Good Vibes Festival organiser sues The 1975 for Matty Healy's on-stage antics

The organiser of Malaysia's Good Vibes Festival, Future Sound Asia, has filed a lawsuit against British band The 1975 and all its members individually following frontman Matty Healy's protest against the country's anti-LGBTQ laws last July. 

According to Variety, the festival is seeking £1.9 million (RM11.1 million) after the band's antics resulted in the festival being shut down.

In the court documents filed by Future Sound Asia in the U.K. High Court, the organiser reportedly said that The 1975 and their management team were aware of the numerous prohibitions the band had to abide by in order to perform.

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It reportedly pointed out the band previously performed at the festival in 2016 and were told of the prohibitions then and were reminded multiple times again ahead of their performance in July 2023. The prohibitions included swearing, smoking and drinking on stage, removing their clothes and talking about politics and religion. 

Further guidelines issued by the Malaysia Central Agency for the Application for Foreign Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes (Puspal) reportedly included a ban on “kissing, kissing a member of the audience or carrying out such actions among themselves". 

The band reportedly agreed to abide by the rules in order to take part in the festival and were subsequently paid US$350,000 to perform. 

However, on the first day of the three-day concert, Healy slammed Malaysia's LGBTQ laws and kissed his male bandmate Ross MacDonald onstage, leading to the cancellation of the festival's remaining two days. 

According to Variety, the lawsuit claimed that the night before the festival, the band decided they should not perform and discussed what action to take, before eventually changing their minds and going ahead with the performance. 

It reportedly added that the band decided to play a completely different setlist and acted in a way that intended to breach the guidelines. This included Healy making a provocative speech and taking part in a long embrace with MacDonald. 

The band had also planned to smuggle a bottle of wine onto the stage next to the main drum kit so Healy could have easy access, reported Variety. 

In the lawsuit, Healy was also reportedly accused of drinking alcohol, acting in a drunken way, smoking cigarettes, appearing to vomit on the stage and spitting excessively towards the audience. He had also reportedly deliberately damaged a video drone hired by the festival organiser. 

The lawsuit also alleged that Healy became aggressive when told to stop their performance and had to be restrained by his managers.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Future Sound Asia for more information. 

Following the incident, Good Vibes Festival released a statement on its Instagram saying, "We deeply regret to announce that the remaining schedule of Good Vibes Festival 2023, planned for today and tomorrow has been cancelled following the controversial conduct and remarks made by UK artist Matty Healy from the band The 1975."

Malaysian minister of Communications and Digital, Fahmi Fadzil added on by stating in a tweet that Matty Healy's actions were "very rude". He also said that he had called the organisers of Good Vibes Festival following the band's actions to call the festival to a halt. 

The band was later served a seven-day notice by Future Sound Asia in August 2023, to pay over RM12.3 million in damages.  

Meanwhile, in October 2023, Healy was seen defending his actions during a 10-minute speech at a concert in Texas. He defended the action by saying that the kiss between himself and Ross MacDonald was a routine part of the show, which they did not intend to change to suit the country they were performing in.

Healy also emphasised that the outrage following the kiss was puzzling to him as the band simply sought to remain consistent with its stage routine.

"We did not choose to change our set that night, to play pro-freedom of speech, pro-gay songs. To eliminate any routine part of the show in an effort to appease the Malaysian party's bigoted views of LGBTQ+ people would be a passive endorsement of those politics," he said during the concert in Texas. 

In the same month, Malaysia's communications and digital ministry told organisers of concerts with foreign artists to create a "Kill Switch" to avoid a repetition of the incident by The 1975 at the Good Vibes Festival 2023. 

The kill switch will stop a concert by cutting its power supply, said Deputy Minister Teo Nie Ching during a question-and-answer session at Dewan Rakyat.  

Picture courtesy of 1975/Instagram

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