The short answer is, yes. The 1975 is an indie pop, alternative band that is currently pursuing their fifth world tour, “Still…At Their Very Best”. The tour was announced in early June 2023 and is the second leg of their “At Their Very Best” tour. The band consists of Matty Healy, Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald, and George Daniel. The pop/alternative band produces catchy music that discusses how it feels to grow up in an age where you feel suppressed. Their music perfectly embodies love, relationships, and milestones. The band expresses things that may be taboo to think or say. I have been a fan since I was thirteen years old. I traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina to see The 1975 live on their “Still…At Their Very Best” tour.
The events leading up to the show were rather unsettling. Many fans camp for multiple days on end, even though the venue expresses their concern and prohibition of camping. I decided to drive up the night before and wake up early the day of the event. I arrived at the Spectrum Center at 4 a.m. and waited to receive a number wristband. The 1975 staff will give out numbered wristbands to General Admission (GA) fans, in order to give everyone a fair and safe chance of getting to see the band up close.
Unfortunately, the “camping” fans decided to make their own numbered system, which is completely unfair to those who are not privileged enough to take multiple days off of work or school. It is also not fair to the people who do not use Twitter and do not know of the made-up numbered system. Camping is also extremely tone-deaf, as there are many people who are homeless and must camp on the street in order to survive. The venue staff ended up listening to the “camping” fans because they didn’t want to make a bunch of violent fangirls upset. When speaking to the “camping” fans, I was treated with utter disrespect. They were discriminatory against many of the GA fans. These people are the type of fans that you should stay away from.
After receiving my numbered wristband from the venue, I was able to go back to my hotel for a nap. The perk of the numbered wristband system is that you can reserve your spot for the show ahead of time. I was able to rest and get ready for the show slowly.
The lead-up to the show was tremendously exciting. This was my first time seeing The 1975 live. I knew the show was going to be good because of all of the videos I watched on TikTok, but the show exceeded my expectations.
The beautiful set appeared as the black curtain dropped. The stage contained an open house with couches, televisions, and bookshelves. The band was scattered around the “house” set. Matty sat near the piano and began to play the first notes of the intro song on their last album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language. Then the band went into two of their hits from the latest album, “Looking for Somebody (to Love)” and “Happiness”.
The band ended their first act with the most popular song on their most recent album, “About You”, and my favorite song, “When We Are Together.” “About You”, the penultimate song of the album, discusses the memories of an old relationship. It perfectly embodies the feeling of missing the person you love. The song features a duet with Carly Holt, who is the wife of Adam. In my opinion, “About You” is the best song by The 1975. The song is so beautiful, that I feel I can not express the words, rather I suggest giving it a listen.
For “Happiness”, Matty, Adam, and Ross sat on the couches nearing stage-right. Matty does an amazing job with crowd control and asks the crowd to contribute to singing the songs. After the songs from the last album were played, the crowd was presented with the first surprise song of the night. “Sincerity is Scary” is a song from their album called A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. This song was a nice surprise but not entirely unexpected since it has been played on this tour multiple times. The unexpected songs were the two tour-debut songs that had not been played in several years.
The band ended up playing “Me” and “You” which are among some of their oldest songs. The last time the band sang “You” in the United States was in 2019. “Me” was only known by some people in the crowd, but those who did know the song, sang every lyric with passion. As Matty stood on top of the house and sang the lyrics, I began to cry. The song deals with guilt and expresses the feeling of knowing you have caused pain. Most of the audience was in pure shock, crying, or both.
Once the first act was complete, the show moved on to “Matty’s Nightmare”, a portion of the show that is performed on the B-Stage within the GA audience. During “Matty’s Nightmare”, Matty performs “Be My Mistake.” A fake political campaign for the tour is displayed once the song concludes.
After all of the tears were shed, the show moved on to their “Still…At Their Very Best” act. This act includes all of The 1975’s hits from prior albums. The set changed a little bit; the couches were replaced with multiple televisions that displayed different perspectives of the show. The crowd screamed every lyric with Matty. The amount of dancing and cheering was impeccable. My favorite part of this set took place during the song, “The Sound”. Matty stared directly at me and sang the most popular line in the song. Also, the entire audience jumped during the outro of the song.
The last three songs of the show were “Sex”, “Give Yourself A Try”, and “People”. All of these songs kept the crowd moving and cheering. “People” took place on B-Stage. Everyone in the GA audience ran away from the barricade and towards B-Stage. Adam, Ross, and Matty stood on the B-Stage as the audience screamed the lyrics.
Overall, the show was absolutely amazing. The set is breathtaking and the setlist covers every hit as well as some surprises. My biggest tips for attending the “Still…At Their Very Best” tour are to get a numbered wristband, not argue with the “diehard” fans, and talk to the people who are attending the show to have fun. I met some of the nicest people in line. I would love to attend the show again. I can thoroughly agree that The 1975 is still…at their very best.