MUSIC

Live review: The 1975

Mason-Myhill, Deputy Editor,

reviews The 1975's headline show at Exeter's Westpoint Arena

The first section of the show finished with Healy on stage alone, after bandmate Ross MacDonald turned off all the stage lights apart from the one in front of Healy. To add to the somewhat chaotic and interpretative moments, Healy then did 20 consecutive press-ups whilst images of Rishi Sunak, Margaret Thatcher and Liz Truss flashed on the television on the stage. He concluded the act by jumping into one of the televisions, in line with the overarching theme of the first part as a take on modern masculinity.

throw oranges, it’s not the 1500s”. At the Exeter show, Healy stated that “we need a Labour government or at least an opposition that resonates with the working class. We haven’t had that since pre-Blair and that was the early 90s. The early 90s”.

DID HIS WELL-KNOWN AUTO-TUNE INTRODUCTION BEFORE PERFORMING THE SONG, INCLUDING HIS ICONIC LINES

ON 10th January, the hugely celebrated and widely recognised band The 1975 performed at Westpoint Arena in Exeter. The show, dubbed ‘The 1975 At Their Very Best’, was indeed a fitting title for such an amazing performance. The moment the blue curtain dropped to reveal The 1975’s house, mirroring the setting of a 90s sitcom, the arena filled with continuous screams of excitement.

The show is split into two parts, being named as a “bizarre show-within-a-show” by The Guardian, the first part involving the band showcasing songs from their newly released album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language. The first part mimics a more solemn performance, beginning the setlist with ‘The 1975’, the opening song from their most recent album, which perfectly introduces the band. During the performance, we see frontman Matty Healy smoke several cigarettes on stage and drink red wine out of the bottle, adding to his role as the arrogant and drunk rockstar. Gaining its fame from its popularity on TikTok, ‘About You’ was one of the most hotly anticipated songs from their new album. As the recognisable intro for the song began to play, fans became exhilarated as they all started recording the iconic song on their phones. Giving an emotional feel to the song, Healy notably reached out to touch a non-existent lover, whilst singing the line, “do you think I have forgotten?”. This is a nod to the music video for the band’s 2013 song ‘Robbers’, in which Healy sings on a stage reaching out to his lover, portraying that the song is for her. This also adds to the idea that ‘About You’ is a sequel to ‘Robbers’.

The second part of the show is filled with many of the band’s iconic hits from previous albums. Healy walks through the door of the house, sporting a new outfit including a leather jacket, channelling a classic rock artist. This part involves a much more upbeat approach to the show. Opening with ‘If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)’, it proved Healy’s mastery of being a performative frontman, encouraging the crowd to start dancing and sing along with him. Other memorable songs included ‘It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)’ and ‘The Sound’, which got the audience jumping and screaming to the choruses.

Another fan favourite was ‘Somebody Else’ with its glazed synths, which got the crowd swaying along to the melodies that describe a heartbreak. Meanwhile ‘Robbers’ got the whole crowd to interact with the growls of Healy’s voice and romantic feel of the song. However, unfortunately for Exeter fans, Healy did not kiss anyone during ‘Robbers’, which was surprising considering Healy’s history of doing so during the song at previous shows.

IT is a common fact that music and emotion are intertwined. Music is known to move people, and to evoke a memory or feeling. But what happens when we explore how music allows for an escape as much as it affirms your reality? Does music merely reflect your mindset, or does it create it?

Principles of manifestation argue that we can create our own reality through our feelings and beliefs. Now, I am not going to argue that blaring Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour manifests eternal relationship problems. I will, however, argue that there is a transfer from the feeling we get

Specific to the Exeter gig, Healy also began to sing Elvis’ famous ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love with You’ with the crowd singing it along with him. The symphonic strings of ‘Part of the Band’ make it a beautifully crafted song that was certainly one of the show’s highlights, whilst ‘All I Need to Hear’ added a more sorrowful feel to the gig.

Exeter was also gifted with the performance of the song ‘Heart Out’, which the band hasn’t played since 2019. The song from their debut album The 1975 had several of their long-stand ing fans shrieking with joy, yelling “oh my god they’re doing ‘Heart Out’!” (myself included). Healy also announced that he would give the crowd a choice of two songs for them to play, before he instantly decided to “forget democracy, we’re doing ‘Paris’”, a nostalgic defining tune for the band.

Of course, during ‘TOOTTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’ Healy did his well-known auto-tune introduction before performing the song, including his iconic lines “don’t throw menthols on this stage. Don’t like menthols” and “don’t to the physical reality of our mindset. When we consider the impact of lyric and language in music, alongside the instrumental feeling you get, you can see how a mood can be manifested. In playing Jeff Buckley’s ‘So Real’ or Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Funeral’, you don’t just reflect your emotions — you reaffirm them and create a mindset by immersing yourself in that mood.

‘Love It If We Made It’ had everyone chanting to the energetic pop tune and relating to the line “modernity has failed us”, a reflection of the impact of modern society on people, marking it as a social anthem. The show ended with glitch-pop ‘Give Yourself A Try’, focusing on themes of growing up and forgiving yourself, a fitting song for many of the young people that made up the majority of the crowd.

The 1975’s show was certainly a night to remember with its uniqueness as a part performance, part pop-rock show. When Healy tells the crowd, “thing is about us ladies and gentlemen… we just keep getting better!”, he is being completely truthful. Performing some of the best poprock songs from the past decade, The 1975 truly understand how to captivate their audiences.

We can also consider mantra; mantras and music of differing frequencies induce different mindsets and beliefs of the self. Religions like Hinduism use mantra chanting to create a rhythmic tone which induces a specific mood or mindset. Menaka Desikachar, senior expert at KYM, describes the impact of chanting: “you just need to have a good ear, stay true to the punctuations, pauses, pronunciation, notation, length, and the force of the chant and repeat it over and over again. The transformation happens step by step”.

We can apply this more broadly too. When we listen to a song or a genre repeatedly, a transformation of the mindset occurs. Many pop songs use repetition, of a word or lyric pattern, to make a song ‘catchy’; only when looking back at mantra chanting can we re - alise how the song can ‘catch’ your mindset. SZA is a key example of this — her pop hit ‘Good Days’ has a frequency of 423 Hz, which is the frequency of healing used in mediation. The song’s lyrics encourage positivity, reinforced by the frequency and instrumental.

I believe that it is clear to see the capabilities of music in its power to shift mood and thus alter mindset and actions from this mindset.

So, the next time you gravitate towards a sad song as soon as you wake up, consider if that’s how you would like to perceive your reality.

EDITORS: Harry Craig and Jake Avery