The 1975 Fooled Me. And Inspired Me.
The fame and I went to The 1975 Concert in Seattle last week and wow… if you plan on going, warning, SPOILER ALERT.
First, I love The 1975 - they are my top band from 2022. I listen to them a lot and somehow convinced the whole family that they should like them too. You know I’m convincing like that. : )
But, here’s the short story - and this is not about music because, of course, the music was great.
Matty Healy - lead singer has been very vocal about a heroin addiction and the band coming to him one night and telling him - no more - and the subsequent rehab. He’s been clean for around 3 years maybe?
So, the concert begins and Matty is off. The whole family notices. He slurring his speech, he's drinking out of a flask, he’s mumbling incoherent things when he does talk - which is basically never, and he’s stumbling around. The band looks disgusted.
The whole family is talking about. I’m feeling terrible for bringing them to the show and we’re saying, get your phone out we might see him literally fall off the stage.
And then… about 1/2 way through - yeah it went like this for about an hour - everyone leaves and he starts talking about masculinity. Right wing masculinity and left wing masculinity. He then slumps on a couch, starts to touch himself and then moves to all these televisions with right wing personalities talking. He starts doing push-ups and then crawls into the tv.
Lights go out.
About five minutes before this I say to the family, “Oh my god, this is a fucking play.”
He comes out after going into the tv in a suit, the whole stage they were playing in is brighter and all the band is cleaned up. He’s smiling, he’s saying “Hello Seattle!” and I can’t tell you the relief that swept through the crowd and the subsequent dancing and sheer happiness that permeated everything for the remainder of the set.
And I don’t really have a big epiphany but I do have this: there are really dark things in this world. People suffering. Tragedy. And there are really good things in this world. Happy things. People being okay. And wow, there’s a big difference and part of that difference is just wanting humanity to be “okay”.
I wish someone would do a detailed analysis of the entire concert, b/c I don’t have the time.
Sometimes I think I can forget the good things. I mean, yes, I know they’re there but with the news and the weather and the whatever… we just forget how happy it is to see a human who has overcome addiction and smiling and jumping around and interacting with… me… it’s beautiful.
Also bias is nuts.
I don’t know how much the whole family read into the thing. I’ve watched the show from Madison Square Garden and it doesn’t seem like he’s nearly as drunk in the first half - did we see it that way or did he act more in Seattle?
I guess I’ll never know.
But, damn what a show.