By Erin Howatson (she/her)
The 1975 lived up to the title of their tour in Glasgow, giving a performance that shows that they truly are At Their Very Best.
The 1975’s Glasgow show provided the perfect insight into frontman Matty Healy’s commitment to his craft. The stage was decorated to look like a 70s-styled house complete with a living room, spiral staircase, and roof that Healy stood on to perform 2018 hit ‘I like America & America likes me’, from the album A Brief Enquiry into Online Relationships. The first half of the show was more like an artistic performance than just a typical concert.
As the lights dimmed in The Hydro, and the curtain concealing the set dropped, seven members of The 1975’s touring band came onto the stage one by one, being introduced by title cards on screens either side of the stage accompanied by canned applause giving the audience the impression that they were actually there to watch a 70s sitcom. Among the stars were Matty’s bandmates and childhood friends, bassist Ross MacDonald, drummer George Daniel, and guitarist Adam Hann.
Matty adopted the role of a drunken, washed-up rockstar in the first half of the show, performing hits from their newest album Being Funny in a Foreign Language such as ‘I’m In Love With You’ and ‘About You’, while theatrically stumbling over his own feet, swigging frequently from a bottle of wine.
As the first hour came to a close the ‘consumption’ section of the show began, with Matty taking to the stage solo for a moment of reflection – a section that has since gone viral on TikTok thanks to Healy’s antics, most commonly known as the part of the show where he eats raw meat. Matty then climbed through one of the many TVs on stage to be born again as the charismatic 1975 frontman we all know and love.
The band quickly returned to the stage together to give an energetic and unforgettable performance of all the biggest hits from their previous four albums. The sold-out crowd was clearly captivated, living up to Matty’s statement “this is arguably the best place in the world to do a gig” by joining in on the bands inside jokes with their fans such as ‘selling petrol’ and ‘don’t like menthols’, and blowing the roof off of the Hydro by screaming the lyrics to all of the songs, especially ‘The Sound’ from the 2016 album I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It which had every fan singing, dancing, and jumping for the duration of the last chorus.
When it comes to concerts, The 1975 don’t play around – with the closing section really showing that they were right to claim that they were “at their very best” on this tour – giving a performance that I would have to say made it the best concert I’ve ever been to.
The 1975 played at the OVO Hydro as part of the ‘At Their Very Best’ tour on Thursday, 19th January 2023.
