Matty Healy, the 1975’s frontman is not one to shy away from controversies and with a headline slot at the world’s biggest festival, Glastonbury all eyes were on him. However, the singer decided to use his platform to spread a message of optimism on Friday night.
The band stepped out for what would be their only performance of the year, with an incredible set more than and hour and a half long, but some of have described the set as “safe”. Healy declared that as a band, they were taking a step away from talking politics, deciding that the emphasis should be on friendship and love.
On the band’s legacy, he discussed a change of pace.
Healy told the Glastonbury crowd: “People who are watching this may — I don’t know… They may be disappointed in the lack of politics in this show and our forthcoming shows and probably our future shows. I want you to know that it’s a conscious decision.”
“We honestly don’t want our legacy to be one of politics. We want it to be that of love and friendship. I’m not trying to be too earnest, but you can go out into the world and there’s loads of politics everywhere. We don’t need more politics. We need more love and friendship.”
However, despite this desire to spread positivity, Healy did stay true to his provocative ways, dropping in a few comments to ruffle some feathers. Before singing one of The 1975’s biggest songs he claimed to be the best songwriter of his generation.
He said: “What this moment is making me realise is um, I probably am the best songwriter of my generation. What do we say? A poet, ladies and gentlemen, is what I am. And I just wanted to remind you, the next couple of minutes, these lyrics, this poetry… take it away, boys.”
After the song finished he assured the crowd he was joking however, and went on to end the performance on an optimistic note and also revealed the band weren’t going anywhere.
Healy added: “I know that’s really basic, but if you are a young kid and you are inspired by, like, 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 and you’ll never fail. And I love you.”