be coming back as soon as i can. On the upside, Matty himself will be doing a solo set in my place! Much love and fomo.”

Earlier this week, The 1975 once again made headlines while embarking on their ‘At Their Very Best’ world tour. The moment took place during their set at NorthSide Festival in Denmark, when Healy kissed a security guard while onstage.

The moment was the latest as part of an unconventional tradition the band have, where the frontman consensually kisses someone on the lips during the song ‘Robbers’. The so-called ‘Robbers kiss’ has been a part of the band’s sets on and off from as early as 2014, when the song itself was released as part of their eponymous debut album.

Last month, Healy also made an onstage appearance without his fellow band members during a Taylor Swift concert. Taking place on the second of three shows at Texas’ Nissan Stadium on May 6, the musician joined guest star Phoebe Bridgers onstage, wearing a skeleton onesie and playing guitar during the set.

More recently, however, The 1975 received backlash from songwriter and former Oasis member Noel Gallagher, who described the band as “shit” in a new interview with NME.

The comments arose during NME‘s In Conversation series, Gallagher was asked if he feels his music with Oasis has had much of an influence on today’s crop of musicians. To this, he said that he felt that guitar music had become “marginalised”.

“Oasis’ influence, I think, was for people to fucking start a band in the first place,” he said. “It’s just a pity guitar music has become marginalised. You’ve either got to be rock, or that fucking [The] 1975. At the BRITs, The 1975 won Best Rock or some fucking shit.

“I was watching it with my kids, two teenage lads, thinking, ‘Is it me being a grumpy old man, or is this shit?’ They were both going, ‘Oh no, this is fucking shit,’” he continued. “The 1975, Best Rock Band? Someone needs to re-define that immediately, because that is… I don’t know what that is, but it’s certainly not fucking rock. Whatever rock is, that’s not it.”

In other news, Caroline Polachek recently shared her distaste for the label ‘female artists’, saying: “Gender is not a genre.”

“Kate Bush, Björk and Fiona Apple were foundational to me, in terms of redefining what music could be. But no more so than Brian Eno, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Radiohead,” she said. “What all these artists have in common is a very vivid sense of subjectivity. You see the world through their eyes, they bring you into their minds.”

The post Matty Healy to open for The 1975 after Caroline Polachek pulls out of Dublin show appeared first on NME.