The 1975 at Apple Music Festival - LIVE REPORT

White noise means the gig is over. While I’m heading out the Roundhouse a work friend poke me in the back, saying: “Oh man that was cool, right? I love The 1975!”. During the 20 minutes walk from the venue to my house I can’t stop telling myself: ”That was cool, right?”, like a mantra. I don’t have to convince myself: that was cool. Although The 1975 often perform the same well crafted patterns they have something that makes you lower your inhibitions and defences. Almost all of them.

The set at this year Apple Music Festival is something different from what you can experience during one of their sold out show on tour; less sharp, more like a warm and reassuring hug.

The 1975 take the stage 'dressed in black from head to toe' as Matty Healy sings in ‘Chocolate’, leaving behind their shoulders the Mercury Prize adventure; something that seems doesn’t bother the audience, and that Matty barely speaks about, he simply says: "We didn’t win."

After the Mercury Prize feels like they are not a total ‘losers’ as the Roundhouse is already crowded with fans eagerly waiting during Christine and the Queen’s opening performance, which grabs the audience's attention and while on her dancing moves she hands over the stage to Healy. For the evening, Healy adds to his outfit a bow tie, like he wants to be our crooner.

Suddenly we are brought into The 1975’s world, their aesthetic is so perfect, based on spectacular neon lights games and electronic loops that immediately make space to 'Love me’ and 'UGH!', the first two singles to be released from the album 'I like it when you sleep , for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it'. Healy is generous with his dance moves. Matty easily embodies the clown from ‘A change of heart’ video on stage but without makeup and sad face. He’s just a bit cunning: there must be a tacit agreement between The 1975 and its crowd in which the band knows what the crowd wants and they brilliantly deliver it, like a script .

In these 90 minutes the audience is having fun, is engaged and you can see it clearly. The set follows the sentimental pattern, with 'Loving someone' and then moving almost selfishly towards ‘Me', a song that Healy wrote about himself. The audience swings nicely on any song, humming those innocent and clean choruses that are so easy to memorise.

SETLIST:
Love me
UGH!
Heart out
So far (it’s alright) a change of heart
She’s American
Anobrain
Loving someone
The ballad of me and my brain
Me
fallingforyou
Somebody else
You
Paris
Girls
If I belive you
Chocolate
The sound
Sex