British music royalty Robbie Williams has come out to declare Matty Healy the only pop/rock star “who is willing to be something other than beige” in a recent social media post.
The former Take That singer and pop icon has come out with plenty of big claims of late – including that he believes he’s being targeted by aliens to be a messenger for them on Earth due to his fame – but his latest Insta-rant has also seen him give Matty Healy a bit of a peculiar compliment sandwich.
Crafting a lengthy paragraph on his page, Williams not only called Matty Healy “the only commercially viable pop/rock star that I can see who is willing to be something other than beige” but also “unhinged” and “willing to upset”.
Reiterating that he believes The 1975 frontman is “super smart and super talented”, he also went on to say that the local artist has a propensity to be “upsetting for a cause”. We’re not going to pretend we know exactly what Robbie’s on about but the gist seems to be that he thinks he’s good and provocative.
The 50-year-old, who has been no stranger to a headline or two himself over the years, went on to add that he sees Healy as prone to “Upsetting for a cause. The cause being a complicated inner life a rebellious streak and boredom.”
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2023 was very much the year of The 1975 not only in terms of the music industry and their commercial success within it but also because of Healy’s multiple controversies.
From sucking fans’ thumbs in the crowd and being labelled sexist and racist by Rina Sawayama for insensitive jokes made on a podcast, to beefing with Noel Gallagher after he told him to “stop marding” with his brother; dating the other biggest name on the planet in Taylor Swift and more, he’s been absolutely everywhere.
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Even in his apologies for comments such as those flagged by labelmate Sawayama, he still couldn’t resist the urge for some added pageantry and turned his response into a fake mental advert for the BetterHelp online therapy company. It’s this kind of stuff that we’re guessing Robbie is referring to.
Elsewhere in his speech, the Stoke-born singer solo artist asked, “How boring is the music scene right now?”, caveating that while he’s not attacking the music itself, he does believe there’s been a “death of friction, danger, personality”.
Holding his hands up to becoming more ‘vanilla’ in an attempt to stay with the times, he conversely said: “No one knows what you’ll say that will get you cancelled. So many people to offend… I’ve gotta get some of that energy back in my musical life… I hope I have time to fit them all in. It’s time to take the p*ss again… and I’m looking forward to it.”
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While we by no means advocate anyone making art simply for the sake of trying to ‘p*ss people off’ and we make no qualms about the likes of Matty Healy being a divisive figure in music, to say the least, it’s impossible to deny there aren’t some seriously huge fans of The 1975 as creatives and performers.
Do you agree that most modern pop/rockstars are ‘beige’ or are there any performers you think are also pushing the boundaries in the contemporary music scene?
Busted and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man added to huge music series line-up in Delamere Forest
Thomas Melia
Pop-punk band Busted and pop/soul singer Rag ‘N’ Bone Man are the latest acts announced to headline a music-filled forest a short drive from Greater Manchester.
The new names have been added to the huge Forest Live 2025 gig series, which takes place at Delamere Forest as well as four other unique outdoor locations across the country.
In a setting that’s mostly greenery and acres of trees, one voice is guaranteed to travel through the dense landscape of the forest, and that’s Rag ‘N’ Bone Man.
Joining the bill with the impressive soloist is boyband and still-to-this-day heartthrobs Busted who are visiting AO Arena this year as well, for those who aren’t such big fans of the festival scene.
Busted have had worldwide and national acclaim soundtracking the early noughties by transporting people a thousand years into the future with ‘Year 3000’ and educating us on ‘What I Go To School For’.
Rag ‘N’ Bone Man has his fair share of chart topping too with notable songs like the hard-hitting drum-heavy ‘Human’ to the Calvin Harris link-up ‘Giant’ which is a flurry of flamboyant horns and EDM beats.
You could be like these lucky gig-goers, front row in Delamere Forest.Raise a glass to your favourite band at Forest Live 2025.Bringing music and green spaces together, Delamere Forest, Cheshire.Credit: Supplied
Stockport five-piece Blossoms will also be headlining and they might be bringing their latest member Gary, the infamous eight foot gorilla, on stage with them too.
There’s another Gary on the bill too, with Gary Barlow set to play in June.
Dundee legends Snow Patrol are another of the acts who are set to play at Forest Live this summer.
Situated in Cheshire, Delamere Forest has been hosting events and shows as part of ‘Forest Live’ in partnership with lots of other unique green spaces like Sherwood Forest and Cannock Chase Forest too.
This initiative is set to drive more people into these natural environments that they maybe wouldn’t visit if it wasn’t for the music and make them realise how brilliant these grounds truly are.
Rag ‘N’ Bone Man is headlining on Sunday 15 June while Busted are set to headline on Thursday 19 June, both events are taking place at Delamere Forest as part of Forest Live 2025, with tickets HERE.
Forest Live 2025 at Delamere Forest line-up
13 June – Snow Patrol
14 June – Gary Barlow
15 June – Rag n Bone Man
19 June – Busted (with Twin Atlantic and SOAP)
21 June – Blossoms (with Seb Lowe and The Guest List)
Watch Johnny Marr join Franz Ferdinand on stage in Manchester for a Smiths classic
Danny Jones
Franz Ferdinand are the latest act to play Aviva Studios as part of the ongoing Amazon series here in Manchester and were joined by a local music legend during the performance: none other than the mighty Johnny Marr.
Amazon Music UK’s ‘City Sessions’ has already seen the likes of Bastille and Ella Henderson kick off the programme of live performances at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, and this past weekend saw the alternative indie veterans become the third.
Better yet, the Manchester crowd got to see one of their hometown heroes as well, as the former Smiths guitarist turned lyricist and solo artist joined the Glaswegians on stage for a spell.
A ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ cover by Franz Ferdinand featuring Johnny Marr himself was on absolutely no one’s bingo card for 2025 but we’re very happy we’ve lived to see this cameo.
The 61-year-old musician still has all the effortless swagger he always did and although anyone would struggle to match the same distinct vocal style as Morrissey, lead singer Alex Kapranos did a great job.
Reacting to the clips shared online, the excitement in the room was clearly palpable, with one person writing, “I let out the biggest scream” and another adding, “The crossover I didn’t know I needed!”
A third wrote: “I’d like to see them do an album together like the magnificent FFS album” – referring to the standalone collaboration record created by the Franz Ferdinand and Sparks supergroup in 2015.
Local social media and marketing company, Altrincham HQ, also shared footage of the two artists colliding to perform the Franz fan favourite ‘Do You Want To’, with Marr playing lead throughout.
— Altrincham HQ – Social Media Marketing in Manc (@altrinchamhq) January 18, 2025
The entire performance was livestreamed on Amazon’s Twitch channel as part of the City Sessions series, so you can back and watch the full thing, but it’s fair to say this was the highlight.
It was only back in September that we saw the re-release of Johnny Marr’s only solo album with The Healers, Boomslang, but we’re glad to see the Manc icon is still finding plenty of opportunities to get on stage and do what he does best.
As for whether we’ll see more live performances of The Smiths tunes in the near future, Morrissey recently said that Marr now has full rights to all of their music and could feasibly tour with someone as lead should he wish.
However, the latter was quick to deny the controversial frontman’s claims and insisted that he had simply refused to sign an important document. His response also detailed previous talks about a potential reunion, though the chances of it ever happening now looked slimmer than ever.
Danny Jones -
4th April 2024 
