A little over a year after the Good Vibes Festival abruptly ended in chaos with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy’s infamous spiel on the Malaysian government, event organisers are now looking for restitutions in an official capacity from the courts through litigation.
The announcement broke cover earlier yesterday when Variety reported that Future Sound Asia, the brainchild behind Malaysia’s largest annual weekend music festival, had filed the appropriate paperwork necessary with the United Kingdom High Court to mount a lawsuit against each individual member of the British alternative rock band over their antics. LGBTQ rant aside, Healy had also most notably destroyed a drone on-stage before ending his set by kissing his bassist, Ross MacDonald, on the evening of July 21st, 2023.
Good Vibes Festival organisers are suing The 1975
“I don’t see the f***ing point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with. Unfortunately, you don’t get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I’m f***ing furious,” said the 34-year-old frontman. “And that’s not fair on you, because you’re not representative of your government. Because you’re young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool.”
This subsequently led to the cancellation of the festival’s subsequent two days, as well as a full-fledged investigation by local authorities into the gross breach of Malaysians entertainment laws by the group. It is said that Future Sound Asia is expecting a total compensation payout amounting to £1.9 million (RM11.25 million) from the lawsuit. Previously, the organisers had threatened to pursue legal recourse against the band with a Letter of Claims in August of 2023.
Adding to this, Future Sound Asia notes that The 1975 had been invited to perform at their festival back in 2016 without incident, after having been reminded of the prohibitions regarding the country’s strict guidelines surrounding live stage acts. Of these include swearing, smoking, consuming alcohol on stage, the removal of clothing, as well as any discourse concerning politics and religion. The band had agreed to abide by the rules and were paid a sum of $350,000 (RM1.6 million) for headlining the festival.
The lawsuit further states that Puspal, the Malaysia Central Agency for the Application for Foreign Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes, had initially rejected the festival’s application to have The 1975 perform, citing an article on Healy’s drug addiction from 2018. However, they later relented and granted the band’s approval when they submitted an appeal and promised Healy would adhere to local performance regulations.
Documents pursuant to the litigation indicate that the band had even decided that they should not perform at Good Vibes the night before, but changed their minds and went ahead regardless by playing a ‘completely different setlist’ in an act of protest against the Malaysian authorities. It even claims that the band had ‘planned to smuggle a bottle of wine onto the stage next to the main drum kit’ for Healy.
Consequently, FSA said that their license was revoked a day after the performance, while their remaining itinerary was also scrapped. As for the band, they had ‘rushed to their hotels to collect their luggage so they could leave the country the first thing the following morning as quickly as possible as they were aware the performance had breached Malaysian law’.
This year’s edition of the Good Vibes Festival was also cancelled in honour of the King’s Coronation which fell on the same weekend.
Feature and hero image credit: The 1975/Instagram
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Written by
Benjamin Wong
Senior Editor, Fashion and Dining
Armed with an Advertising major from Lancaster University, Benjamin is a senior editor who has spent his time oscillating between the social media and digital media landscape since 2018. With a keen interest in haute fashion and gastronomy, he has written for publications such as ERROR Digital, WORLD OF BUZZ, and KL Foodie. Beyond the keyboard, you can find him arms-deep in a thrift pile.
