The 1975- Turner Hall Ballroom 3/19/13

About half-way through their set, The 1975's front man, Matthew Healy, announced that he hopes the band's forthcoming LP sounds like the soundtrack to a John Hughes film.  Listening to their set, I think you could have easily looped a montage of clips from Molly Ringwald films from the '80s in the background and the music would fit perfectly, particularly on more uptempo tracks like "Chocolate" and "The City."



Part Joy Division, part James, and part Jesus Jones, the 1975's retrofitted Brit Pop won over a crowd of roughly 400 people who braved a winter wind advisory to come check out this upcoming band.  The reviews from their shows at the recent SXSW festival in Austin portrayed the band accurately-- the band was energetic and musically very tight.  While the Manchester quartet consisted of a standard rock outfit with a singer, drummer, guitarist and bass player, the musicians also often alternated between their core instruments and samplers, to help layer electronic loops and effects into their songs.

One of the things I was most impressed by was the band's sincere humility.  Healy emerged for the first two songs wearing a Green Bay Packers sweatshirt, trying to engage a crowd that was already engaged for the music.  He was struck by both the size of the crowd and general appreciation of the fans, literally thanking the crowd at the end of every track.  A fun, thoroughly entertaining band, I expect good things to come from The 1975 in the future. 

Grade: B+