Fresh from releasing their fifth studio album, ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’, a UK tour was in the making for controversial pop-rockers The 1975.
After weeks of watching frontman Matty Healy’s on-stage antics while the band were stateside, Brits back home were divided in opinions, but whether you love or hate them, there is no denying they are the most talked about band right now. We attended the second-to-last date of the tour, titled The 1975: At Their Very Best, to see for our own eyes if it truly was as bizarre and groundbreaking as people say.
Though the band formed in Manchester, Healy has a special place in his heart for Newcastle, thanks to his Geordie parents, Denise Welch and Tim Healy. Making their first post-covid debut in the city, it was obvious that the 11,000 people who the filled arena, were all revved up for the long overdue performance.
As 20 year old support act, Bonnie Kemplay left the stage alongside her band, a dramatic spotlight branded with ‘THE 1975’ shone onto a curtain, stretched the length of the stage. In the final few moments before the curtain dropped, intense strobe lights bounced through the crowd and music with bass so deep that you could feel rattle through your body, filled the arena. The curtain dropped, revealing a two story, 1970’s house set to the roaring crowd.
The screen announced each band member as they entered the house set through a door, as if watching a 90s American TV show, sending echoes of screams throughout the entire building. The 1975 performed six songs from their most recent album which was released back in October 2022 and was followed up by a speech from the frontman himself, Matty Healy. He sits down, looking into the crowd and says, “If you write the show, *pause* if you write it, it's about you. What is, it begs the question. What is method acting?” before being cut off by the lights and leaving the stage in total darkness. Moments later the lights came back on and sat there in Matty’s presence was former ‘Benidorm’ actor and father of the frontman, Tim Healy. The crowd welcomed the local Geordie legend by screaming in both shock and happiness. Prior to tonight, Taylor Swift and Charli XCX were special guests in the Manchester and London shows.
Band mates Hann, Macdonald and Daniel left the stage, turning every light off until it was just Matty left alone on the stage for what they call his “meta high art piece”. Though the hype of The 1975’s gigs is not only around their music, but also the weird and wonderful performance that comes alongside. Matty started this section of the night sitting on the sofa, which was a part of the fantastic house set. Eagle eyed fans who have followed each night of the tour online, burst out cheering and screaming knowing what was about to happen next. Right on cue, Matty then transferred himself over to the floor where he famously ate some raw steak. This time however, washed it down with a bottle of the one and only, Newcastle Brown Ale. Matty really does know how to give a crowd a run for their money, as he then continued to partake in some push ups on stage, followed by climbing through one of the prop televisions as the lights shut down once again.
Guitarist, Adam Hann, appeared on stage turning the lights back on as there was a knock on the door. “GUEST STARRING” made an appearance on the big screens and the crowd of raging Geordies all cheered in anticipation for who was about to enter the door. Seconds later the screen announced “HARRY STYLES” which shuddered the whole building, leaving everyone in the room in such disbelief. Surely a British pop legend like Harry Styles wouldn’t be unexpectedly entering a 1975 show? Moments later, fans quickly released they had fallen into being teased and Scottish icon Lewis Capaldi made his way through the door, greeted by cheers and laughter throughout the building.
Picking up on the pattern of special guests, many people speculated local singer and pal of the band, Sam Fender could have been on the cards to make an appearance. It was such a shock, as Capaldi had only just been in Newcastle two days prior for his own tour, before quickly returning back to Glasgow, so this was not on anyone's 2023 bingo card. Lewis played two songs during this time one being ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift and the other being a song The 1975 have refused to play live before, named ‘Antichrist’. Not only did the crowd get to see Lewis Capaldi perform, which went down a treat, they also got to experience a song The 1975 have refused to play for years, leaving the crowd in such disbelief once more.
The band re-entered the stage to their sax player John Waugh performing Local Hero, before moving on to the classic ‘If You're Too Shy(Let Me Know)” taken from their fourth studio album. If you're a fan of the band or have been following news from their recent tour, you will know that the second half of the performance brings a much more festival fitting vibe, as they perform their upbeat tracks, allowing the crowd to dance around after being so engrossed in the artistic visual side of the show.
The 1975’s current, unavoidable online presence has brought endless videos to our TikTok pages, causing fans to quickly notice the current theme circling where each night, Healy will announce his dislike for something, through heavily autotuned vocal effects. Taking place before their song, ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’, it was only fitting for Matty, being on Geordie turf, to say “Dont like Mackems, don't like Mackems, genuinely don't like them”, as this nights statement. Based off the positive response of roars and cheers, fans from neighbouring Sunderland we’re thankfully not too offended.
After the band played songs from their earlier days, including nostalgia filled, ‘Chocolate’ and ‘It’s Not Living(If It’s Not With You)’ Healy then held a crowd vote. The crowd had to cheer for one of four songs and whichever song received the loudest cheer, the band would perform. The lineup of songs included ‘Change Of Heart’, ‘Paris’, ‘Menswear’ and ‘Medicine’. The clear winner was one of our personal favourites, Menswear.
The band continued to roll out their string of old classics such as ‘Robbers’ ‘Love It If We Made It’ ‘The Sound’ and ‘Sex’ before closing off their 23 song set with their usual closer ‘Give Yourself A Try’.
As someone who has attended many gigs of all sizes, The 1975 is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life. Their near two and a half hour set was worth every second and not one moment of it disappointed. I'm pretty sure that the 11,000 other people in that room can agree that The 1975 are most certainly at their very best. After many years of touring the globe, The 1975 proved they know how to give the crowd an unforgettable experience both musically, and through the artistic production, throughout their performance. Something about the way that this band entertains their fans, whilst delivering songs from all albums, is something that no artist or band has been known to do quite this well before.
By - Katie Graham
Photos - Samuel Bradley
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