The 1975 challenge critics to come to a show and ‘not enjoy themselves’

by Daniel Falconer | 12 November 2016

The 1975's frontman Matty Healy has challenged the band's naysayers to come to one of their live shows and not enjoy themselves.

The 1975

Speaking to The Guardian about why the fans matter more than positive reviews, he explained: "If you play 240 shows a year in front of 10,000 screaming young people who adore you, as opposed to people standing there thinking, 'Impress me', I can tell you which one you're going to choose every single night.

"You know, if you hate our band, you hate our band, but I challenge anybody with a preconception to come and see us live and not enjoy it a bit. We're a f**king good band, and we're proper players. And we've got an award-winning light show."

Healy also spoke about being 'pretentious' but not changing to please others, adding "I know I am pretentious, but I'd be the first person to tell you that.

"And I'm not apologising, because I'm bored of indie bands that are terrified of doing anything that could be perceived as aspirational, so they don't affect the status quo for their little cliquey band world; where everyone has to think that each band is as cool as the other band, and you're not allowed to play to a show of over 30 people, and everyone has to be a f**king lesbian. It's way more pretentious to pretend you don't care about something."

Adding that he wanted The 1975 to be as popular as they can be, he concluded: "There's this elite thing, where everybody's petrified of the idea that you could want your music to reach lots of people, but that's what excites me.

"The idea of starting in a room and then bleeding out across humanity, the idea of one of my songs being on in a car while people are having an argument that really matters to them, or a song being on when somebody has that moment when they feel really alive. I want that.

"I don't want uninspirational bullsh*t. There is no time for it in art. I come on stage and go: 'This is what I do and I'm proud of it.'"

The 1975 continue their UK tour with the following dates: