Two years ago The 1975’s front man Matt Healy was hooked on a variety of highly addicted substances, but after checking into rehab during the recording of their 2018 masterpiece ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ Matt Healy is back, better and full of life. And so is The 1975.
Their return to Australia was highly anticipated by teenagers and mums a like and if their Brisbane show was anything to go by, the crowd was massive. Practically every body at the Riverstage that night had some sort of 1975 merchandise on and before the doors had even opened people were yelling and screaming with excitement.
Matt dressed in a grandma-skirt and an oversized old cardigan and George, Ross and Adam wearing their laid back attire made their way onto the stage opening with track The 1975 from album ‘The 1975’. The boys then seamlessly merged into their very different and newest track People. New and different aside the whole crowd new all the words and sung along in complete unison with the band.
The show carried on a similar relaxed vibe with singles TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME and Sincerity Is Scary before being brought back up with one of my personal favourites She’s American. As Matty said “This ones a bit of a tune“, and I couldn’t agree more. Not only did the crowd start dancing but so did the whole band. Matty’s dance moves were especially out of this world but you could tell he was just feeling the music he created and if that’s not a sign of true love for his art I don’t know what is.
About half way through their set The 1975 brought lead vocalist Guendoline Rome Viray Gomez from their supporting act No Rome to the stage to sing their collaborative single Narcissist. Both Matt and Guendoline’s voices work perfectly together and Narcissist is the perfect mix of electronic funk and elevator music that makes it impossible not to groove along to.
As the show went on The 1975 made sure to include some old fan favourites such as Robbers and Somebody Else but also showcased all their masterpieces from their new album such as It’s Not Living If Its Not With You and I Like American & America Likes Me. It was obvious the boys were keeping the show on a constant relaxed tone with a small spike of their faster paced tunes just to keep things interesting. I would have however liked their to be a few more upbeat tracks thrown in the mix.
Near the end of their set The 1975 played spoken-word track The 1975 paired with an arty video showing images of the human destruction on our planet. Teenage climate warrior Greta Thunberg voice is heard through the loud speakers as she warns us about the dire state of the planet, and reminds everyone that the time for “civil disobedience” is here. Unfortunately during the track someone in the crowd must have spoke and Healy turned around as said to “Shut Up, I am not screwing around about this“. Suddenly the whole Riverstage was completely silent, you could tell that the whole band were super passionate about this matter as they all watched Greta’s words flow down the video screen. As the track came to a close the band rolled into single Love It If We Made It. As a band with a massive following and especially with a young following I pride The 1975 for using their platform to encourage a positive change for our planet because I too would love it if we made it.
Having seen The 1975 before I thought the whole band was very in sync with each other and they all put on an incredible performance. There are some seriously complicated riffs, beats and vocal lines in their songs and their wasn’t a note out of place. One reason I talk about The 1975 so highly is because they don’t over do their on stage pyrotechnics. They simply have video graphics in the background and some light changes that are all specific to the song they are playing and then everything else is left up to their music and stage presence.
Finishing up an incredible showcase of talent, The 1975 played singles Chocolate, Sex and The Sound to close their entire set and the crowd went absolutely ballistic. These three tracks are basically the reason I listen to The 1975 today and by the crowds reaction I may not have been the only one.
