I watched The 1975 perform at Manchester Academy on Wednesday 8th January 2014 and I can’t stop thinking about how amazing they were! Afore the glow of their signature logo of a vertical white rectangle, the band coolly strolled on stage dressed in their trademark dark clothes and armed with bottles of wine. The band were instantly met with a sea of elated, cheering fans, the majority of which had waited almost three hours just to see them. As the familiar sound of their low key intro music played, lead singer Matty Healy and guitarist Adam Hann took their centre stage positions, whilst George Daniel placed himself behind the drums and Ross MacDonald on bass, and together, The 1975 kick started the long awaited concert with an awesome performance of their vibrant tune ‘The City’.
Don’t call it a fight when you know it’s a war
It wasn’t long however before a glitch with the microphones caused the music to stop and Matty to step forward and mumble embarrassedly.
We’ve been on tour for a year and not fucked it up once. We come to Manchester and we fuck it up.
But the crowd really couldn’t have cared less. They were actually thrilled that the blip resulted in a restart of the entire concert and allowed them more time to watch The 1975 do what they do best. Amidst an electric atmosphere that was fast engulfing the Academy, the band continued to sip their wine and after their second, uninterrupted version of ‘The City’ perfectly performed ‘Milk’, a touching song that tells the story of a life that is soon consumed by a cocaine habit.
She says it’s no fun if you’ve only a bottle of wine and now she’s doing all the time
Next up was ‘M.O.N.E.Y.’, probably my least favourite song of the night but still excellent all the same thanks to the flawless tone of Matty’s voice.
The band continued to sail through many more of their songs including ‘Talk!’, ‘So Far’ and ‘She Way Out’ followed by a particularly belting execution of ‘Head, Cars and Bending’, a song that recounts a life of drinking, partying, driving, having sex.. and kind of falling in love somewhere in between.
Lock me in, knock me out, talking like you do
It was clear to see from the way that he performed that songs like ‘Settle Down’, ‘Heart Out’ and ‘Pressure’ directly relate to events that have taken place within Matty’s life. The passion in his voice connoted his memories of forbidden love, unrequited love and anything-but-straight-forward love.
My broken veins say that if my heart stops beating we’ll bleed the same way
A chilling performance of ‘Me’ was next to silence the venue as everyone listened in awe to the dark lyrics, but this was soon to be contrasted with a racy delivery of ‘You’. Then, the opening bars of ‘Menswear’ began to play and the crowd swayed as they anticipated the witty lyrics that work comically to illustrate a drunken wedding night do.
Free bar – that’s the point, spilling Amaretto ‘cause of previous joints
Energetic tune ‘Girls’ was next up with Matty singing matter-of-factly about the telling time when boys culture an interest in women as opposed to girls.
But she can’t be what you need if she’s seventeen
The final three songs were the best in my opinion and all previous ones worked as an awesome build up to them. ‘Robbers’ was delivered so incredibly passionately that it was actually quite emotional and really showcased the entire band’s raw talent.
He’s got his gun, he’s got his suit on, she says ‘babe, you look so cool’.
Next up was the obligatory ‘Chocolate’ which got the crowd bouncing and chanting the lyrics as can be expected, but the final and most exceptionally performed song was definitely ‘Sex’. It was as though a degree of craziness suddenly took both the band and the crowd by storm for the raucous finale, with Matty’s voice and George’s drumming reaching its loudest and ultimate strongest. To me, The 1975 are an already perfect foursome whose musical ability knows no bounds, but I really feel that they’re going places from here. I think this world tour will be the first of many and I don’t think it’ll be possible to see them for £15 a ticket ever again. With their fan base expanding and their aspirations to break America currently coming to light, the following lyrics never seemed so fitting..
And this is how it starts…
bex the blogger 