The 1975 at Brixton Academy

In the music business there is an universal and true postulate: don’t believe the hype. In front of  a crowd of around 5,000 at Brixton Academy, and with only one record to date, The 1975 last night proved the rule. The intense hype that surrounds these four young boys from Manchester is massive: a huge number of screaming teenage fans, the totally sold out show, and a gigantic amount of cameras and scenic lights onstage. But beware that all that glitters is not gold.

The band formed in 2002 as a punk outfit, but it was only last year that they managed to publish their namesake debut. Considering the amount of people at the venue, it has been a great success for these young Mancunians. Onstage, singer Matt Healy dances and shouts with a bottle of wine in his hand, while the drummer George Daniel is theatrically framed by white lights. Adam Hann at the bass/samplers and Ross McDonald at the guitar/synth complete the line up.

The name of the band is The 1975, but it seems that these young boys misunderstood the decade; it should be The 1985, as the band sounds more like a mix between Cindy Lauper, Phil Collins (all the ballads sound like In the Air Tonight, seriously) with a twist from the contemporary Klaxons and Vampire Weekend – especially in their precise upbeat guitar sound. This band’s biggest problem is that there is a general feeling of similarity across all their tracks, which penalises the whole experience. Nevertheless, this Mancunian alt-rock has nice moments, such as from the three tracks Chocolate, Sex, and Girls, and the good Heart Out – when the saxophone enters the sound improves, but it is not enough to justify the hype.

 

Lorenzo Cibrario

For further information and future events visit The 1975’s website here.

Watch the video for Girls here: