Glastonbury: The 1975 deliver a polished, but safe headline slot

BBC News

10 hours ago

The 1975 emerged from hibernation to headline Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage on Friday, playing their only date of the year, and their first since March 2024.If they were rusty, it didn't show. The band delivered a slick, crowd-pleasing show, full of streamlined hits and delightfully wonky stage banter.Frontman Matty Healy is a fascinating creature. Simultaneously cocksure and anxious, he chain-smoked throughout the set, while delivering verbose lyrics about modern love and digital disconnection."This is really scary and I'm really nervous and I thank you so much for coming," he told the audience as the set kicked off.
The band emerged in a flicker of static and staccato strings, accompanied by a lone saxophone, before breaking into Happiness.That was followed by heady rush of their biggest songs: If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know), Love Me and She's American - with Healy adding a few bars of the Backstreet Boys' I Want It That Way for good measure.The band were musically tight, mixing the digital textures of modern pop with chunky rock riffs and a healthy dose of 80s yacht rock - but the set often felt a little too safe. Healy's wilder excesses - kissing fans in the front row, eating raw meat - were notably absent. And the untamed, punky energy of People was the only number where the band were really allowed to cut loose.
But as a tour through The 1975's greatest hits, the set was impeccable. Formed in Cheshire 23 years ago, songs from their self-titled debut album - including Chocolate, Sex, and Robbers - are now old enough now to be considered classics, and they were all met with screams and singalongs.Love It If We Made It was urgent and bleak and hopeful, as it dissected the overwhelming nature of modern life. And Give Yourself A Try felt cast Healy as an older brother, dispensing well-meaning advice to young festivalgoers. "You learn a couple things when to get to my age," he sang. "Like friends don't lie and it all tastes the same in the dark / When your vinyl and your coffee collection is a sign of the times / You're getting spiritually enlightened at 29."
'A generational poet'
After Part Of The Band, Healy stepped up to the microphone with an important announcement."I have this thing where it's difficult to tell when I'm being sincere," he said. "But I want to be sincere."What this moment is making me realise is that I, probably, am the best songwriter of my generation. "The best poet, ladies and gentlemen, is what I am. A generational poet."He then cued up Chocolate - a song about fleeing from the police with a stash of marijuana.
I can't quite decide if that self-deprecation is The 1975's greatest strength or their Achilles' heel. At one point, a big sign flashes up between songs, saying "Matty is changing his trousers". It deconstructs the artifice of a rock show, making The 1975 seem more human - but equally, it deflates the excitement of watching a band in full flow. Or maybe I'm overthinking it. That's what The 1975 do to you.Perhaps the most significant moment came towards the end, as Healy explained why the notoriously outspoke band, who've been banned from Malaysia for protesting it's anti-homosexuality laws, had steered clear of politics for the night."We don't want our legacy to be one of politics, we want it to be one of love and friendships. Go out into the world and there's loads of politics out there, and we need more love and friendship."Perhaps they were biting their tongues, aware of unfamiliar audiences watching at home.Otherwise, it will be interesting to see how that retreat from social commentary affects their forthcoming sixth album.
The 1975 topped the bill in a day that saw several surprise performances across the site - although none of the secrets were particularly well kept.Lewis Capaldi made a triumphant and emotional comeback, two years after he was unable to make it through a career-making performance on the Pyramid Stage.After that performance, where a combination of anxiety and Tourette's conspired to make him lose his voice, the musician took a two year break from the stage.He laid those ghosts to rest on the Pyramid Stage just before tea-time, emerging to a huge swell of support from the audience."I just wanted to come and finish what I couldn't finish first time around," he told them, as tears welled in his eyes.Read more about Lewis Capaldi's comeback.
Earlier, festival bosses had to close down the Woodsies field at 11:15am after word spread that pop star Lorde would open the stage.Fans spilled out of the tent and into the field as she arrived on stage shortly afterwards, to play her new album, Virgin, in full.It was an interesting ploy. The album had only come out a couple of hours earlier, leaving most people unfamiliar with the material. While the audience made a concerted effort to grasp the new shapes and sounds, there was a noticeable uplift when Lorde closed her set with Ribs and Green Light.Read more about Lorde's secret setOther surprise sets came from Jarvis Cocker, who played a DJ set on the Greenpeace stage, and Olivia Dean, who appeared in the Strummerville tent.Elsewhere, rumours spread that Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl was handing out programmes at one of the festival gates; and Paul McCartney was spotted watching Irish band Inhaler from the side of the Pyramid Stage.
Highlights of the first day included CMAT, who drew a huge crowd to the Pyramid Stage, making them laugh, dance, cry and sing along to her spirited country-pop songs."I'm CMAT, I have middle child syndrome, an amazing ass and the best Irish rock and roll country band in the world!" she declared, not inaccurately.CMAT says she still faces abuse after viral songOver on The Other Stage, Wet Leg proved they deserve higher billing than their mid-afternoon slot, with a set full of shaggy rock riffs and sardonic wit.Battling the heat, singer Rhian Teasdale poured cans of water over her head between fan favourite songs like Ur Mum and recent single Catch These Fists, but the biggest reception was reserved for their breakout hit Chaise Longue.
Bringing a very different energy was hip-hop legend Busta Rhymes, whose cartoonish energy and breakneck rap flow was guaranteed to get the audience on side."We represent that real hip-hop culture," he boasted, after a run of hits that included Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See, Scenario and Woo Hah!! (Got You All In Check)."We don't need no special effects," Busta continued. "You know why? Because we are the special effects."
Spoons for Alanis
After Lorde's set, the Woodsies stage continued to draw huge crowds all day, with Lola Young, Myles Smith and Shed Seven all getting a rapturous response.Indie heroes Blossoms rattled off a mini greatest hits set, before CMAT burst out of a gift-wrapped box and duetted with them on the single I Like Your Look.PinkPantheress had a moment of vulnerability, telling the audience she'd worried she wasn't "big enough to do this stage".But the response to songs like Illegal and Stateside, from her recent mixtape Fancy That (a career best) put those fears to rest. She even had to ask people to stop cheering after Boy's A Liar, in case her set overran.
Alanis Morissette made her Glastonbury debut on the Pyramid Stage, running through the highlights of her 1995 album Jagged Little Pill, which somehow turned 30 two weeks ago.Songs like Right Through You and You Oughta Know have lost none of their caustic edge in the intervening years; while the softer songs (You Learn, Head Over Feet) remain encouraging and optimistic."I'm blown away that the songs I wrote when I was 19," she told BBC News. "I can still stand by them now."On stage, Morissette barely spoke to the audience, other than to introduce her band, but they were too busy singing to notice.The standout moment came during Ironic - a song that, ironically, misunderstands the concept of irony - when 10,000 fans held up spoons. And all she needed was a knife. Who would have thought? It figures.
Glastonbury continues on Saturday with performances from Charli XCX, Neil Young, Doechii, Kaiser Chiefs, Kneecap, Raye and Scissor Sisters.The Pyramid Stage also boasts another surprise set, from a band billed only as Patchwork.You can follow the action on BBC radio, television, iPlayer and BBC Sounds.