Matty Healy says 1975 will be on an “indefinite hiatus” due to controversy
British rock group The 1975 will be taking an “indefinite break” from live performances after their current tour, frontman Matty Healy revealed at a concert in Sacramento on Tuesday night.
“We love coming here and playing for you whenever we get the chance,” he said told the crowd at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. “And it’s wonderful that you’re all here. After this tour we will be taking an indefinite break from shows, so it is wonderful to have you with us tonight.”
It was only the third pit stop on the band’s 60-date Still… At Their Very Best tour when Healy broke the shocking news to the audience. Just a month earlier, the 1975 had wrapped up another mammoth tour, At Their Very Best, in support of their 2022 album Be funny in a foreign language.
Now fans are wondering if all the attention has something to do with the band wanting to stay out of the spotlight for a while.
The previous 1975 tour and viral clips of Healy’s strange onstage antics — including eating raw meat and kissing fans — gave the enigmatic singer a notoriety that extended beyond the band’s Tumblr followers. In particular, Healy’s short-lived but highly publicized affair with Taylor Swift last spring caused a number of controversies, including the time he made a Nazi salute on stage while performing a Kanye West song.
Shortly after, he famously appeared on the “Dirtbag Left” podcast The Adam Friedland Show where he joked about watching racially offensive porn and laughed while the hosts made racist jokes about rapper Ice Spice. His closeness to Swift at the time shocked much of the singer’s online fan base. Eventually the two musicians and Healy parted ways almost excused for his public offenses.
Perhaps to correct his behavior, Healy protested Malaysia’s anti-gay laws by kissing bassist Ross MacDonald during their performance at the Good Vibes Fetsival in Selangor last July. However, the singer’s move only sparked more backlash from participants the organizers of the festivalas the Malaysian government immediately ended the event.
It’s unclear if we’ll get any further explanation about the band’s hiatus. But Healy has already pulled off a few stunts on this current tour, including: naked wax figure of yourself lying on a grass mat on the B stage. Surely social media can expect more strange performance art from the singer before he takes a break.
