Matty Healy is moved to tears at The 1975’s sold-out Eagles Ballroom show in Milwaukee
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Matty Healy had some bad news for his Milwaukee fans.
He was done kissing people at The 1975 shows.
A collective groan of disappointment lifted up from the packed floor of a sold-out Eagles Ballroom at the Rave Saturday, a gig that doubled as an “At Their Very Best” tour stop and WLUM-FM (102.1)’s annual Big Snow Show.
Healy may have wanted to keep his lips to himself, but ultimately, he couldn’t resist. So after thrusting his lap into a camera lens during “The Sound” late in the hour-and-45 minute set, Healy reached behind the camera, grabbed the operator by the head and gave him a big wet one on the lips.
Or at least he tried to. Unable to completely lock lips, it was pretty clear the camera operator didn’t see this coming. If this wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll, there’d be an HR investigation (and maybe there should still be one), but the operator’s surprised smile implied that he took Healy’s smooch in stride.
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The 1975 play a sold-out Eagles Ballroom at the Rave in Milwaukee on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022.
It’s safe to say no other act has generated as many headlines on the road in recent weeks — if not the entire year — as The 1975.
It’s nearly 10 years since the Manchester quartet’s self-titled debut album, but Healy still relishes the role of pop provocateur, and has been working in overdrive returning to the road — kissing fans (and bassist Ross MacDonald) at shows, chomping on raw meat, feigning sleep on a couch, and screaming at a security guard in Auto-Tune in a now-viral clip. The tour has generated far more press coverage and interest than the band’s solid fifth album “Being Funny in a Foreign Language,” released in October.
Unable to fit their full-house-inspired stage production into the Eagles Ballroom (the band’s tour has included arenas), Healy suggested at the start of Saturday’s show that The 1975 would be less theatrical, but more raw. Yet again, he wasn’t true to his word.
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Some of the antics Saturday were undeniably entertaining, often serving as a commentary on narcissistic celebrity culture, designed to make one ponder if, in Healy’s case, we were witnessing parody or reality.
It was certainly an intro to remember, with Healy, cradled in a roadie’s arms, lowered into a leather chair, straight out of “The Matrix,” his back initially to the audience, as he drank from a bottle of wine and watched static-saturated, black-and-white footage of Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and others on an old TV set.
First song “Looking for Somebody (to Love)” from “Being Funny in a Foreign Language” (music from the album dominated the first half of the set) forced Healy to get off his butt and do the rock-star thing, although he was happy to plop back down in the chair for subsequent song “Happiness” and genuflect like a bemused king over Adam Hann’s guitar solo.
Healy wasn’t too elitist to completely embrace this attitude, coming out into an empty section of the balcony surrounded by the commoners to sing “Fallingforyou.” And for “Somebody Else,” Healy spotted a fan in the front row who was on FaceTime with a friend (a minor miracle, getting reception in this packed place), dropping down to his knees to sing directly into the phone, before hilariously yelling to the overwhelmed friend on the phone, “You should have bought a (expletive) ticket.”
These were rather subtle gestures in the grand scheme of things from a frontman who refuses to rein it in. Self-indulgent albums and stage shows have made The 1975 one of pop’s most polarizing acts, but they have an extremely passionate fan base; on Saturday, they belted out the band’s cheeky, quotable lyrics and heart-on-the-sleeve confessionals with reverential aplomb.
That hero worship prompted Healy to push the limits. During “Sex,” he combed his hands through his hair before spitting into a camera lens. During “Part of the Band,” he lifted up his shirt to show off a large tattoo that extended from his lower stomach down into his pants, and waved his arm in front of his lap like a magician showing off a trick.
These antics were tasteless, although the adoring audience ate it up — as they did for one stunt that I personally found more irritating.
The part came during “About You” when a female vocalist chimes in — Saturday, the Carly Holt recording was provided by touring member Polly Money. It’s a nice moment from the song, in which Healy relinquishes the spotlight for a woman’s tender reflection of a relationship. But on Saturday, he couldn’t stand to let her shine — diverting attention by mouthing her lyrics as he sang into a camera, and then strolling over to her, grabbing her curls and sniffing her hair. The audience loved the tension and subtext. I found it creepy and appalling.
Actions like that have given an attention-starved Healy what he craves, but what about The 1975 itself? Because, honestly, all the shenanigans are overshadowing a less scintillating but arguably more important development: The band has never sounded this rich live, doubling in size for this tour.
Jamie Squire brought lush, Bruce Hornsby-indebted keys to “Oh Caroline;” John Waugh supplied one soulful sax solo after another during the set, and the band channeled Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” at the end of an improved live rendition of “I’m in Love With You.”
And Healy’s too-cool-for-this schtick, peppered with chain-smoking posing and sips from a flask (which he gave away to a fan at the end), felt played out after a while, especially when he would swig from that wine bottle and extend his mic over the crowd to let them do his job.
One benefit from this approach was that it made Healy’s earnest, screaming, drop-down-to-his knees vocal performances — particularly on “Robbers” and “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” — more emotional. For the latter — a song selected in a cheer-for-your-preference bit — Healy himself was so emotional that he started to cry. He tried to explain his emotions — talking about how it was good for grown men to cry, the weight of the world, how far the band has come — but it was close to incoherent. He seemed, touchingly, overwhelmed.
But was this, too, an act? With Healy, you can’t know for sure.
BLACKSTARKIDS open for the 1975 at the Rave’s Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022.
Five takeaways from The 1975’s Milwaukee show, including opener BLACKSTARKIDS
The Rave has been The 1975’s go-to venue for multiple Milwaukee tour stops, but Saturday Healy briefly reminisced about their first time in Milwaukee, at Turner Hall Ballroom in 2013, which was also the band’s first headlining show in America.
Healy told the crowd they were working on a new album — “to capitalize on TikTok,” he half-joked — and said they were planning to be back next year. I wonder, though, considering the swift sell-out for the Eagles Ballroom show, if we’ll see The 1975 move up to Fiserv Forum, the American Family Insurance Amphitheater or Summerfest.
The band actually was supposed to play their first arena show in town in 2020 behind an album released that year, “Notes on a Conditional Form,” but the whole tour was scrapped due to COVID-19. Interestingly enough, only two songs from that album were performed Saturday, “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” and “Me & You Together Song.”
Standout banter (and very questionable wisdom) from Healy: “You are allowed to be a (expletive) sometimes. I am the poster boy for that.”
The 1975 is certainly one of a kind, and the same can be said of its opener Saturday, Kansas City-born trio BLACKSTARKIDS, which blends backpack rap (from TyFaizon), emo (channeled by singer and guitarist Deiondre) and perky indie pop (courtesy of TheBabeGabe). Their energetic live set was akin to opening a shaken-up soda can, and their music at this point is similarly fizzy and light, but it’ll be interesting to see how their sound develops.
The 1975’s Eagles Ballroom setlist
“Looking for Somebody (to Love)”
“Happiness”
“”If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”
“Part of the Band”
“Oh Caroline”
“I’m in Love With You”
“Wintering”
“Paris”
“Fallingforyou”
“Me & You Together Song”
“When We Are Together”
“Robbers”
“About You”
“It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)”
“Somebody Else”
“I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)”
“Love It If We Made It”
“The Sound”
“Sex”
“Give Yourself a Try”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the number of songs performed at the concert from the 2020 album “Notes on a Conditional Form.”
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Matty Healy cries, kisses camera operator at The 1975’s Milwaukee show