“I’ve been organising concerts for the last 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. This is a very isolated incident,” said Arts, Live Festival and Events Association (Alife Malaysia) chairman Para Rajagopal at a press conference addressing the cancellation of the Good Vibes Festival.

Para said previous concerts organised by local companies that featured international acts went without incident.

He also said “the industry has to go on” and that it must ensure the momentum created after the pandemic was maintained.

Last week, the government cancelled the three-day Good Vibes Festival after the lead singer of The 1975, Matty Healy, criticised the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) laws before kissing his male bandmate on the very first day.

The band has since been blacklisted from performing in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Wan Alman Ariffin of Future Sound Asia defended its decision to invite The 1975, citing the band’s “sizeable” fan base in the country. Future Sound Asia was the organiser of the festival.

Alman said The 1975 was initially rejected by the central committee for applications for filming and performances by foreign artistes (Puspal) but they successfully appealed, with a written statement from the band manager assuring that the band would adhere to performance guidelines.

“We did our best to ensure that no (untoward) incident would occur. This is solely the fault of Matty and The 1975.”

Alman said the company would provide an update very soon regarding the refund mechanism for stakeholders and ticket holders.

“We have reached out to the partners, artistes and vendors. All of them have been very supportive and understanding of what we are going through.”