At Their Very Best:
The 1975 Headline Finsbury Park
The 1975 continue to redefine live music in an age of internet virality in a career-defining performance at their highly anticipated Finsbury Park festival.
Written by Erin Haugh
The 1975 performing “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)” at their headlining festival in Finsbury Park.
The clock strikes 7:20 PM in Northeast London, and the energy in Finsbury Park immediately shifts. The anticipation that has been building all day finally comes to a head as the stage curtains are drawn and all 50,000 people lining the park grounds are transported into The 1975's living room. The band members file on stage like actors on a set, followed by stage directors dressed in white lab coats. They set up and talk amongst themselves in preparation for the show as if the audience isn't already watching. Outsiders may be confused, but fans know all too well that the performance has already begun.
And this is how it starts.
Following its initial cancellation due to lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, The 1975's long-awaited headlining festival took place on Sunday, July 2 in Finsbury Park. Frontman Matty Healy performed alongside his bandmates and childhood best friends guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer George Daniels in their band's biggest performance yet.
The festival lineup included acts signed to Dirty Hit, The 1975's record label, such as The Japanese House, some of the band's own favorites, like American Football and Cigarettes After Sex, and Jack Antonoff of Bleachers, a "best friend" of the band who co-produced their latest record, Being Funny In A Foreign Language. The festival also featured a guest performance from guitarist Adam Hann's wife, Carly, for the beloved bridge of “About You” and a soulful rendition of “All I Need To Hear” by frontman Matty Healy's father, Tim, which left few dry eyes, including those of Healy himself, in the park.
Matty Healy watches in tears as his father, Tim Healy, performs The 1975’s “All I Need To Hear” at Finsbury Park. (Jordan Curtis Hughes)
The 1975's performances have certainly evolved since their earliest London gigs at the O2, just as the live music industry has dramatically changed in response to cancellations and restrictions following the COVID-19 pandemic and the inescapable prevalence of social media in today's society. The 1975 have not simply just learned to adapt to these changes in the music industry -- they are continually pushing these boundaries even further, setting a new precedent for live music in a modern context. The 1975 have embraced these challenges in their performance art set, At Their Very Best, which explores the effects of the pandemic and the dangers of media consumption while playing with shock factor and welcoming the virality that comes with their art.
The band began their headlining performance at the festival in typical 1975 fashion, welcoming the crowd into their immersive live show with the latest edition to their collection of self-titled tracks. “The 1975” is not only the opening track to their fifth album, but is also the introduction to the band's latest installment of their meta live performance, At Their Very Best, that has sent both fans and the average TikTok scroller into a frenzy since their tour started last fall.
In what is essentially the first act of The 1975's show, the audience watches as frontman Matty Healy takes on the role of a sardonic, almost Joker-esque main character. This persona that he has crafted serves as both a commentary on the political right’s ideal of a modern man and the way it is marketed to society through the media and a self-referential reflection on the stark dichotomy of mass adoration and complete solitude that Healy was forced to confront during lockdown.
"It's like watching the Truman Show or something at the beginning," said Katie Caulfield, a recent London transplant from New York and a long-time fan of The 1975 who attended the festival on Sunday, about Healy's on-stage alter ego. "He's performing as a character that represents his experience in society, which also highlights a lot of the issues we're seeing in the world politically, economically, and socially. It doesn't take long for the real Matty to come out though.”
While the performance began as scripted, Healy’s stoic facade was no match for the emotional force and sheer magnitude of the festival. Healy was quick to break character after just a few songs, wholeheartedly accepting defeat and embracing the fact that such a powerful, career-defining moment would be better spent authentically with the audience.
"It's really hard to do the first half of this show when I'm supposed to be all nihilistic and dour,” said Healy about his struggle to stay true to his role. “This is too much fun.”
Healy effortlessly captivated the festival’s massive audience of 50,000, which included seasoned fangirls who camped overnight for a coveted spot at the first barricade, laid back music lovers who took their time at concession, and some of the top contenders for the ‘Parent of the Year’ award who accompanied their first-time festival goers to the event despite not knowing a single song. No matter their affiliation to the band, every member of the audience was entranced by Healy's commanding presence and the undeniable, harmonious talents of Hann, MacDonald, and Daniels.
The festival set list included a wide range of songs from the band's discography, including head-bang worthy hits "The Sound", "Sex", and "Love It If We Made It", surprise fan favorites "The Ballad of Me and My Brain" and "Love Me", and heart-wrenching acoustics "Be My Mistake" and "I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)" that made even a festival show of 50,000 feel intimate.
Just as it started, the set concluded with a culminating scene of performance art, with Healy in center spotlight. The audience watched in both awe and horror as Healy bit into a raw steak before doing push ups in front of a TV screen broadcasting grainy cuts of news clips. Healy was then literally engulfed by the media he was consuming, crawling through the screen into a pit of smoke.
Their Finsbury Park performance will certainly be a tough act to follow, but The 1975 are gladly taking on that challenge, continuing their festival run throughout the summer before starting the second leg of their tour, titled Still…At Their Very Best.