Just moments before Manchester electro-poppers The 1975 took the stage Monday night at the Shrine Expo Hall, fans were already being pulled up and out of a suffocating pit overflowing with squealing girls who were all desperate to catch the eye of heartthrob frontman Matthew Healy. When the band did finally come out, after the soothing sounds of sax, they were met with screams reaching decibels usually reserved for boy bands. Having released their sophomore album “I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It” in February, The 1975 have solidly upped their pop game.
While they may have originally been seen as an alt-indie-rock group, the electronic influence and derivative pop-sheen came out in full force for their live performance where they were swathed in hot pink lights and framed by lines that moved around the stage creating rectangles. They opened their set with “Love Me” from the new album and fans on the floor shoved further forward with each word. Eventually, Healy had to ask everyone to take three steps back or else the first few rows (and a couple of pink polaroid cameras) would get crushed. Adam Hann’s guitar work kept a funky jangle as George Daniel held tight percussion in the smokey saturated background. Bassist Ross MacDonald, who was finally highlighted in front of the cityscape scenery, kept energy high with chest-buzzing lows.
One of the greatest fan responses came in the form of screeches during the first bar of “A Change Of Heart” and barely died down as the quartet pushed through song after song. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but it’s not the soul of The 1975 who carried on through a set list of over 20 songs. Around the 15th track, Healy said “Let’s take you back in time a little bit,” and they began “Robbers” from their 2013 self-titled debut. While the 1975 may be hoping for a more retro-alt-pop tag than the swoon-worthy boy-band one they are often getting, one thing is certain. They have a real knack for catchy grooves and paired with Healy’s shirtless tattooed pomp, they might just have a chance of reviving a little ’80s synth.
While the band had just performed at Coachella, Healy noted “This is the first real show of our American tour.” He talked vaguely about their experiences on European tours, describing the world as a “fucked up place, Europe in particular,” referring to terrorism. “This is like as free as it gets, a pop concert. In regards to people’s liberties and the stuff that we have in the world, a pop concert is the most free place in the world. So if we’re gonna be this free, lets be free in honor of people who just aren’t that free.” They performed “Paris” from the new album and then closed the main set with the night’s strongest sing-along, “Girls” — a track that hit in all the right places for 80 percent of the crowd. After an auditorium-wide chant of, “We want sex!” the band re-emerged with six back-up singers in tow for a sax-heavy four-song encore that included their breakout hit “Chocolate” and concluded with their debut’s lead single “Sex,” just the way all of their admirers had hoped the night would end.
The 1975 were supported by fellow Brits The Japanese House, who seemed to have a hefty number of fans singing along to their edgy-synth layered with vocoders and samples.
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THE JAPANESE HOUSE
