Glastonbury news: Why I won’t be watching The 1975’s Headline act at Worthy Farm

Ah March. The sun starts shining, the evenings are longer - and you find out who is headlining Glastonbury 2025.

All is good with the world (apart from the whole Trump-Putin-Zelensky stuff), and then you find out The 1975 are headlining Friday night.

Matty Healy and his gang will headline for the first time at Worthy Farm - but I’m afraid I won’t be tuning in, as this band are firmly in my ‘just don’t get it’ camp.

I was gobsmacked when they won the Brits’ Album of the Year and Best British Group award in 2019, and ended up writing a piece for ContactMusic.com on my dislike of them.

I was born on January 1, 1975 (meaning I turned 50 this year), so in theory I should like them by virtue of their name - but no, age has not quelled my disliking of them.

Let me explain…

‘Alexa, play songs by The 1975’.

This request has never been uttered in the Wilkes household, which is somewhat strange considering their popularity - and the fact I was born on January 1 of the very same year.

I have a black tee shirt with 1975 emblazoned across the chest, and think it’s a pretty cool year to have entered the world - don’t know why, it just is.

The 1975 have been on my radar since they hit the mainstream with the annoyingly catchy ‘Chocolate’ in 2013, and my former neighbour (she has moved, I’ve stayed put) developed a bit of an obsession with them, playing their debut album on repeat at any gatherings she hosted.

I have a birth connection with the band, the lead singer Matt Healy is the son of Denise Welch and that funny chap Tim Healy from Benidorm and Auf Wiedersehen Pet, which I was a big fan of while growing up (admittedly due to Jimmy Nail’s presence and that amazing theme tune).

But there’s nothing...no chemistry, no warm feeling when they come on the radio...in fact it’s quite the opposite - the band leave me cold as ice.

Having been a sufferer of tinnitus since I turned 35, music is hugely important in my life.

We have five Alexas and a vinyl record player in our house, so songs infuse the atmosphere wherever you go as silence is not golden for me.

I have an eclectic music taste which flirts with Florence, bops with The Beatles, rages with the Machine, kicks about with Kylie and jams with Jake Bugg (I’ll stop now).

And I agree with this site’s mantra that music is the greatest art form humans have created.

Yet The 1975 fall into the same bracket as Bastille for me: one song is barely manageable; two songs back to back is just torture.

I’m generally a positive, friendly person so have no rational explanation for this reaction to these two bands, who clearly have talented leading men and an army of loyal fans and followers.

If I had to be pushed for a reason, it’s possibly because they seem to take themselves very seriously - but almost sound like a parody, not quite Vic Reeves’ club singer, but also not a million miles away from it.

It’s definitely down to the lead singer - and their voices - but I’m in no position to criticise, I just can’t listen to them when there are so many better options.

Both Bastille and The 1975 are bastions of the British music scene, and long may they continue their critical and commercial success as I’m in awe of anyone who can play an instrument and has the courage to stand on a stage and strut their stuff.

But I won’t be buying their albums or asking Alexa to play them any time soon.

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