Images: The 1975, Linus Young November 2, 2013 at Vinyl Las Vegas

The 1975 is definitely out of my normal punk wheelhouse, but it’s always nice to have a few palate cleansers to give variety to your musical life. The band is very similar to another indie pop band I love, Tanlines, in that they’re both able to create catchy and highly danceable grooves across a more laid back atmosphere, far removed from the kind of dance songs you’d hear on a normal night on the Vegas Strip. I also hear a bit of Jimmy Eat World’s Clarity and Futures influence on the band in the way they use slowly building rhythm to enhance mood. So when they announced a headlining show at Hard Rock’s Vinyl I was eager to see how their live show stacks up to the record. To show how out of the loop I am when it comes to non-punk music, I had no idea the show would be sold out in advance. Just as doors were set to open, I arrived to a mile long line and people trying to broker deals with the two ticket window employees to release just a few more tickets, to no avail.

The evening began with only one opening band, Linus Young. Their southern rock groove and classic rock guitar solos seemed at odds with the too cool synth pop of the night’s headliners. They did have many people in the crowd “wooing” and bobbing their heads, and I’m all for having a diverse night, but this was just not my thing and I found myself zoning out about halfway through. Even a bad punk rock band is fun to watch on stage, whether it’s the manic energy or ridiculous banter. Linus Young are a technically sound band with a laid-back, freewheeling style, but without a solid stage presence to back them up.

After a quick changeover, The 1975 took the stage to thunderous applause, kicking things off with the instrumental “The 1975” right into album opener “The City.” I have to mention what a great job this band does with fairly minimal stage setup. They use a big, glowing rectangle to encase drummer George Daniel and frame frontman Matthew Healy. Combined with a thick veil of mist and soft, slowing flashing lights, it gave the small Vinyl stage a hugely professional and interesting look that betrayed the minimal design. The band sounded great and even better, they looked like they were having a blast, particularly bassist Ross MacDonald, who had a huge grin on his face the whole time. They weren’t much for lengthy stage banter but Healy humbly mentioned a few times how cool it was to headline a show in Vegas and how nice it was to be playing in a smaller venue where he could see everyone’s faces.

The crowd for this show was definitely a lot different from what I’m used to, with an interesting polarization between very young too cool for schools standing with their arms crossed and manic energy bursting from others who were obviously not regular concert attendees and viewed the whole night as an extra special occasion. There were also a lot of couples making out, which was weird. I happily shouted the backing “heys” from the band’s most ear wormingly catchy song “Girls,” fist pumped high in the air along with the rhythm, and was surprised that I seemed to be the only one. During “Chocolate,” the  band’s biggest American hit, Healey turned the mic to the crowd for the “Now you’re never gonna quit it, now you’re never gonna quit it, now you’re never gonna quit it if you don’t start smoking it” line with only the faintest smattering of voices singing it back, and he fared only slightly better with encores “Sex,” a song people were calling for the entire night and Sex EP track “You.”

While the lack of crowd singing was disconcerting, there was a whole lot of dancing going on, particularly during thumping, M83-esq “Heart Out,” a song that sounds like it could have been ripped straight from 80s era MTV (or maybe the Drive soundtrack). They nailed the a cappella bridge “You’ve got something to say / Why don’t speak it out loud / Instead of living in your head.”  “Settle Down,” another track stuffed to the brim with 80s dance pop influence (as well as a hint of Passion Pit) also had the audience nodding in rhythm.

This show was definitely a weird experience for me but The 1975’s performance was a lot of fun and hearing essentially the entire discography of the young band was a nice treat.

-Emily Matview

Photos by Hunter Wallace | https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter_wallace/

The 1975 setlist:
The 1975
The City
Milk
M.O.N.E.Y.
So Far (It’s Alright)
Talk!
Head.Cars.Bending
An Encounter
Settle Down
Heart Out
Girls
Robbers
12
Pressure
Chocolate

Encore:
Sex
You