Midway through The 1975’s recent show in New York City, frontman Matty Healy captivated Madison Square Garden during the ‘Consumption’ interlude by eating raw meat, doing push-ups and then crawling into a hollowed-out TV set.

The pantomime, performed solo by Healy and soundtracked by a cinematic orchestral suite, has been a staple of The 1975’s current North American tour. It happens after the band deliver a full playthrough off their just-released fifth album, ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’, with a full set of cuts from their other four albums performed after it.

New York’s show at Madison Square Garden on Monday (November 9) was unique, however, for the inclusion of Healy’s unexpected snack and brief workout. After fondling himself on a couch and smoking a cigarette, Healy sauntered over to a rug in the middle of the stage, where he knelt down, took off his shirt, and was presented with a raw tomahawk steak. After taking swigs from a flask, Healy took two hefty bites of the steak (while still gripping his genitals) before doing a rep of push-ups and crawling into a hollow TV set.

“I’m sorry if you came with your dad and I was touching my dick,” Healy said after his ‘Consumption’ performance. “It’s your fault for bringing your dad.”

See clips of those moments below:

???? pic.twitter.com/86BK143kek

— Avery? (@anobrainavery) November 5, 2022

Mom Dad, why is Matty Healy eating raw meat at the 1975 show?!! pic.twitter.com/W63IpDG7pS

— Erica Campbell (@ericacxmpbell) November 8, 2022

bestie please this isn’t you pic.twitter.com/MDOvvQu2eL

— M. ? (@strghtoutamag) November 8, 2022

 

In a five-star review of the show, NME’s Erica Campbell wrote of the steak-eating moment: “Is it a metaphor for the dangers of consumerism? A boundary-pushing merging of live art and music? Before the audience can answer those questions and make sense of the staggering moment, the music kicks in again.”

Campbell said of the show as a whole: “It’s the kind of night that only The 1975 could host, the type of evening that leaves you buzzing and remembering why you love live music in the first place, walking home and thinking aloud, as one fan did before heading towards the subway: ‘I didn’t know how much I needed that.’”

The 1975’s North American tour continues in Camden, New Jersey tonight (November 9), with a further 19 dates on the itinerary between now and mid-December. In the new year, they’ll take ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’ to the UK and Ireland, and then to Australia and New Zealand in April. See more details on the full run here.

‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’ arrived last month. In a four-star review, NME’s El Hunt said it “feels like the right next step after [The 1975 pushed their] experimental excess to its logical conclusion, and is comparatively lean with just eleven tracks to its name”.