The 1975’s Matty Healy seems to poke fun at Malaysian controversy during Lollapalooza
The 1975 frontman Matty Healy seemed to poke fun at the band’s current Malaysian controversy during their headlining set at Lollapalooza 2023.
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During the intro to their song, ‘It’s Not Living If It’s Not With You’, the band have a gag where Healy goes to say something controversial and then the band cut him off with the beginning riff of the song.
While performing the song during their set at this year’s edition of the music festival, Healy said: “You want my travel tip? Don’t go to…” before getting cut off by the start of the track.
Last month, while performing at Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Healy criticised the Malaysian government and its anti-LGBTQ laws onstage and then kissed bassist Ross MacDonald during their headlining set. The set was cut short and the next day, the remainder of the three-day festival was ordered cancelled by the authorities and the band was banned from performing in the country.
The band are potentially facing a class action lawsuit which is being readied by Malaysian law firm Thomas Philip. The suit will name all four members of The 1975 and seek compensation over losses suffered as a result of the incident, which the firm’s founder and managing partner Matthew Thomas Philip labelled a “deliberate reckless act done knowing well [sic] of the consequences”.
Many have shared their opinions about the band’s actions including The Strokes’ frontman Julian Casablancas who acknowledged there are “many things to fix”, but that “we should be strategic” when it comes to other cultures.
Healy recently reacted to Muse pulling a song from their setlist for their show in Malaysia.
He took to his Instagram stories to share a screenshot of a Muse pre-order message that reads “Join the Resistance”, adding the caption, “Sick”. The singer then followed that story post with another one that shared the news of Muse removing a song from their setlist and adding the caption “Oh” to it.
In other news, Healy recently shared the full audio of himself opening for The 1975. billed as ‘Matty’ – performed a 10-song acoustic set at St Anne’s Park, which included the live debuts of ‘Then Because She Goes’ and ‘Playing On My Mind’ from The 1975’s fourth album, ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’.
Earlier this week, the group announced a 10th anniversary reissue of their self-titled debut album and will be performing the record in full at Reading & Leeds 2023.
Check back at NME all weekend for more reviews, news, interviews, photos and more from Lollapalooza 2023.
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Anagricel Duran
NME
