The 1975 is a band that originated in Manchester, England, between Matt Healy, Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer George Daniel. Healy got into music when his father’s best friend died and left Healy with two guitars. The 1975’s first self titled album was released in 2013, 11 years after the band started, and over time they began to take fame over in the US. With a world tour with over 11 sold  out shows in North America alone, including my show, I was honestly coming in with very high expectations. I’ve never went to a concert with so many people, and that’s something I was really looking forward to because most concerts I’ve been to had a couple hundred at most.

My friends and I arrived at the San Francisco Bill Graham Civic Center 2 hours and 40 minutes before doors opened, we stood in a rather long line and waited as the line grew longer and longer. A worker then approached us and asked if we wanted to go to a “shorter line” to go in first for a donation of ten dollars. We decided to go to the shorter line and waited a while wondering if we were getting scammed and luckily we were actually able to go first, and they didn’t even charge us. We waited in the actual venue for around an hour until No Rome, one of the opening acts, came out.  No Rome is from the Philippines, and is considered one of Matt Healy’s muses. He softly said hi to everyone and welcomed them. He then performed “Cashmoney,” “Do It Again,” “Saint Laurent,” “Seventeen,” “Blue Jeans,” and “Pink.” Although his performance did come off as boring due to a lot of the crowd not being into it, his contagious, charismatic energy was really welcoming and it was a calm way to prepare us for the upcoming artists.

Next up, Pales Waves took the stage. Pale Waves consists of four people, with the front person being Heather Gracie, who met the drummer Ciara Doran while attending university in Manchester. To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much because I wasn’t really aware that there was going to be two openers, but as soon as they began singing, I immediately fell in love. Their pop rock feeling really gravitated towards a raw nostalgic type of feeling. They gave out 90s rock punk energy and really brought the crowd to life. My personal favorite song was “Eighteen” and to this day (a week later) I still have it on repeat. “Television Romance,” and “There’s A Honey,” were also two songs that everyone seemed to know. They were definitely unexpectedly good and I generally really enjoyed their performance.

Finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived and the crowd got quiet as the lights turned off. They took the stage around 9pm and the show opened with The 1975 by The 1975. The lyrics lit up on a black screen, flashing in white block letters:

Go down

Soft sound

Midnight

Car lights

Playing with the air

Breathing in your hair

Go down

Soft sound

Step into your skin?

I’d rather jump in your bones

Taking up your mouth, so you breathe through your nose

One thing that I was excited for was the graphics because The 1975 are really known for their images displayed on over seven green screens on the stage. It’s really interesting because they never perform the same exact songs at each show so you kind of have to prepare by knowing songs off each album. The show was sold out with over 8,500 in the venue (Bill Graham Civic Auditorium) located in San Francisco. The band kicked off their set with “Give Yourself A Try,” and the crowd screamed every lyric. When transitioning to their fourth song, “Sincerity is Scary,” Matt Healy said “Welcome San Francisco, we are The 1975 from Manchester, England,” and he stepped onto the iconic treadmill, as used at every show, as a city like simulation appeared on the screen, referring to the music video. The artist performed hits off the new album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, such as “Tootimetootimetootime,” “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You),” and “Love It If We Made It.”

They also played fan favorites off of their previous album, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, featuring “She’s American,” “Somebody Else,” and “A Change In Heart.” One really interesting transition was when Healy stopped after a song and questioned if he had clothes on(turns out he didn’t) and when he found out that he didn’t Healy laughed and said, “It’s not okay to let things out in front of teenage girls, or anyone, that’s a new one.” He also commented on how it reminded him of when he was on drugs, referencing to the time when he had a heroin addiction, he continued, “Let’s play a song from that time though,” and played “Paris.” After “I Always Want To Die Sometimes,” there was a short break then The 1975 took the stage again and performed “Sex,” “Love It If We Made I,” and closed with “The Sound.”

During The Sound the crowd roared as Healy told people to jump, the night did end with a bang and as soon as the song finished, people rushed outside and rushed to the merch lines! I really enjoyed the concert and the vocals were really good, the overall energy of the crowd and artists, in general, was great. Even though it was a full house and was very cramped to the point to where you have no space to even move your hand, it was still oddly comforting and I was really happy that I attended this concert.

Setlist:

The 1975
Give Yourself a Try
TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME
She’s American
Sincerity Is Scary

It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)
A Change of Heart
Narcissist
UGH!
I Couldn’t Be More in Love
An Encounter
Robbers
fallingforyou
Paris
I Like America & America Likes Me
Somebody Else
I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)

Encore:
If I Believe You
Love It If We Made It
Chocolate
Sex
The Sound