The 1975 Play a Sold Out TD Garden in Boston! [Show Review]

This past Sunday night, The 1975 played their first show at TD Garden in Boston. The stadium was packed to the brim, being the first show on this tour to sell out. The show represented round two of their incredibly successful “The 1975 at their very best” tour.

Being someone whose favorite band is The 1975 and who has seen them start out in small venues in Connecticut, through Boston Calling, through Terminal 5 in New York, to now TD Garden, it has been truly astonishing to witness their incredible rise to fame. Their music has also evolved substantially through the years, with each album showing off the many genres and instruments they can include successfully. It also goes to show that the fans will evolve with the band.

The setlist begins of course with the first song of the newest album and proceeds through some of the newer hits from ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language.’ The energy through the stadium was pulsing, even from the stands above the floor section. Everywhere you looked, there were people of all ages belting out the lyrics to each and every song.

It goes without saying that the physical set on the “at their very best” and “still at their very best” tours is one of the most unusual sets I have ever seen. The stage is set up to look like the inside of a home, complete with doorways, various seating arrangements, prop furniture complete with lamps, and even a spiral staircase. The emphasis on the set is complete with sound effects to effectuate turning on an old lamp that buzzes, the sounds of opening and closing doors, and the flickering of lamps in sync with each other.

The best part about this set, in my opinion, is the return to some of the original staples of the band. Not only did they add a neon light of “still at their very best” that changes color in sync with the set of each song, but the doorways and any additional rectangles found on the stage are complete with neon strips to highlight the classic The 1975 rectangle.

At each location, the band has been making adjustments to the set to play some of the older classics off their original self-titled album. This show included “You” and “Heart Out” in the portion of the set that has been subject to changes. In addition, lead singer Matty Healy brought out his father, Tim Healy, for a song all to himself.

The use of a second stage at certain points of the show has been a new addition to this tour. The finishing moments of the set, where Matty Healy, bassist Ross McDonald, and guitarist Adam Hann all rock out to “People,” are given the added dynamic of bringing the remaining band members front and center on the main stage.

I will say we got to see less of the classic Matty Healy dance moments at this show than I was anticipating. I would imagine the band is getting quite tired, and given their announcement that they will be taking a hiatus from music for some time after this tour wraps up, it is playing a role in that possible exhaustion.

Overall, this concert was everything you want to see in a concert: moments that make you laugh, moments that bring tears to your eyes, and moments of pure bliss. The 1975 truly were “still at their very best.”

The 1975 ‘Still… At Their Very Best’ Tour Poster