The 1975

[DeanoL]

Great article here:

https://doublechorus.substack.com/p/004-the-chaotic-self-absorbed-radicalism?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1779003&post_id=135352401&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
 

Quote

Last night, Malaysia banned The 1975, who were performing at the Good Vibes festival in Kuala Lumpur. Matty Healy spoke out in support of LGBTQ+ rights and shared a snog onstage with bassist Ross MacDonald.

Inevitably, moments after that, the set got cut and Healy’s mob left, telling the crowd they were banned from Kuala Lumpur.

Unsurprisingly, it being Matty Healy, rather than a carefully focused, moving or uplifting statement in support of LGBTQ+ rights (perhaps something like Olly Alexander’s show-stopping onstage talk at Glastonbury a few years ago) Healy’s long chatty bit actually begins with him moaning about people on Tik Tok judging him for how he held a friend’s child in a video. So it is self-focused at the start, which is pretty indicative of Healy’s vibe. His on-the-hoof method for propping LGBTQ+ rights goes something like —

I feel bad for you guys. I made a mistake — no f**king not that — I made a mistake,
when we were booking shows I wasn’t looking into it and then…
I don’t see the f**king point, right, I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country
and then telling us who we can have sex with. Your government are a bunch of…

It’s pretty funny. Loads of excellent f-bombs. He claims that he tried to pull the show altogether the day before, but got talked into doing it, because “you can’t let the kids down, because they’re not the government”. We know he’s articulate when he wants to be, yet Healy cannot manage a diatribe on behalf of one group’s rights, without using a word that wholly demeans another group, specifically the anti-disability slur that caught out Lizzo and Beyoncé last year. Healy cannot think carefully and quickly enough what he needs to say for the best impact, or — more likely — he genuinely doesn’t give a sh*t about his language, it’s an authentic moment. To whatever extent the Matty Healy ‘afterparty sleazeball’ onstage character is real, or performed, kind of doesn’t matter: he physically spits at the Malaysian government. As typical at 1975 shows, he’s swigging from a bottle and smoking throughout the sequence, which gives the Malaysian authorities a whole bunch of additional ‘inappropriate behaviours’ to stick him with, alongside his core crime, which is to start the long intro for the next song, then call over bass guitarist Ross MacDonald, for a passionate onstage snog.

This actual kiss does feel more planned. Healy (of course) is getting the lion’s share of attention but there were two of them committing this illegal act in Kuala Lumpur that gets the set cut and the band kicked offstage. Hats off to Ross MacDonald, who is probably less protected by individual fame, although one assumes he’ll have the same infrastructural protective resources as Healy. Presumably they’ll both get safely out of the country without actually being arrested, though I could be wrong, I’ll stand corrected if that doesn’t happen and it becomes an international incident. If it was Moscow they wouldn’t hesitate to lock them up and wait for the UK to come begging.

If you wanna invite me here, to do a show, you can f**k off.
I’ll take your money, you can ban me, but I’ve done this before
and it doesn’t feel good and I’m f**ked off.

It sums up Malaysia’s current lack of freedom, that New Straits Times and other mainstream Kuala Lumpur media reporting on the incident today are pixellating out the kiss, although you can still see exactly what’s happening. As Healy says, the whole thing is ridiculous.

Whatever one feels about Healy’s various previous outbursts, his racist comments and toxic behaviours, it can’t be denied that this is a powerful, positive and timely symbolic act. It took real courage, on both Healy and MacDonald’s parts. It’s in the Peter Tatchell ballpark of non-violent direct action, rather than just marching through central London with thousands of friends, waving a Pride flag. These two musicians have authentically risked being arrested and detained — and one can’t imagine either will be able to travel to (or through) Malaysia again, unless that country gets more progressive leadership. Healy’s done it before too, kissing a fan onstage in Dubai in 2019.

So he stands up. Just don’t expect him to be on-message or tidy or strategic about it.

In the aftermath, the government may punish the whole festival. No report has been lodged with the police yet, but Malaysia’s Minister of Communications, Fahmi Fadzil (already a divisive figure in his country for being the public face of conservative social policy) has summoned Good Vibes organisers to explain what happened. They may escape punishment though, because they acted to stop the show without waiting for formal legal intervention.

I do think about all the other bands who were performing at Good Vibes, given the same platform, who didn’t say anything, or do anything, and didn’t get banned. Dermot Kennedy and The Strokes were booked for Good Vibes, among others.

Last month at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, one of the stages was sponsored by Amazon Music. We all know what streaming is doing to the careers of artists. We all know how Amazon treats its workers and what it has done to local economies, worldwide. During that weekend, I only saw one artist say anything, which was the goth-ish indie act Wednesday, from North Carolina, whose singer Karly Hartzman criticised that they were having to perform under the brand and called out Amazon’s appalling treatment of labour. At the time, I was wholly with her, but also thinking, it’s mid-afternoon, they’re just not a well-known enough act for this to get traction. Still, better speak than not. The previous year, quite a few artists had criticised the crypto brand Binance sponsoring another stage, and oh look, they were proved about as correct as it’s possible to be.

Anyway, I tend to be of the ‘don’t go in the first place’ school, for example, unlike many of my (even progressive) friends, I support the cultural boycott of Israel and I don’t think artists should be performing in Tel Aviv at all, whatever they might say onstage. Don’t worry, I’ll leave that for another time. But if a band is going to travel and perform somewhere with vile leadership and dodgy laws that oppress people, Tel Aviv, or Moscow, or Dubai, or Riyadh, or various American states, or, yes, Kuala Lumpur, what I love to see — at the very least — is those artists stand up and say something, to show vocal solidarity with the oppressed people of that region, to call out whatever crime that government is committing.

And fair play to them, that’s what Healy, in his own chaotic way, and MacDonald, in his quieter, silent one, did yesterday. If big bands can’t even do that, they’re just another cog.

 

[WhoOdyssey]

Pop singer Lauv just cancelled his Malaysian show, probably because he recently came out as bisexual. No word whether it was him or the Malaysian government who cancelled it though. 

[clarkete]

3 hours ago, DeanoL said:

Great article here:

https://doublechorus.substack.com/p/004-the-chaotic-self-absorbed-radicalism?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1779003&post_id=135352401&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
 

 

Given that they've mentioned Peter Tatchell, whilst he's less negative than many about some aspects he does add... 

"Having said that, it’s true that white European critics of global south tyrannies must avoid acting like neocolonial overlords. That’s offensive and counter-productive. It is why my international campaigns are based on consultation with local activists. I was acting at their request and in solidarity with their struggle, when I attempted a citizen’s arrest of the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe in 2001, when I went to Moscow in 2007 to support Russian LGBTQ+ people, and when I staged a protest shortly before last year’s football World Cup in Qatar. It is unclear whether the 1975 liaised with any Malaysian LGBTQ+ activists."

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/25/matty-healy-the-1975-lgbtq-malaysia-homophobia

[1986]

22 hours ago, DeanoL said:

I support the cultural boycott of Israel and I don’t think artists should be performing in Tel Aviv at all, whatever they might say onstage. Don’t worry, I’ll leave that for another time. But if a band is going to travel and perform somewhere with vile leadership and dodgy laws that oppress people, Tel Aviv, or Moscow, or Dubai, or Riyadh, or various American states, or, yes, Kuala Lumpur, what I love to see — at the very least — is those artists stand up and say something, to show vocal solidarity with the oppressed people of that region, to call out whatever crime that government is committing.

 

Should probably add London to that list. 

[The Nal]

1 hour ago, 1986 said:

Should probably add London to that list. 

Yeah I don't recall artists boycotting the UK (and Ireland since we allowed US planes to land here even though we're "neutral") during the Iraq war, which was an illegal war lead by war criminals that killed millions of innocent people and destabilised half the world.

Seem to remember REM, Radiohead and Moby headlining that year, generating a sh*t load of tax that went into the war chest.

[clarkete]

5 hours ago, The Nal said:

Yeah I don't recall artists boycotting the UK (and Ireland since we allowed US planes to land here even though we're "neutral") during the Iraq war, which was an illegal war lead by war criminals that killed millions of innocent people and destabilised half the world.

Seem to remember REM, Radiohead and Moby headlining that year, generating a sh*t load of tax that went into the war chest.

Some of those did specifically speak out against the war, as of course did millions of citizens...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_Love_f**k_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Buscemi_Moby_Reed.jpg

 

 

[The Nal]

11 minutes ago, clarkete said:

Some of those did specifically speak out against the war, as of course did millions of citizens...

Speaking out against something is very different to boycotting an entire market. 

Although in hindsight, I'm amazed Where is the Love by The Black Eyed Peas didn't stop the war.

[clarkete]

47 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Speaking out against something is very different to boycotting an entire market. 

Although in hindsight, I'm amazed Where is the Love by The Black Eyed Peas didn't stop the war.

You responded to the post that was responding to this "I love to see — at the very least — is those artists stand up and say something" 

[The Nal]

50 minutes ago, clarkete said:

You responded to the post that was responding to this "I love to see — at the very least — is those artists stand up and say something" 

I responded to the bit in the post about "I support the cultural boycott of Israel"

[Harmonic Prospector]

Putting aside how this conversation has taken a political/moral/ethical turn (which is important BTW), after being off the forum for the last month or so I just came here to say that watching them at Finsbury Park was an absolute masterclass in delivering a 2-hour set of infectious indie-pop! 

I've never felt so conflicted about any band like this before, because Matt Healey winds me up no end with his antics (and my family have close connection with his family, just to add to all this). But, they deployed a flawless set which went down an absolute storm, with the crowd that was made up of people of all ages. For example - I was there with my 16 year old Son and 3 of his female friends the same age, as well as my mate who is the same age as me (43) and he didn't really know much about them, so he came into the gig completely blind, but really enjoyed it. 

Admittedly a large contingent of teenage girls made up a lot of the crowd, and my friend and I commented on the fact that considering the band are now in their mid-30s, and aren't, by current standards, conventionally attractive enough to have such a large teenage female fanbase, it's clear that the music is what pulls people in. There were a lot of people our age there having a good time, and people much older than us too. 

Their setlists on this tour have focussed, almost entirely, on their accessible indie-pop tunes, which is where they really excel as songwriters, and in a festival environment they are pretty irresistible because of the range of influences from across the decades they wear proudly on their sleeves, and the joyous, sing-along nature of all of them. My friend who came along, who is largely into 90s Alt-Rock, loved all of it. When Matt was being twatty at any point, most people (from what I could hear around us) were just shrugging it off and laughing at his pretentiousness and not taking it too seriously. 

If they headline next year, there's no doubt im my mind they would go down a storm. 

 

 

[VCK]

On 8/1/2023 at 9:25 AM, 1986 said:

Should probably add London to that list. 

Why would they? As grossly incompetent and self-serving as our government are, we're not a repressive authoritarian dictatorship.

[1986]

1 hour ago, VCK said:

Why would they? As grossly incompetent and self-serving as our government are, we're not a repressive authoritarian dictatorship.

Depends on your point of view I suppose. 

[Crazyfool01]

2 hours ago, 1986 said:

Depends on your point of view I suppose. 

certainly heading more and more that way isn't it ? 

[Skip997]

2 hours ago, 1986 said:

Depends on your point of view I suppose. 

 

7 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

certainly heading more and more that way isn't it ? 

@thehippieswereright

[Crazyfool01]

9 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

 

@thehippieswereright

Indeed 

[Nicklord]

I was looking at the Muse's setlist there. So they didn't play We're f**king f**ked and they played Resistance instead of that one... So I don't get why is that song considered bad and had to be censored? They still played all of other antiestablishment songs like Uprising or Will of the People.

The song they played instead of We're f**king f**ked literally has "love is our resistance" as a main line in the song even

[DeanoL]

30 minutes ago, Nicklord said:

I was looking at the Muse's setlist there. So they didn't play We're f**king f**ked and they played Resistance instead of that one... So I don't get why is that song considered bad and had to be censored? They still played all of other antiestablishment songs like Uprising or Will of the People.

The song they played instead of We're f**king f**ked literally has "love is our resistance" as a main line in the song even

Because it's about the censors getting to say that they made the western band bow down to them rather than about the actual content.

[efcfanwirral]

2 hours ago, Nicklord said:

I was looking at the Muse's setlist there. So they didn't play We're f**king f**ked and they played Resistance instead of that one... So I don't get why is that song considered bad and had to be censored? They still played all of other antiestablishment songs like Uprising or Will of the People.

The song they played instead of We're f**king f**ked literally has "love is our resistance" as a main line in the song even

 

2 hours ago, DeanoL said:

Because it's about the censors getting to say that they made the western band bow down to them rather than about the actual content.

There was also a talk of "morality" issues around the drinking on stage by the 1975 that was overshadowed by the rest of it. I think the Muse thing was literally because of swearing rather than anti establishment. 

[Baggieboy]

I think we need to boycott Glastonbury unless The 1975 are given a headlining slot on the  Pyramid stage next year. Could be a record crowd for the most important and best band in UK at this moment.

[charlierc]

19 hours ago, efcfanwirral said:

 

There was also a talk of "morality" issues around the drinking on stage by the 1975 that was overshadowed by the rest of it. I think the Muse thing was literally because of swearing rather than anti establishment. 

But again I think it's half-arsed censorship given Muse still played Psycho, a song that says the word f**k a dozen times. Unless the title really was it.

22 hours ago, Nicklord said:

I was looking at the Muse's setlist there. So they didn't play We're f**king f**ked and they played Resistance instead of that one... So I don't get why is that song considered bad and had to be censored? They still played all of other antiestablishment songs like Uprising or Will of the People.

The song they played instead of We're f**king f**ked literally has "love is our resistance" as a main line in the song even

Muse's drummer even said they felt "love is our resistance" as a main line of that song made it the right choice to make the setlist.

[henry bear]

On 8/5/2023 at 12:40 AM, Baggieboy said:

I think we need to boycott Glastonbury unless The 1975 are given a headlining slot on the  Pyramid stage next year. Could be a record crowd for the most important and best band in UK at this moment.

You're getting even more desperate than usual Matty

[Rose-Colored Boy]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cwmmh0zg8Kn/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
 

do we think this will be a tour of the ‘debut in full’ show they’ve been doing? Don’t know if I can be bothered with that but wouldn’t want to miss a new album tour 

[Monty Pythagoras]

15 minutes ago, Rose-Colored Boy said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cwmmh0zg8Kn/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
 

do we think this will be a tour of the ‘debut in full’ show they’ve been doing? Don’t know if I can be bothered with that but wouldn’t want to miss a new album tour 

I saw them at Mad Cool and they said they would be bringing the "Sitcom Show" to the UK so that's what they have been doing already. Last run of gigs was "At their very best" so this is a continuation of that.

[WhoOdyssey]

Yeah, I can’t see this being a debut album tour. 

[Monty Pythagoras]

Gutted there isn't more UK dates on that myself. Did a quick glance and seems as though them London shows are Monday and Tuesday evenings as well? Was hoping to be more sensible with my annual leave haha!