The 1975 at Alexandra Palace (30th September 2014)

So firstly, I must apologise for my absence of late! There’s been many changes happening since my exams and leaving school and I haven’t found much time to really get stuck in with some writing but I’ve missed it greatly and am back now, trying to make sure I am not away for as long again! I thought long and hard about what my first post back should be about and then it occurred to me that I have been to a few gigs recently and what better than to write about some live music?! 🙂 So on with the show, here it is, my review of The 1975 at Ally Pally!…

The 1975 are a four piece band from Manchester, bringing a unique sound to British music, sporting an indie-rock label. With their first album released just a year ago now, it was a huge deal for the band to be performing their largest headline show to date at Ally Pally, not to mention it was sold out! So I made the trek up what I would call a huge hill to find ‘The People’s Palace’ standing tall in all of it’s glory and it certainly did come alive in the evening as the light’s started to go down.

The band had two support acts to build the excitement before they came on; Circa Waves and Y.O.U  and I think they were everything that is sought after in a support act. They were fun, upbeat and got people dancing, setting a good tone for the rest of the evening. I would also like to give a special mention to these bands and say that they are definitely worth checking out! After the support acts, the wait began and a rather lengthy wait it was. Amongst others, I could definitely feel the underlying tension as we waited and waited… and waited. What started to become apparent was the, once subtle low bass drone, which then slowly started to become louder, which after a while began to sound like a constant buzz in the room which I think reflected the atmosphere quite well. I think this buzz was cleverly designed to build tension and excitement, which for some mega fans, soon became agonizing.

But eventually the wait was over and The 1975 got the party started with The City – second track on the self-titled debut album and a definite crowd-pleaser with all voices in the room singing along. Lead-singer Matt Healy certainly didn’t disappoint with his entrance, having looked around and noticed he was a bit of a hit with the females of the audience. His curly hair and shirt hanging half open he looked like an image from 70’s rock. Also sipping from a bottle of wine which I was informed by a friend, was one of his signature moves.

However, sadly moving towards a downer of the evening… one thing that does dishearten me at gigs is when they’re at venues as large as Ally Pally – capacity 10,000 with all standing and I unfortunately have no hope of seeing anything. I am aware that no one can help the unfortunate fact that there are going to be huge crowds at these types of shows with a variety of tall and short people but me being part of the short people crew, I can’t help but feel somewhat cheated that I am struggling to even catch a small glimpse of the band, having paid and come all that way to see them live. It just takes away from the buzz and excitement and the whole idea of seeing a band live in front of you. Rather than a criticism, this is more of an observation as I know it is hard to find a solution to this problem. Perhaps screens would have been a good investment for this gig, being at such a large venue? Or maybe I’m just on the dreamboat, hoping that more small intimate gigs would still happen as often as the big ones, as the idea of screens can sometimes feel as though you should have just stayed at home and caught them on YouTube.

Alas! Moving on to high points, having spoken about the artificial feel of screens, I felt it was a nice touch in the gig when Healy requested that the crowd put away their cameras and phones for just the next song. I will admit that when particularly excited at a gig, I am partial to faltering to this crime of holding your phone in the air and snapping away, taking endless photos… but having been on the receiving end of this many times I now know that this can be rather irritating for other members of the crowd when their only view is a camera phone… oops! So with all the cameras and flashing lights gone (other than the band’s own lighting set up), I finally felt some unity within this large venue with everyone’s full attention on the main attraction.

This leads me on to the audience and their reaction. It was so refreshing to look round and see, without a doubt, everyone having a genuinely good time. People were dancing and singing their hearts out – the way it should be. I feel this speaks volumes when asked how good the band were, as it reflects how they were able to manage the ultimate task – putting on a great performance musically and in their outward appearance.

Don’t forget to check out The 1975’s self-titled debut album if you haven’t already and be prepared for album number two in the future, as was mentioned a few times in the duration of the gig! And a reason to come back for more, here’s one of my favourite’s…