★★★★★
On the day that the 1975’s ambitious second album knocked Adele’s 25 off the top of the charts, the Manchester band began a sold-out tour with a spectacular show that was both a celebration and a statement of intent. The Academy was theirs for a further four nights, but despite the skinny singer Matt Healy citing his preference for the theatre over an arena, the songs and the staging cried out for a venue several times the size.
A cinematic slow-build to the band’s arrival hinted at what was to come. Healy’s Bobby Gillespie-meets-Michael Jackson dancing during the funky, Prince-ish opener Love Me was splendidly, intentionally daft. An imposing skyline projection accompanied Ugh, a new song not afraid to nod to Luther Vandross and Level 42. By the time a saxophonist appeared on a now neon-glowing stage less than ten minutes in, this was a gig at which you sensed anything could happen.
Some 22 songs flew by, almost half of them taken from I Like it When You Sleep, For You are so Beautiful Yet so Unaware of It, the 1975’s ludicrously titled 17-track second album. Eighties steals were everywhere, reworked into fresh-sounding songs that each had their own personality, not to mention stage design. She’s American was part insistent disco, part top-down driving song. The set shrunk to resemble a moody club for the glitchy electro of Loving Someone, which saw Healy sipping wine while flat out on the floor. During The Ballad of Me and My Brain the singer’s twitchy moves, curly hair and floral shirt combined to summon the spirit of Michael Hutchence. Change of Heart, about Healy’s dalliance with Taylor Swift, had laugh-out-loud lyrics ideal for being howled back in festival fields.
Sex, Chocolate and Girls, from the 1975’s debut album, were sung the loudest here, but the new songs were the stars. “This is a big week for us,” said Healy. Make that a huge year.
O2 Academy, SW9, Mon; O2, Apollo, Manchester, Mar 12-15; O2 Academy, Glasgow, Mar 17-20; Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, Mar 22