The 1975 vow to stop being political at shows: “A conscious decision”
As The 1975 took to the stage on Friday night of the Glastonbury Festival, they did so by grabbing their first ever headline slot at the legendary event. The Pyramid stage has been the scene of many a monumental night, and Matty Healy and his band had seemed prepped to capitalise on it.
Having boasted of spending “four times” their fee for appearing on production, the group failed to disappoint with a performance complete with some of their more beloved songs. But perhaps one thing was missing from the group: a political statement.
Healy, in particular, has been very vocal in his political statements over recent years, with a festival in Malaysia attempting to sue the group after they performed a law-breaking gay kiss on stage in an apparent act of defiance being one of the more memorable recent events.
But, given the chance to speak out in front of thousands of fans at Worthy Farm and millions watching at home, Healy and his band instead professed that people “didn’t need more politics” and instead vowed to avoid such statements in the future.
During the performance, Healy told the crowd: “Use your platform, that’s what people say. People watching this, they might be disappointed at the lack of politics in this show, and our future shows.”
“I want you to know it’s a conscious decision,” he continued, “We don’t want our legacy to be one of politics. We want it to be that of love and friendship.”
For Healy, the reason was clear: “I’m not trying to be too earnest, but you can go out into the world, and there’s loads of politics everywhere. I think we don’t need more politics.”
Instead, he believed that: “We need more love and friendship. I know that’s really basic but if you are a young kid and inspired by this band or something like that, don’t aspire to play a stage or be a certain size, aspire for this level of friendship and love in what you do.”
See the clip below.
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