Link contributor Spencer Williams had a chance to take in the sights and sounds of The 1975 not too long ago. Read what he has to say about the experience!
It was a brisk November night as The 1975 took the stage at Vancouver’s historic Vouge Theater. They started by putting on some kind of strobe lights, turning the theatre into an 80’s themed dance party. It almost reminded me of a Rich Aucoin set.
The place was filled with young teenage girls who seemed to like the fact that lead singer Matty Healy Looks like One Directions’ Harry Styles. They played everything from sappy love ballads to the hits such as “The City”, “Settle Down, and the massively popular “Chocolate”. Healy had a bottle red wine on stage with him. Although he seemed drunk it didn’t effect his performance.
It seems as though they flashed back to the early 60s and Beatlemania had just taken over all over again and the 1975 were the next generation Beatles. Healy’s vocals resemble Culture Club’s Boy George if he sang in a high pitched voice and hadn’t gone through puberty yet.
In some songs Healy was very whinny like early 80s Madonna. Putting Healy’s vocals aside I could definitely hear some syth pop influence from A flock of seagulls, haircut 101, XTC. During their hit “Chocolate” Healy invited some of the floor patrons on stage to dance with the band. It’s fan and artist connections like that are just magical and to spite all the things I’ve been saying About Matty Healy, I think The 1975 have a very bright future ahead of them.
Now, the question is can the band come out of shadow of Chocolate and stop singing about heartbreak over a girl and broadened their horizons. These guys deserve to be known by more then just a one hit wonder pop rock act from Manchester, England.