The 1975 w/ Swim Deep at First Ave, Minneapolis (10 Dec 2015)

Swim Deep

The evening began with a short set from Birmingham, UK foursome Swim Deep, who had their second full-length, Mothers (Chess Club/RCA), release this October.   A deep bassline and jangling guitars started their exact thirty-minutes with ‘King City’ and its lyrics “With the sun on my back it’s a nice day” to begin on an optimistic note.



The set gradually gravitated into more of a space-rock/acid house feel with ‘Forever Spacemen’ and the dreamy ‘She Changes the Weather’ that had vocalist Austin “Ozzy” Williams moving in and out of a falsetto range.  Set closing ‘To My Brother’ echoed ‘90s bands The Farm, Primal Scream, and Happy Mondays with its thumping backbone and hedging guitar as singer Williams screamed to invite everyone on to their own groovy train.



With stage lights trained on the audience, an automated hum that permeated through the crowd noise since the set change, grew louder and louder to then slowed to a halt as cheers went up and lights went dark.  The stage began taking shape as members strode out and The 1975 began their ninety-minute set to the rhythmic guitar and electronic blip sounds of the funky new ‘Love Me’.



The buzzing Manchester, UK foursome has been out on a short (and very sold out) tour of the U.S., previewing tracks from its second full-length, breathily titled I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It (Dirty Hit/Interscope Records) which is due out Feb. 26.

Matty Healy

“Welcome to the show, Minneapolis!” singer Matty Healy shouted above the screaming, mostly younger (and female) crowd.  Watching Healy, you can’t help but be reminded of the late Michael Hutchence, with his writhing moves, floppy hair, and propensity to drink red wine and smoke on stage. And the band’s addition of saxophonist John Waugh only adds to the INXS comparisons, though it is more in spirit, than about pure imitation.



Healy and the rest of the band (Adam Hann – guitar, keyboards; George Daniel – drums; Ross MacDonald – bass guitar, keyboards) have been together in some form since 2002, so any “overnight success” is a result of a dozen previous years, honing their craft and band identity.



The group infectiously blends youth-centric themes (sometimes fun, sometimes melancholy) lyrically with indie, electro, funk and pop song structures to create something that has clearly taken hold, especially locally, in the musical zeitgeist.



Their visual presentation is as vital to the overall experience as well, with a large screen backdrop and two large tower structures on either side of drummer Daniel that also lit and continued the visuals of the back screen.  Keeping with their previous visual signature, most of the older songs had the stage in forms of black and white, sometimes as static, sometimes as blocked, lit patterns, while the new material changed the lighting to more pastel hues of blues, pinks, and beige.



The crowd swayed to Healy’s invitation of “do you wanna dance” on ‘You’, sang along to ‘Menswear’, and listened intently while dancing to the new ‘Change of Heart’ and ‘She’s American’.  For ‘Me’, Healy implored that everyone put away their cell phones, to live in moment and experience the now, instead of viewing life through a screen.

The 1975

The set hit overdrive again for the poppy ‘The Sound’, the mid-tempo ‘Robbers’ (about a toxic relationship), and the closing, poppy ‘Girls’.   An odd chant of “We want Sex” (requesting the song presumably) brought the band back for a three-song encore, starting with the contemplative ‘Medicine’, featuring Healy and drummer Daniel, from the Drive movie re-score, and with an “Los Angeles at dusk” projected backdrop.

Setlist

“You got any energy left?”, Healy implored as the beginning riffs of ‘Chocolate’ started to screaming affirmation and the audience got their wish with the closing ‘Sex’, with everyone pogo-ing in place on the floor.



From the show’s early sell out, to the stage production, and the crowd’s intense reaction to every song, it was clear right away that the band has outgrown its club confines and is destined for bigger things (something we predicted when we first saw them too).



And they get to prove just that, as a proper spring tour has already been announced, with the band returning locally to Roy Wilkins Auditorium in May, a venue more than three times the size of First Avenue’s mainroom.  Our prediction- a sell out again for one of our favorites, so grab tickets while you still can for The 1975.