Trending 12th February 2020 by Adele Miner

The 1975’s Matty Healy Has Said He Will No Longer Play Gender-Biased Festivals

“I believe this is how male artists can be true allies”

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The 1975 frontman and Denise Welch’s son (mad), Matty Healy has vowed to only play festivals with a balanced gender line up from now on.

The news comes as a response to this year’s Reading and Leeds festival lineup announcement. With 91 acts on the line-up, only 20 of them are female – leading to heavy criticism of the gender imbalance many mainstream festivals showcases.

Signing a hypothetical contract on Twitter, Matty spoke with Guardian writer Laura Snapes about the issue, agreeing that something needs to be done to address the imbalance.

Replying to Laura’s tweet about actively tacking the issue Matty said:

“Take this as me signing this contract – I have agreed to some festivals already that may not adhere to this and I would never let fans down who already have tickets. But from now I will and I believe this is how male artists can be true allies”

The singer also went on to say that his agents are more than likely having a mare about this impromptu pledge, but he believes that ‘times up’ for mainstream festivals to begin supporting women.

“I’m sure my agents are having kittens right now but times up man people need to act and not chat”

“The point is that Reading and Leeds with more women would be honestly the best festival in the world” he continued.

Campaigns against gender inequality at music festivals have been gaining traction in recent years, with multiple festivals such as Liverpool Sound City and Barcelona’s Primavera signing up to the Keychange initiative, promising to have at least 50% female artists on their lineups by 2022.

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