On January 19, the OVO Hydro was blessed with hosting the only Scotland date for The 1975: At Their Very Best tour.
After Scottish singer-songwriter Bonnie Kemplay opened with her beautiful ambient set, The 1975 took to the stage. The stage curtain lifts, unveiling the iconic set they’ve packed up and propped up every date of the tour.
The set is a house, resembling the back of a dolls house where all the rooms are visible. The band are propped up on different levels with the ability to roam around. There’s a couch, lamps, doors, and a collection of televisions.
The first half of the night is a show-within-a-show. Matty Healy, the band’s singer and frontman, plays the role of an arrogant rock star, drunk and bumbling about the stage. Bottle in one hand, cigarette in the other, he performs nearly exclusively songs from their fifth and newest studio album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language.
The character reflects the album’s story: toxic masculinity and self-insecurity in the modern world. He stumbles around for the first hour before he is left alone on stage. Matty then strips, eats a raw steak, does some push-ups, and crawls into a TV. Very macho.
The band re-emerge and the ‘show’ is over. The 1975 are now just themselves and begin playing their big hits, starting with the synthy dance bop If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know). Matty then parroted his viral TikTok ‘menthols’ sound bite as they played TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME where the crowd put their dancing shoes (or dancing Dr. Martens) to use.
Later, the audience voted via cheer for the band to play Paris over A Change of Heart. Following this, they played the interlude An Encounter, preceding fan favourite Robbers.
The set was punctuated infrequently with chat by the ill and Lemsip sipping Matty. He did, despite his sore throat, take time to proclaim his support for Scottish independence, saying “it’s not a hot take, of course it should be!” over the audience’s cheers.
The evening finished with Give Yourself a Try, tidily wrapping up the show’s message and giving the fans a high-energy song to bounce home to.
The conceptual and introspective show was clearly crafted with love and it’s apparent when they perform every song. The effort put into this show and the constant quality performances prove that The 1975 truly are ‘At Their Very Best’.
If you don’t manage to catch this show live, the November 7 gig at Madison Square Gardens was recorded and is streaming now on Amazon Prime.
Featured Image Credit: @the1975 via YouTube and AmazonMusic
Journalism and English Studies student with an interest in film & tv, music, and politics.
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Twitter: @AlexPaterson01
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