The 1975 at Arena Birmingham, 23rd January 2019

Hey guys, long time no see! I think I’ve started almost every blog post like that, oops. But I’m going to try to post more in 2019… is it too late to start that whole new year new me thing? Anyway, last Wednesday I went to see one of my favourite bands ever, The 1975, live for the second time. The first time I saw them was just over two years ago and I’d kind of forgotten how absolutely incredible their shows are. This one was certainly on another level of amazing – I was left blown away and wanting the night to never end!

After both of the support acts had performed (neither of which were memorable enough to warrant writing about in any detail, sorry), the concert opened with the newest version of the first track of every one of the band’s albums, ‘The 1975’. Although we had a side view we were really close to the stage and it didn’t really affect our viewing pleasure as we could still see the screens flash up with the words to the intro track. They then burst into ‘Give Yourself a Try’, the first single from their most recent album ‘A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships’, which got the crowd on their feet and screaming the lyrics from the word go. I have to say it was honestly one of the best crowds I’d had the pleasure of being a part of, everyone on the floor standing was jumping up and down with their hands in the air and the energy radiating through the whole arena was electric.

The upbeat energy didn’t let up through the next few songs ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’, another single from their latest album, ‘Love Me’ and ‘She’s American’, both from their second album. Every song had its own visuals along with it, which were absolutely stunning and so clever. There were two rectangles – The 1975’s symbol – on either side of the stage, and another at the back which moved up and down and even changed colour depending on the song. Sometimes three boxes would come down from the ceiling, sometimes only one, and there was a huge screen at the back of the stage as well. All of these effects flashed with different colours and patterns, sometimes lyrics to the song and it was an astonishing and amazingly thought through backdrop to the show.

Following the high energy of the first few songs, ‘Sincerity is Scary’ was a slower-paced slight respite and chance for us to catch our breath. The lead singer, Matty, walked along a treadmill type thing which ran along the front of the stage while singing – it was like one of those things you walk along at the airport! Again, it was just such an innovative and original idea, I’d never seen anything like it before. Also super impressive that he was able to sing while walking on a treadmill – I can barely even breathe.

One of my favourite moments of the show came after ‘It’s Not Living (If it’s Not with You)’ and ‘Loving Someone’. The screen at the back of the stage showed a white noise pattern – if you’re old enough to remember when you turned the TV on and it came up with those funny black and white squiggles all over it then you’ll know what I mean. Matty appeared on a platform which raised up, and he placed his hand onto the screen. As he did, the screen rippled more and more as he moved his hand around it, and then comes the moment that blew my mind. He pushed the screen and a square of it literally pushed backwards revealing a cube inside it, which he stepped into. The screen showed an iphone saying ‘Hello’ – like it does when you first set it up – and it was as though he had been sucked INSIDE the phone. It was absolutely INCREDIBLE. Honestly, I was just stood there with my mouth hanging open in amazement. It was such an astonishing thing to watch, I was in awe!

They then sang ‘The Ballad of Me and my Brain’ while Matty was inside the cube inside the screen, which was incredible. I did try to take a few pictures while he was inside it, but they don’t really do it justice! After I’d got over how shook I was at what just happened, they played one of my favourite songs off their second album, ‘A Change of Heart’. The band’s talent was showcased during the beautiful instrumental of ‘How To Draw/Petrichor’, which allowed us all time to have a bit of a sit down and rest our feet which hadn’t stopped moving since the show began.

It was after this that my favourite moment of the show happened. Matty introduced the next song, ‘Robbers’ with a sweet little emotional speech about how grateful he was to us for sticking by them and how this song is dedicated to us. It was such an uplifting moment hearing that song live again, it brings back so many memories for me and knowing how much it meant to everyone there was so special. After the song had ended, suddenly Matty noticed someone in the crowd – a couple had got engaged during the song! Literally the whole arena let out an audible ‘AWW’, it was the cutest thing EVER. He asked the security to let the couple come in front of the barrier and sit on the floor for the next song, ‘Fallingforyou’, which he dedicated to them. I know, goals or what?!

After another of my ultimate favourite songs, ‘Paris’, came another spectacle of astonishing visuals with the epic ‘I Like America & America Likes Me’, throughout which I just couldn’t stop taking pictures because the images were just so mind-blowing! I’ll insert some photos that I took but basically there were emojis, iphone maps, Wikipedia pages, lyrics, everything you could imagine to do with the internet and phones. It really was like being inside the world of the internet and I thought it was so clever in reflecting the constant onslaught of content we’re bombarded with all the time on social media – which is the theme of their latest album.

This was followed by the more mellow ‘Somebody Else’ and then an old classic, ‘Girls’, before the emotional ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’ during which one of my highlights of every concert I ever attend happened – the one where the crowd lights up with flashlights waving. It was truly beautiful and a touching end to the set as the band left the stage before the encore.

They soon came back on stage with the high-energy ‘Love it if We Made It’, followed by an absolute classic ‘Chocolate’. That song brings back so many memories for me – weirdly it makes me think of revising for my geography A Level – very specific I know but during that time was when I first heard the song and I’ve loved the band ever since then! This was then followed by ‘The Sound’ during which the screens instructed us all to jump up and down as hard as we could – I was so out of breath at the end but it’s the best feeling ever just letting go of everything and forgetting the world around you! The final song was ‘Sex’, and despite feeling half dead from going so hard during the entire show, I had just enough energy left to scream the words and dance along one more time.

I hope you can tell from this post just how much fun I had at the show, it was honestly one of the best I’ve ever been to and I know I say that a lot but every concert I see just seems to get better and better! The vocals and instruments were insane, the visuals were just on another level and the energy never let up throughout the entire show. Matty interacted with the crowd so much and thanked us unrelentingly – for which even he apologised for but he just couldn’t get over how loud and crazy the crowd was! It makes me happy when the band or artist I’m watching is so humble and grateful, and interaction with the crowd is something that can make or break a show for me. The 1975 certainly made the show unforgettable, and even almost a week later I look back and wish I could be back in that moment again.

Have you seen The 1975 on their tour? What was your favourite part of the show? Or do you have any concerts coming up soon that you’re super excited about? I’d love to hear your comments or any thoughts on this post!

As always thank you so much for reading, x