The 1975 spent last January touring the UK’s biggest arenas, starting the 9th at the SSE Arena in Belfast and ending with Sheffield’s FLDYSA Arena. The Mancunian quartet stopped at the O2 in London for two packed consecutive nights, the 18th and 19th. The show itself was a pleasure to watch and to be part of, with attractive visuals projected on a mobile background as well as three massive cubes coming up and down the ceiling. It was as if the band’s albums aesthetic, known on Tumblr for their neon coloured lights, rectangle shapes and messages ranging for activism and politics to drugs and sex, had come to life. But for a proper concert review, it would be advised to redirect to Clash magazine’s website, as this is more of a crowd review.
A concert can be a moment of stress in advance, especially for ‘’short people who know they will be stuck between jumping gorillas’’ admits Charlie, 17, in the queue for the standing area. Standing tickets are often a lot cheaper than sitting, which makes a difference for the majority of students who came to see their favourite band play. However, it makes it easier for ‘’moshpit addicts’’ to tour every gig possible on a rather small budget to make as much damage as possible among the crowd. ‘’This bloke behind, in the Black Sabbath top, I’ve seen him at my past two concerts. He’s always jumping and pushing people around, even when the music isn’t hard core at all. That’s what we call moshpit addicts’’ says Holly, 18.
The band has only just walked on stage, the first few notes of the very first song have hardly begun and this group of 20-something-years old boys with dirty hair and metal t-shirts are already pushing, jumping and trampling. Alice, 19 and 5’’2, who travelled for three hours to see her idols, has to get out of the spot she has been queuing for since the afternoon, in the middle of the second song. ‘’I can’t breathe, it’s a nightmare. I got punched in the ribs so many times, and they didn’t even want to let me through. I just wanted to get out.’’
The 1975 are living up to their reputation of ‘’most loved band in the world’’ according to Nosey, with a great show musically and visually, but the only star the crowd gets is due to the girls escorting others they have just met out of the pit of hell.
If you are looking for tickets to see the band on their upcoming world tour of festivals, we recommend strongly getting seats.