On the 9th January 2014 the 02 Academy Brixton was transformed in a dancehall as Mancunian band The 1975, with the help of Swim Deep and Wolf Alice, had the hall entire room dancing and swaying along to their catchy and bouncy songs from their outstanding debut album, ‘The 1975’, which has taken Britain by storm since it’s release earlier this year.
The band have come a long way in the passed year as Matt Healy, the lead singer, told the crowd after their astounding entrance to the song ‘The City‘ and stated that “Last year we played the Barfly, now we are here for three sold out dates” and outstanding feat for any band.
The high ceiling in the building wasn’t too much for The 1975 to handle as their impressive light displays made the atmosphere feel a lot more intimate by creating what looked like a surrealistic sky with clouds over the audience. The band danced about on stage along with the audience however due to the constant black and white theme the band have adapted it was difficult to see them at certain times and only catching flashes of them as the recognisable white rectangles flashed in time with the jaunty riffs which gave the concert and even more club like feel.
The lively atmosphere was brought to a momentary halt as they performed a few slower songs in the middle of their set which still managed to capture the audience’s attention as every single person was swaying in silence along to the soft voice escaping from the stage; some with lighters aloft. After an extended introducing to ‘Menswear‘ the room filled with screams and a faint voice from the back from the back. Healy had made his way to the upstairs balcony under the cover of darkness and was singing the song along with the fans franticly clambering over seats just to be close to him.
After running back to stage, followed by a lengthy entourage, he allowed the crowd a moment to soak in the emotional and heartfelt slower songs they had just performed as he caught his breath then unleashed one of the better song from the night, ‘Girls‘, to end the set. They leave the stage still with the catchy riffs and lyrics echoing around the arena.
It has become common knowledge now that the band with leave the stage momentarily, the crowd will scream for an encore and they will return to play a final few songs before finishing the show. However it wasn’t the usual “encore” or “we want more” chants reverberating around; it was easily misconstrued, under different circumstances, screams of “sex” that from brought the crowd pleasing Mancunian band back onto the stage.
The encore began with a solo piano version of ‘Robbers‘ performed by Matt Healy on his own, before the rest of the band rejoined him for two of their most famous songs ‘Chocolate’ and ‘Sex‘ which left the crowd stunned and exhausted, leaving the venue panting from the amount of dancing and singing they had been doing all night.
The 1975 – The City on MUZU.TV.
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