FROM THE FRONT ROW
// The 1975 // UK Tour // The O2 Arena London // 18-01-19 //
After years of supporting The 1975 and watching them go from small venues to arenas, I was excited to see their amazing staging that was being widely praised online. On top of colourful lighting and bright strobes, the band also brought along dancers and a choir to add to their performances. The band had a many different creative stage set-ups, including the visual appearance of lead singer, Matty Healy stepping into the screen of an iPhone and as if the band's frontman hadn’t put in enough energy already, there was also a treadmill as part of their set to up his cardio even more! Throughout the evening Matty made sure the fans felt the huge amounts of love he felt for them, with constant signs of gratitude.
This was my fourth time seeing the band and as much as I loved seeing them sell out the O2 and witness their incredible visuals, I couldn’t help but be selfish and miss the more intimate gigs. Performing an unbelievable setlist of 23 songs, including two of my favourites ‘You’ and ‘Falling For You’, there really was a song for everyone, regardless of whether you were already a fan or not. Their encore performance consisted of four of their huge hits and honestly was amazing yet exhausting to keep up with the band’s energy.
The sold out venue had the wildest atmosphere and Matty had the entire crowd on their feet and jumping for their song ‘The Sound’. Although setlist was great, I think it’s time for Love Me to be replaced with something new (*cries in Antichrist*). The night as a whole was an incredible experience and the band put on such a great show I had to be talked out of trying to get tickets for the following evening. It was a production made for arenas and would likely look just as incredible in stadiums, which is hopefully where they’ll be headlining in the future.