The 1975 @ Starland Ballroom

SAYREVILLE, NJ — In support of their self-titled debut album, English rockers The 1975 performed at Starland Ballroom alongside opening bands Young Rising Sons and CRUISR.

The 1975’s set included songs from their self-titled debut album as well as their four EPs, Facedown, Sex, Music For Cars, and IV. 10 to 20 minutes before the band came out, multiple people were getting tired in the front section of the stage, keeping in mind that many of them were outside the venue before noon that day while the band started performing around after nine that night. When the band came out and began their set with “The City,” the crowd went crazy getting to finally see the band they’ve been waiting for.

Throughout the hour and half long set, nobody stood still, whether they knew the songs or not. Looking around you would either see fans dancing or dancing while singing the lyrics. One performance that’s difficult to find online from the show is the song “You.” Before performing “You,” lead singer Matty Healy asked everyone to put their phones down. The crowd’s reaction to hearing that resulted in doleful looks on many people’s faces. Healy could probably tell the crowd was upset to not be able to record the song, so he continued talking, saying, “We are all connected and I want to see you. I want us to have this moment.” Many people listened to Healy, but very few still couldn’t resist capturing the moment by recording the song.

Some other songs in the set included “She Way Out,” “Heart Out,” “fallingforyou” and “Girls.” Just when many people thought the performance was over, the band came out with an encore of five more tracks which included my favorite songs, “Robbers,” “Chocolate,” and “Sex,” being the last three of the night.

I always heard that The 1975 was great live, and after getting to finally see them for the first time live, I couldn’t have agreed with that any better.