Denise Welch has praised her son Matty Healy – frontman of rock band The 1975 – after his Friday night headline performance at Glastonbury divided fans
The 1975 frontman Matty Healy with his Loose Women mum Denise Welch(Image: Getty Images)
Denise Welch – mum of The 1975’s Matty Healy – has heaped praise on her son after his Glastonbury Festival headline set on the Pyramid Stage proved divisive amongst fans.
The 36-year-old rocker, who hit the headlines in 2023 for his brief romance with Taylor Swift and is believed to have influenced her latest album The Tortured Poets Department, was branded ‘insufferable’ by some fans. While others left after being heard saying it ‘wasn’t their vibe’.
The first thing they took issue with was Matty opening the band’s set holding a pint of Guinness he didn’t seem to drink, with a cigarette in the other hand.
He then went on a rant in which he described himself as ‘probably the best songwriter of my generation’, telling the crowd: “What this moment is making me realise is that – yeah. This moment is making me realise. I probably am the best, so I’m probably the best songwriter of my generation. A poet, ladies and gentlemen, is what I am. I wanted to remind you – this poetry, I believed in it for you,” he said in a dig to his ex Taylor Swift.
Matty Healy’s mum Denise Welch posted his set was ‘1000/10’ after he got emotional on stage (Image: Instagram )
But some fans weren’t here for it, with one writing on social media: “The thing which makes Matty Healy so insufferable is it’s very easy to imagine that all the b**lendery he does on stage isn’t just for the performance, but that he would genuinely sashay into Gregg’s reciting 14th century French poetry.”
Another moaned: “Matty Healy swaggering about with a pint he has no intention of drinking is the most annoying thing I’ve ever seen.”
While a third said: “Should have been all about the #1975 but Healy has decided to hijack it and turn in a car crash performance. You can see it in the bands faces. All he had to do was hold it together for one day and he’s failed miserably.”
In a video shared by his Loose Women star mum Denise – who watched her son’s performance from the crowd and posed for snaps with various celebs backstage – Matty appeared to look emotional at one point and was given hugs by his band members and entourage.
Posting the clip to her Instagram stories, 67-year-old Denise called The 1975’s performance a ‘1000/10’ and said it was an ‘unbelievable night’.
Denise, who shares Matty with ex-husband Tim Healy, was at the gig with her current partner, Matty’s stepdad Lincoln Townley. But the former Coronation Street star has ruled out camping and is staying off site in what looks like a glamping set up with a hot tub.
She told the Mirror she had been “stressing out” ahead of her son’s appearance and said: “I’ve not really been a festival bunny – I don’t really do festivals.
“The only one I’ve been to is Coachella. It was all VIP and very lovely. Hot, sunny and gorgeous and I thought ‘Oh, this is okay’. And no one stays there, everyone goes home at the end of the night. I am stressed about Glastonbury.”
She added: “I am not going to stay for the whole three days. I would rather be able to dip in and out. I might dip back in for the Sunday night to see Rod [Stewart].”
