After two hours of an eventful and, at times, awkward NME Award show, the night was seen out by NME’s band of the decade: The 1975. The group demonstrated their maturity and showmanship with a sleek, well-crafted five song set of recent hits and new tracks from their highly anticipated upcoming release Notes on a Conditional Form.
The four-piece group took to the stage each wearing their full suits from the award show, with a relatively simple staging set-up to the sold-out O2 Academy in Brixton. Whilst the NME Awards crowd had already seen performances from a variety of acts earlier in the night, such as Fka Twigs, Yungblud, Slowthai and Beabadoobee, it was clear that most of the crowd had come for the chance to see the 1975 in a much more intimate setting than their upcoming worldwide arena tour (and at a much cheaper price too).
Opening with the punk-rock influenced track ‘People‘, from their upcoming album, lead singer Matt Healy stood centre stage, screaming the ‘anthemic’ lyrics as they appeared projected on stage behind the group. Healy oozed confidence as he playfully danced around the stage, teasing the die-hard fans reaching out to him at the barrier, with the swagger of a frontman extremely confident in his own ability.
A clear standout in the short set was the group’s 2018 hit, ‘It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)‘. The bright energy of the track was infectious, as Healy and his backing singers all danced in sync to the catchy pop track, with the crowd echoing back the track’s hook.
After a few more tracks, Healy’s bandmates left the stage, as Healy silenced the crowd. He spoke to the crowd about Keith Flint, the founding member of electronic dance act the Prodigy, who passed away in 2019: “He’s one of the most important artists of our generation” Healy told the crowd, before saying ‘You need to be quiet for a couple of minutes, you can talk, but just don’t shout and shit,’ as the group’s then played out their collaborative essay/spoken word track with climate change activist Greta Thunberg. The band returned to the stage as their set concluded with ‘Love It If We Made It‘, which featured an even more complex dance routine, flawlessly executed alongside the track.
Despite the short length of the performance, it did the job – The 1975 are a world-class band, who might not be to everybody’s taste, but their talent and showmanship is undeniable. I’m not sure if I’d fork out to see the group again for a full stadium show, but this teaser set definitely proved that being crowned ‘band of the decade’ by NME wasn’t completely unwarranted.
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