A brilliant show : The 1975, at the O2, reviewed

The great country singer George Jones was famed not just for his voice, but also for his drinking. Once, deprived of the car keys, he drove his lawnmower to the nearest bar. In the very good Paramount+ drama about Jones and Tammy Wynette – entitled George and Tammy, so there’s no excuse for forgetting – Michael Shannon, playing Jones, is asked time and time again why he keeps on making such a mess of his life and his career. ‘That’s what the people want from me,’ he shrugs in reply.

That came to mind watching the 1975’s return to British arenas, in a tour grandiosely and amusingly billed as ‘In Show and In Concert – The 1975 At Their Very Best’. Matty Healy, their 33-year-old frontman, is the 1975’s George Jones – he’s gone through rehab for heroin, he’s broken down on stage, he’s had a habit of getting himself into the kind of situations from which it can be hard for pop stars to extricate their careers without damage.