The 1975, the hit pop-band from Manchester, brought their “Still… At Their Very Best” tour to Nashville. It included a naked mannequin, a rant about performative activists and a live acoustic performance seven years in the making. 

I arrived fashionably late, missing the opening act entirely. But this review is about the world’s greatest band, so it hardly matters. 

The band made their way to the stage a bit after 8:30 p.m., with a soaring piano filling the air as the crowd screamed and applauded, awaiting the curtain to drop, which would signal the start of the show. 

The curtain, bearing a spotlight of the band’s logo, dropped as the sold-out crowd erupted with cheers. 

The massive screens on either side of the stage showed the camera as it panned to each band member in a sitcom-esque opening credits with their names scrawled across the bottom of the screen.  

The band’s front man, the controversial Matty Healy, received a massive ovation, as did the other three main members, George Daniel, Adam Hann and Ross MacDonald. 

The camera followed Healy as he made his way onto the main stage, which was decorated like the living room of a suburban home, with the click of car keys and visible headlights as if just arriving home. 

Healy sat at a piano, lit a cigarette and began the opening notes of “The 1975” the leading track off their most recent album, “Being Funny in a Foreign Language”. 

The 18,000 fans in attendance sang along, filling the instrumental breaks in the song with screams of adoration. 

This led into five songs off of “Being Funny in a Foreign Language,” the most upbeat songs off of the project raised the energy in the building and got the entire crowd invested.

“A Change of Heart” off of their second studio album was next, followed by a trifecta of three fan-favorite songs off of their debut self-titled album. An emotional rendition of “Robbers” was followed with “Me,” a ballad, being performed on top of the roof of their suburban home set. 

As Healy descended from the roof-top, the crowd rumbled with anticipation of the next song on the set-list. “You,” a favorite of mine, was played and immediately followed by “About You” the most well-known track off of “Being Funny in a Foreign Language.”

Matty left the main stage and made his way to the B-stage, which was a green turf covered podium with a trap door in the center. As he made his way to the top, a replica mannequin of Healy depicted naked, lying in the fetal position was brought through the trap door onto the stage. 

Healy lay beside his double as the band continued an instrumental. The mannequin was sent down and a guitar was sent back up, along with a mic stand. 

Healy began a solo performance of “Be My Mistake” off of their third album. The crowd illuminated the arena with cell phone flashlights, making this the most intimate song of the set list. 

Healy was joined on the B-Stage by his band mates who performed an acoustic version of “Paris” from their second album, one of my personal favorites. 

The boys made their way back to the main stage through the crowd trying their best to get to them but being held back by the interlocked arms of security. 

Back on the main stage, the second half of the show began which was filled with a “greatest hits” type of vibe which consisted of fan favorites and radio hits from the band’s first four albums. 

The crowd was electric for the entire last half of the show hearing the most upbeat and intense songs of the set list.

The band ended the show back on the B-stage performing their most experimental track, “People” which is extremely brash, loud and heavy metal influenced. We made our exit as the song and night came to a close, rushing down Nashville streets to beat traffic.

This was the best set-list of the entire tour so far in my opinion and also the best concert experience of my life. 

Rating: 10/10

Distance: 4 Hours

Show Length: 2 Hours

Categories: Arts & Entertainment