The 1975 @ Atlanta 

11/14/2022 

By Juana Cheja

With the seventh show of the At Their Very Best Tour the 1975 played at the Atlanta State Farm Arena, with an over two hour setlist they are revolutionizing modern concerts. 

As the lights dimmed down and the intro music suddenly came to a stop, the cheering just got louder; and suddenly, the curtains fell. The lights showed the stage , it was set like a 90s sitcom home cut in half for the audience to see inside. A metaphor for this being them [the band] being vulnerable and honest with the audience. 

A sound of  a car arriving startels the audience, and seconds later guitarist Adam Hann walks in through the “house entrance door” to wake up the man sleeping on the couch. The man being lead singer, Matty Healy, who arose from his slumber in a “just-came-from-work-suite” on the right side of the stage and made his way to a piano in the middle of the stage. There he began to play the intro to their new album, and the intro to the tour; the title-track song always updates us on what The 1975 is up to every album. As the song progressed the rest of the band filled-up the stage, with the core four members in each room of the house. 

As they continued to play songs from their most recent album, “Being Funny in a Foreign Language”, many references were made to their past work. Such as when they played “About You”, the continuation to one of their earliest work “Robbers”. Where the characters of the unhealthy relationship, based on the film “True Romance”, recall their relationship a decade later after being apart for so long. At the beginning of the song Healy opens a door filled with white light in the middle of the stage separating two rooms. The door representing the past, a door to the past. Also showing their original logo, the simple neon white rectangle that was put in the background of their early tours when the band had just begun. But that symbol has stuck with them until now, where now they recognize where their career has taken them. From not being able to sign with any labels and platong in small pubs in Manchester to selling out arena tours. 

The show continued, all of them in their casual work outfits jamming to their newest album while Healy continues to chain smoke and drink out of his flask. All until the last song of BFIAFL is played and soon each of the band members make their way out of the “house”, leaving Healy himself in a dimly lit room. 

There he goes on a rant about loneliness, and then laying on the cough once again, smoking a cigarette, taking of hist shirt, all before moving in front of an array of old tvs stacked on top of each other and doing pushups; while those tv’s show glitches of clips of events occurring in the world today, and then crawling into the tv disappearing from stage. Calling the end of the first act.

The second act begins minutes after Healy disappears when drummer George Daniel walks out from the side stage to turn on a lamp post. Slowly members of the band start to fill up the house again, but this time in matching all black suits. They begin playing a soft jazzy melody, all seconds before the famous notes for “If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)” are played and Healy walks through the entrance of the house, with a whole new persona; Signifying the start to the second act.

In the second act the band play a collection of their most popular and favorite songs, almost like they are celebrating their career. In between the act, jokes and rants were made about nostalgia, the future, and the state of the world we live in. All to be ended with the bittersweet lyrics of “Give Yourself A Try”. A song that encourages one to believe in themselves to strive for the future they want. The foursome are left alone to play this song together, showing the audience that no matter what has happened before and what will happen in the future, they are the same band we fell in love with when we first heard them. 

The show is full of self-references and hidden meanings. The idea of “what’s a true rockstar in today's world?” is challenged throughout the whole performance. Healy acting like a washed up rockstar in the first act with his disheveled look and chain smoking/drinking. All to redeem himself in the second act as the “hero” rockstar who pulled himself together to save the show. A reference to the debate presented back in 2015’s song “Love Me.” And with the continuous arguments about climate change, politics, and even pop-culture, The 1975 make sure to make their shows memorable. Whether it's Hann’s guitar riffs or whatever obscenity Healy decided to say that night, it will be a show to remember. But that's who they are, they are performers, they are pioneers, they are controversial. They are The 1975

Pictures By: Jordan Curtis Hughes