Venue: The Coliseum, Hard Rock Hotel, Singapore
Date: 22nd July 2014
Promoter: Now/Live
Review by: Hanis A.
Special Thanks: Dan, and the Now/Live team
Last week, we were fortunate enough to have the 1975 play their debut concert at the Hard Rock Coliseum.
The band opened with “The City”, a good and familiar number. This led the crowd to go crazy, which set the mood for the rest of the evening. They played a mix of tracks from their previous EPs and their latest self-titled release. Most of their older songs such as “Milk”, “So Far (It’s Alright)”, and “Head.Cars.Bending” were played in between the newer tracks. These were had more mellow electronic beats, which slowed the crowd down. Most had no idea what songs they were but were still appreciative of The 1975 doing their thing onstage. When the more familiar “M.O.N.E.Y”, “Settle Down”, and “Heart Out” were performed, the crowd went back to being crazy.
It was Matty and the boys’ first time here and they clearly stated their protest against Singapore’s humidity with Matty complaining about his hair and their giving up of their shirts. This of course only led to a more enjoyable show for some of us.
Halfway through the show, worried about some of the younger fans in the front row, Matty stopped everything and demanded everyone take a few steps back. Apparently kids were getting trampled over in their excitement, a flattering but concerning characteristic of their enthusiastic fans.
The 1975 put up a good show. They played hard for their fans who in turn, reciprocated their love. However, one of the biggest issues of the night was acoustics of the venue. Playing indie pop songs with rock influences, most of their music had a relaxed electronic beat but it was almost impossible to hear it at this venue. The reverb on Matty’s mike came off as a mess of sound at some points, especially on the more ambient and echoic songs “Me”, “fallingforyou”, and the ever hauntingly beautiful instrumental, “HNSCC”.
However, it was all made up as the band came back for their encore after playing “Girls”. The crowd called upon the boys to back out by cheekily chanting for “Sex”. Everyone became more hyped up and energetic as they played their biggest hits for their closing, starting with “Robbers”, “Chocolate”, and the ever upbeat, “Sex”.
The band certainly did not disappoint their fans, and hopefully they return as quickly as they burst into the scene.