Going to The 1975 concert as a fake fan

If you were at The 1975 concert in the Hydro last Thursday then I hope I’m not the only one who has a burned, lucid memory of Matty Healy eating raw steak, proceeding to do push-ups and then seductively smoked a cigarette shirtless on the couch while touching his crotch.

“I’ve never needed to talk to a group of people more,” said Healy to the thousands of screaming fans after waiting what felt like an eternity (which was thirty minutes of forever) for the curtain and our jaws to drop. The band members walked out one-by-one, hung up their jackets by the door and switched on a lamp in what resembled a living room as fans screamed for them, saving their best screech knowing Healy would be coming out last.

The 1975, at their very best of course, hit it off with the song ‘The 1975 (BFIAFL)’ and ended the show with ‘Give yourself a try’ with ‘SEX’ and ‘Somebody Else’ leaving the crowd mystified and with a sore throat. Healy had the audience vote between ‘Paris’ and ‘A Change of Heart’ with ‘Paris’ as an obvious win.

From stumbling around with a bottle of wine, a mug of Lemsip and holding one cigarette after the other, the lead singer then started the second half of the show standing on the roof of the staged home and pulling off some serious leg swivelling.

Healy was talking to the crowd in a camera which was displayed on the stack of old-school televisions. “Don’t believe everything you see,” he said. “It’s all made up,” as he crawled through one of the TV screens.

Although I was attending as a fake fan of The 1975, I loved the atmosphere of the fans who knew every single word to all of the band’s songs, old and new. For the record, I’m only calling myself a fake fan because I could not compare to the others who stood for hours just to be within kissing distance of Matthew Healy (sadly, no he did not kiss any fans in this show).

It was respectable and incredible to see that despite being ill and drinking Lemsip, Matthew sang, danced and gave us an incredible show. The man started off the concert drinking red wine and smoked five cigarettes throughout the show. He came on stage looking quite drunk, and yet, he had the crew bring Lemsip during the stage changes while he said how much he loved Glasgow. I’m not quite sure how he did it for two hours straight, but it was obvious he loved his job and singing to the crowd of people holding up their flashlights and sitting on people’s shoulders singing their heart out.

In the last speech of the show, he subtly claimed, “Scotland should be independent,” leaving the crowd going wild.

Were you at the concert? We’d love to hear about your experience, if so. Make sure to DM us at @thetab_glasgow to tell us all about it.

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