An ominous drone hummed through the Aragon’s speakers for several minutes, swelling up to the start of The 1975 set Sunday night, the first of two shows. Overactive smoke machines had cloaked the dark stage in fog so thick you could just barely make out the act from Manchester, England, its members as mysterious as Druids hiding in the mist. Lead singer Matthew Healy, hood up over his head, lurked in anxious anticipation near the lip of the stage.
And then it all exploded into neon brightness with “Love Me,” a larger-than-life pop song from the band’s longer-than-life-titled sophomore record “I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It.” The crowd erupted, shouting along to every word. Just two songs later, the band had to pause so that Healy could calm the throngs of ecstatic fans, crushing forward with dangerous excitement.
Every few years a headstrong U.K. act rushes onto the scene with fresh rock star swagger and world-conquering ambition, but many stall on their way to the top. Not so The 1975, apparently, a deceptively tough-to-totally-pin-down little band that could, transformed into a big band that did, one whose steady ascent has been driven by seemingly organic support and a dogged optimism for the unifying properties of pop. At the fore of Sunday’s show you had the charismatic Healy, all shaggy-haired, cigarette-smoking, tattooed guttersnipe chic. But then you had the music, which teetered from slinky funk to ambient doodles to songs that wouldn’t be terribly out of place coming from a prefab, ready-for-retail boy band. It’s a strange balance that, when it worked, worked well, and when it didn’t work, didn’t matter.
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In fact, once the mass of young fans hit fever pitch and Healy had the crowd take a few safe steps back, the music shifted down dramatically, first with the lovely ballad “Change of Heart,” then continuing through a series of mostly mid-tempo tunes and ballads like “Robbers” and electronic experiments like “Please Be Naked” that stalled momentum but somehow still kept everyone’s attention. Even Healy’s statesmanlike attempts at fostering solidarity, addressing the U.S. election while introducing “Loving Someone,” met with the kind of response usually reserved for a hit. On that front, a gradual shift back into up-tempo mode culminated in songs like “Sex” and “The Sound,” undeniable singalongs slick as product but delivered with a personal touch that seamlessly bridged the gap between art and commerce.
Josh Klein is a freelance critic.
Twitter @chitribent
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