The 1975 Will Be Doing Free Meet And Greets On Their Next Tour

5 July 2018, 15:36

The 1975
The 1975. Picture: Getty / Dirty Hit
Woodrow Whyte

By Woodrow Whyte

We're ready.

The 1975 are firmly on the comeback trail and we're slowly learning more details about what to expect in the Music For Cars era.

So far Matty and the boys have announced the first single 'Give Yourself A Try' and their intention to release two full-length LPs, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, which will come this October, and then Notes on a Conditional Form which will follow in May 2019.

In an interview with Music Week, manager Jamie Oborne explained why they decided on two albums. "Very early on, Matthew [Healy] noted that the promotional window on music is shorter than ever, and the time that people consume it is infinite. He felt very strongly that, if we have a tour cycle that’s going to last 18 months to two years, we have to release two records in the time that we would have previously have released one." He's a smart one, that Matty.

Ever the source of 1975-related news, Oborne went on another of his Q&A sessions about the bands plans for the year, including their intentions for meet and greets.

Not only did he confirmed that they WILL be happening on the next tour but also that there will be "no charge associated with it". What's surprising about this is not that it's free - the band have stated multiple times that they do not believe in charging for meet & greets - but that they're actually doing them in the first place.

After the murder of American pop star Christina Grimme back in 2016, Matty said he was no longer going to do meet & greets in the US. "I'm not doing it anymore in America", he told American radio station Fun 107.1. "I don't want to do it anymore until something changes. And I know nothing is gonna change...when a young pop star goes outside and gets shot, how am I... [pauses] is it a legit fear of mine to be scared of that? I don't think it is."

They haven't specified whether meet & greets will happen in the US yet but unless the band have changed their position, it seems unlikely.

Elsewhere in Oborne's Q&A, he confirmed that new merch should be coming "next week" and that those who buy physical formats or stream the record the most will get guaranteed access to purchase tickets for the store.

Exciting stuff!