the 1975 tour review

The 1975 live in New York City: a raw and raucous night at the Garden

Manhattan, New York, November 7: The British band host an unforgettable and cathartic night at Madison Square Garden

“I’m sorry if you came with your dad and I was touching my dick,” Matty Healy laughs halfway through The 1975 ‘s New York City set. “It’s your fault for bringing your dad.” Not long before this comment, the frontman is sat on a couch touching himself with one hand and balancing a cigarette with the other. He then kneels down on the stage, picks up what appears to be a piece of raw, bloody steak and unceremoniously takes a bite into it before crawling into a television screen. Is it a metaphor for the dangers of consumerism? A boundary-pushing merging of live art and music? Before the audience can answer those questions and make sense of the staggering moment, the music kicks in again.

Theatrics are to be expected on a tour ambitiously titled ‘ At Their Very Best’ tour, which is evident right at the start of the set as a huge curtain drops revealing that the English band has built a larger-than-life two-tiered house right in the middle of Madison Square Garden. In between songs Healy, Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald, and George Daniel turn on lamps, switch off lights, and walk around their transient home, adding comforting minutiae to a set that’s anything but subtle.

The constant movement, chain-smoking, sips from a flask, and unprompted comments on the state of things (“If I was Kanye , I wouldn’t of said any of that stuff,” Healy tells the crowd at one point) could be distracting if it were any other band’s set. But this is The 1975, and they can get away with it all because the songs are too damn good to be overshadowed.

The first half of the set sees the band presenting almost all tracks from their latest offering, ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’, and with the Garden as a backdrop coupled with the energy of fans hanging on to Healy’s every word (“It’s called crowd work” he explains) heard live, each song takes on a new life.

• READ MORE: The 1975: “I’d rather be a pretend supervillain than some pretend hero”

The evening officially starts with the opening keys of ‘The 1975 (Being Funny in a Foreign Language)’ leaving the piano and slowly surging upwards, hitting everyone from the front row to the nose bleeds, while the apologetic lyrics, “ I’m sorry if you’re livin’ and you’re seventeen” , circle the venue like a mantra. Once ‘Looking For Somebody (To Love)’, kicks in next, with the band’s showmanship in full effect, and the frontman hurling around his guitar as he hops off and on an ottoman bed, the sold-out arena takes on the energy of a raucous house party.

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It’s rare that band’s latest songs hit as hard as the worn-in songs fans have been listening to for years, but The 1975 transition from their fifth album, into the ‘Greatest Hits’ portion of their set with ease. And in an age where many artists play through a set without no stops for lyrical exploration, Healy’s on-stage liner notes are appreciated. Before the slow-burning ‘fallingforyou’, he tells fans, “this house is based on the next song”; before ‘Love It If We Made It’, he acknowledges that “the point of the next song was not to have to play it”; later in anticipation ‘Somebody Else’, he tells the audience, ‘This is a sad song, but I’m fucking over it.”

“You know the thing with us?” Healy says somewhere between performing 1975 classics, ‘The Sound’ and ‘Sex’, “we just keep getting better, baby.” Bravado aside, there’s still a note of awe in the band’s presence on stage. “Fuck, Madison Square Garden, look at us? How fucking sick are we?” the frontman says with a laugh towards the end of the set, as if the realisation of the magnitude of the moment has just hit him.

Following a celebratory performance of ‘Give Yourself A Try’, as The 1975 sends fans back into the streets of Manhattan, with a closing note that “we are hammered, and I don’t know how long we can sustain it,” there are a surprising amount of tears and puffy eyes mixed with grins on the faces of those leaving. There’s a sense of relief in the air. Perhaps it’s the cathartic release that could be blamed on the sincere stage banter, Healy’s voice breaking during ‘I Love It If We Made It’, or the therapeutic after-effects of dancing joyously to sad songs.

It’s the kind of night that only The 1975 could host, the type of evening that leaves you buzzing and remembering why you love live music in the first place, walking home and thinking aloud, as one fan did before heading towards the subway: “I didn’t know how much I needed that.”

The 1975 played:

‘The 1975 (Being Funny in a Foreign Language)’ ‘Looking for Somebody (To Love)’ ‘Happiness’ ‘Part Of The Band’ ‘Oh Caroline’ ‘I’m in Love With You’ ‘All I Need to Hear’ ‘Roadkill’ ‘fallingforyou’ ‘I Like America & America Likes Me’ ‘About You’ ‘When We Are Together’ ‘If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)’ ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’ ‘Me & You Together Song’ ‘It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)’ ”Paris’ ‘An Encounter’ ‘Robbers’ ‘Somebody Else’ ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’ ‘Love It If We Made It’ ‘The Sound’ ‘Sex’ ‘Give Yourself a Try’

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My heart started racing as the curtains parted to reveal a stage set up like none I had ever seen before. A stairwell, living room and couches adorned with dim yellow lamps decorated the Kaseya Center stage. Once the beginning notes of “The 1975” started to play, I knew it would be an unforgettable night.

On Oct. 17, English pop-rock band The 1975 performed at Miami’s Kaseya Center to complete the 12th show of their North America tour “The 1975: Still…At Their Very Best.” Thousands of fans gathered to witness the almost two-hour set, and energy remained high the entire time.

The band, which consists of lead singer Matty Healy, guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross Macdonald and drummer George Daniel, unite to create a symphony of music beloved by people all around the world. Their recent 2022 album, “Being Funny in a Foreign Language,” received widespread praise and reached number seven on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart.

Before attending the concert, I heard rumors and saw videos suggesting that Healy’s performance style was messy. With a flask in one hand and a cigarette in the other, he sways and clumsily trips around while delivering his songs.

Though this is true, his vocals are never compromised. Rather, I left impressed by how great he sounded live. On the stage, Healy’s vocals are given full range to deliver.

The 1975 has mastered the art of entertainment. Theatrics are non-negotiable when you attend one of their concerts. Although some fans complain that Healy doing 20 push ups, jumping into a T.V. or inspecting a naked wax figure of himself for 10 minutes takes away from the music, I disagree.

The music and Healy’s eccentric personality mesh to keep you on your toes the entire time. For The 1975, it’s not just a concert, but a production.

Those two hours consisted of hits from their most recent album such as “About You” and “I’m in Love With You,” as well as older icons such as “Robbers” and “Love it if We Made It.”

The excitement palpable from the audience every time a crowd favorite came on was a blessing to both witness and experience. I remember the bright, white lights emanating from the stage, then transitioning to a rainbow display of led lights to queue in “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME” and an eruption of dancing from everyone around me.

But it wouldn’t be a The 1975 concert without a taste of Healy’s controversial takes. Over the years, the performer has built a persona of someone who speaks their mind, even if it gets him occasionally in trouble. The bit is worked into every one of their concerts in different forms.

For the Miami show, Healy stopped music to begin a few minutes of social commentary, complemented by projections of subway surfers and cup stacking videos to get the crowd’s attention. At one point, he addressed booing fans by cursing them out.

Despite the drama, the music, stage production and energy were great. The 1975 fans really know how to have a good time — screaming the lyrics, unashamedly dancing and obediently jumping when Healy demands them to jump.

I for one can say, there was an ear-to-ear smile plastered on my face the whole night.

The Miami Hurricane is the student newspaper of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The newspaper is edited and produced by undergraduate students at UM and is published in print every Tuesday and online everyday during the academic year.

• V’s Take

Review: The 1975 triumphant homecoming at their very best - and with surprise star guest Charli XCX

"We are The 1975 from Wilmslow… I don’t have to say how special it is to be here"

• 09:22, 21 JAN 2023

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If you’ve been anywhere near social media in the last few weeks, you’ll no doubt have scrolled past videos from The 1975’s latest string of dates. Matty Healy has always been known for his quirky on-stage antics, and his recent behaviour during the ‘At Their Very Best’ tour has seen the frontman once again hit the headlines.

From eating raw meat on stage to sucking a fan’s thumb - it’s fair to say there hasn’t been a dull moment from the enigmatic frontman. And then there have been the surprise star guests, like when Taylor Swift casually walked out on stage in London.

Fresh from a number 1 album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, a successful string of US dates and a total of three Brit Award nominations, The 1975 were now back on hometurf. With their adoring fans eager in anticipation - those at the very front having queued through the night to be first into the AO Arena.

Read more : Courteeners make UK chart history with first number one album

Prior to this homecoming gig, the Cheshire band had enjoyed shows in the likes of Cardiff, Birmingham, Brighton and two nights at London’s O2 Arena - the first of which saw global superstar Taylor Swift make that surprise acoustic performance of her hit ‘Anti-Hero’ and old-school The 1975 track ‘The City’.

The prospect of seeing The 1975 ‘At Their Very Best’ was exciting - not just because of how much I enjoyed their latest releases, but the buzz around their live shows was too much to ignore. The stage, more like a theatre set, looks like the inside of a house, where each band member is surrounded by soft furnishings, televisions, a leather couch, wall hangings - you get the idea.

The 1975 arrive on stage, one by one, to a soundtrack of their album opener ‘The 1975’ with their names on the big screens, akin to the style of a classic movie. This sets the tone for the night - as we’re introduced to the ‘show within a show’ directed by Matty himself, who seemingly portrays a messy, frustrated artist.

Swigging on bottles of wine, cigarette in hand, he doesn’t address the crowd at all, but it doesn’t matter because everyone is immersed in the theatrics. The band rifle through newer tracks including ‘Happiness’ and ‘Part of the Band’, intersected with random monologues from Matty.

Stage hands swarm around the house between songs, further creating the illusion of the film set. Occasionally Matty breaks the fourth wall, most notably prior to ‘All I Need To Hear’, where Matty protests that "nothing is real". However what was real was the crowd’s adoration for their heroes on stage, the screams only amplified when guitarist Adam Hann’s wife Carly joined Matty on vocals in ‘About You’.

What followed was Matty Healy at his most self-indulgent. As the rest of the band left the stage and turned off the lights, the troubled frontman was left alone.

He slowly undoes his shirt, and it all feels a bit *too* intimate, proceeding to make sexual gestures. He then crawls in front of some retro-style televisions, which are playing clips of controversial figures - Maggie Thatcher, Putin and Andrew Tate, whilst eating a chunk of raw meat.

The fever dream was almost over, but not before he crawled through the TV and disappeared.

Since Taylor Swift’s shock appearance in the capital, ticket holders have been excitedly predicting who may join them next.

It was after this episode that they finally found out as singer Charli XCX - who happens to be dating The 1975 drummer George Daniel - burst through the front door to perform her track ‘Vroom Vroom’.

The second half of the show, the band ‘at their very best’, was more of what you’d expect from a concert. Matty finally said hello to the crowd, announcing "We are The 1975 from Wilmslow… I don’t have to say how special it is to be here" before launching into ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’ to get part two off to an energetic start.

It’s so easy to dismiss The 1975 and Matty Healy for what many could regard as on-stage distractions and stunts, but what followed was nothing short of a masterclass in live music.

Hits including ‘Somebody Else’, ‘Robbers’ and ‘Chocolate’ followed, as well as ‘Menswear’ - a track they hadn’t played live for a long time. Before playing ‘Chocolate’ - one of the songs from their first album that catapulted The 1975 to the mainstream a decade ago, Matty Healy thanked fans for their continued support - "10 years ago we put out this album and you’re still here".

The nostalgia carried through as he introduced ‘I Always Wanna Die Sometimes’ - describing how the lyrics were based on the train journey from Manchester Piccadilly to Wilmslow. After an incredible two hours, The 1975 played out their final offering ‘Give Yourself A Try’ - an ode to overcoming personal struggles, which had the Manchester crowd jumping and singing even louder than they had all night.

A gig like no other I’d ever seen, a show you felt part of. It was theatrical and a bit odd at times - and although that’s all part of the allure, underlining all of that was an incredible roster of undeniably brilliant music.

There was absolutely no doubt that we’d witnessed a band in their prime… or At Their Very Best.

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The 1975 Were Truly “At Their Very Best” at Madison Square Garden in NYC: Recap

Matty Healy smoked cigarettes, ate raw meat, and still gave a wildly impressive vocal performance

Leave it to The 1975 to call their new tour “The 1975 at Their Very Best.” After all, this is a band that does not shy away from hyperbole, theatrics, or reminding us how much they love being The 1975. In fact, they don’t really shy away from anything. Their new show is, without a doubt, their finest yet, and witnessing them headline New York City’s Madison Square Garden last night (November 7th) was watching a band that is truly in their prime.

“The thing about us, ladies and gentlemen,” frontman Matty Healy reminded the audience over an hour into the show, “we just keep getting better.” The audience roared in agreement, and the band immediately segued into the fan-favorite “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not with You).”

There was a palpable confidence emanating from the band last night, and especially from Healy: Throughout the show, he chain-smoked cigarettes, took dozens of swigs from not one but two flasks onstage, ate raw meat , sang a song on the roof(?), did pushups in front of a television before crawling inside it, certainly touched his… area more than once (“Sorry if you brought your Dad to the show and I was touching my dick,” said Healy after the intermission, “That’s your fault for bringing your Dad”).

But even before The 1975 took the stage, the tone for the evening was set perfectly by the band’s label mates and chosen opener for the tour: BLACKSTARKIDS . Having seen the trio open for fellow Dirty Hit artist beabadoobee last year, I was no stranger to the band’s explosive energy — but that doesn’t always translate into a massive arena like Madison Square Garden.

It’s a tough task for any arena opener, especially when they begin their set with the house only half full, but BLACKSTARKIDS arrived with a visceral blast of energy. All three members of the band looked like they were having the time of their lives on that stage, and it proved to be a rousing and endearing set. If you’re planning on attending “The 1975 at Their Very Best” (and you can get tickets here , if so), be sure not to miss BLACKSTARKIDS — they might just be your new favorite band.

When BLACKSTARKIDS left the stage and The 1975 arrived, the curtain dropped and revealed a large set that resembled a house, complete with furniture, windows, separate rooms, a roof, and a dazzling spiral staircase. The show followed two fairly concrete acts of 12 songs each: The first act saw the band playing nearly every song from their brand new LP, Being Funny in a Foreign Language , while the second act was all killer, no filler hits from the band’s other four studio albums.

The 1975, photo by Jordan Curtis Hughes

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The 1975 review, Los Angeles: Manchester band dazzle LA, but Matty Healy can be a difficult pill to swallow

Tom murray is at once enraptured and distracted by the 1975’s untameable frontman as the manchester band rock los angeles, article bookmarked.

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Matty Healy is lying on a leather couch, smoking a cigarette and running his hand feverishly across his naked chest and onto his crotch. That might sound like quite odd behaviour in front of a stadium full of people, but if you’ve been paying any attention whatsoever to The 1975 ’s ongoing tour, it’s all par for the course.

The Manchester-formed band are currently in the US, supporting their fifth studio album Being Funny in a Foreign Language with their At Their Very Best live shows. These performances have produced myriad viral social media clips, as Healy blurs the lines between “black pill performance art” (his words) and a pop-rock show. Fans have watched as the frontman bites chunks out of a supposedly raw steak, snogs fans from the audience, and feigns masturbation. At a sold-out Kia Forum in Los Angeles, in front of the influencers, the TikTokers, Kendall Jenner and Halsey, Healy continues – mostly – in the same vein.

He steps out onto the stage with drummer George Daniel, guitarist Adam Hann, and bassist Ross MacDonald. They enter what is an objectively astonishing piece of set design – an enormous cross-section of a house, complete with chairs, lamps, televisions and bookcases – though there are drawbacks for those seated in the wings, who must now watch the band through open window panes. Healy acknowledges this when he tells off a rowdy fan: “S**** seats anyway.”

The band begin with songs from Being Funny in a Foreign Language , loosening up the audience with the poppy, disco grooves of “Happiness” and “I’m in Love with You”. Yet it’s the band’s slower, shoegazey tracks that take on a colossal new weight. “About You” is a genuine tear-jerker, as Healy’s voice, always raw with emotion, sounds more finely tuned than ever.

Then it’s into the antics. Healy chuffs on cigarettes and swigs at several flasks before diving into a crotch-rubbing interval set to violins. The fans are screaming, but they’re not sure why: what’s this supposed to mean? A few side-eyes are exchanged between friends; some weary “Oh Matty”s are uttered. Fans have come to expect this behaviour.

“I see a lot of signs from people telling me to kiss them,” Healy observes. Cue more screaming. When performing “Robbers”, the band’s dolorous hit from 2013, Healy has taken to pulling a crowd member on stage and kissing them passionately. Given the discourse surrounding power imbalances in artist-fan relationships, these stunts seem ill-thought-out at best, and deeply problematic at worst. Tonight, though, there’ll be no such endeavours: “No one’s coming on stage tonight,” Healy tells the crowd. “Tonight is all about me.”

Boy, does he mean it. “What does it mean to be a liberal man?” he asks, during one of several rambling conversations with the crowd. “If I’m not doing this, I’m watching s*** and I’m w***ing.” There’s a supporting cast in the Matty Healy show, though. Backing vocalist Polly Money and saxophonist John Waugh lift each tune to soaring heights, before Phoebe Bridgers makes her cameo for a typically sotto voce rendition of The 1975’s “Milk”. Finally, “Robbers” arrives, and Healy makes a beeline for MacDonald, who finds himself locking lips with his bandmate.

Given the audience reactions, and headlines, generated by Healy’s behaviour, it seems unlikely that he’ll dial it down any time soon. He loves attention, that much is clear. But it’s a genuine shame when such behaviour distracts from a band at the peak of their artistic powers. As the tour’s title suggests, The 1975 really are better than ever.

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The 1975 prove they’re some of the best performers on the planet with homecoming gig at the AO Arena

'Still at their very best' — too right.

Last night, The 1975 reminded Manchester and fans all over that they’re some of the very best performers on the planet when it comes to music right now, it’s that simple.

Not hyperbole, just an honest opinion from a fan who’s seen them multiple times now and has only seen them get bigger and better each time, not to mention become more impressive as all-round entertainers.

Managing to get a standing ticket to the first of their two packed-out nights at the AO Arena , almost exactly a year on from seeing them from the seated section in 2023, it’s fair to say that being in amongst it certainly played its part in somehow topping the previous and already unbelievable gig.

Dancing around like prats, shaking our knees and screaming our heads off; jumping up and down, and drinking in every drop of the serotonin-soaked atmosphere, we can’t remember many other shows that have genuinely got better with each second that passed — and it all started with an amazing support act.

Late last year, The Manc Audio had the pleasure of going along to see ever-rising Dirty Hit labelmates, The Japanese House, at New Century Hall where Amber Bain’s vocals nearly had us in tears and Saturday evening was no different.

Even in the space of just a couple of songs — the majority of which 1975 fans know pretty well too given how close the two acts are and certainly more than most supports usually enjoy the pleasure of when playing huge tours like this — we could fully envisage them headlining this arena themselves.

While The Japanese House is technically just Bain and her touring band, the record company’s influences, paired with production from Matty Healy himself and drummer George Daniel means that there are 1975 notes all over their sound, so it’s no surprise the two dovetail so well on a billing.

We were a bit gutted we didn’t get to see him come out and sing his part on ‘Sunshine Baby’ for their final song, but you can’t win ’em all. A very, very special singer-songwriter you should all be paying very close attention to.

As for the headliners themselves, while much of the set and stage design has remained pretty much the same from last year, the biggest difference right from the off was that Healy was on top form in every sense of the word, having played the previous AO Arena gig hopped up on Lemsip and red wine .

We didn’t think his voice sounded too far from its best in 2023 anyway, but it’s safe to say that everyone benefitted from him looking visibly healthier and perhaps a little less tipsy than last time, and the well-delivered vocals from minute one made the super cinematic opening credits feel even more considered.

And while there were plenty more of those movie-like scripted moments throughout the show and clever uses of the set (we’re not going to spoil too much), this latest iteration of the live set still has the same gorgeous aesthetic but now feels like just the right amount of abstract.

That being said, we don’t think anyone was expecting to see the Marmite frontman suddenly appear from a platform rising out of the ground and start singing the stripped-down version of ‘I Like America’ to a naked waxwork of himself…

But this was all part of what made the performance special last time and again last night. It isn’t just the joy of kicking the crowd off with those 80s-infused bangers they’re so good at like ‘Looking For Somebody to Love’ and ‘It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)’ — it’s all the other stuff around it.

The fact of the matter is, we have genuinely never seen shows like the kind that The 1975 write; they swing from well-rehearsed and thought-provoking to hugging your mate as you sway together before the whole arena suddenly turns into one big dancefloor and you’re just partying again. It’s seamless.

It might not be Pink doing a dozen backflips as she flies across the air in a harness at Bolton Stadium with loads of pyros and dance routines (though we did get the Love It We Made It choreography, back by popular demand), but these lot have come a long way from just drinking wine and smoking fags as they play the hits. It definitely feels like the rest of the band all had their hero moments this time too.

From saxophonist John Waugh shining in multiple spotlighted moments, Healy introducing bassist Ross MacDonald to the “ladies, especially” and more, they all had their hero moments. A special shout-out to the truly wonderful session player Polly Mooney as well, who took the lead on ‘Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America’ and smashed her ‘About You’ bridge. She’s far from just a backing player, believe us.

Playing a little something from every era as we hoped they would, adding in a few older tracks into the setlist compared to the previous tour, there weren’t many moments as happiness-inducing as bouncing around to ‘If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)’, ‘The Sound’ and, well, ‘Happiness’. Pure euphoria.

There was also plenty of catharsis in there too, as we also got cult classics like ‘Robbers’ and ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’, as well as probably the saddest and yet still the funkiest slow jam in ‘Somebody Else’.

We have no shame in admitting we welled up during a few, but you’ll just have to see which ones may or may not set you off.

As alluded to, there are plenty of surprises in store over the course of the 26-track and roughly two-and-a-half-hour set, and we also enjoyed the Wilmslow group giving a nod to their old stomping grounds like Satan’s Hollow and Deaf Institute where they headed for the afterparty. They’re local lads as far as we’re concerned.

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For the last two tours or so now, Healy has somewhat flippantly referred to The 1975 as “the best band in the world” up on stage and while being a bit cocky and braggadocious is far from new territory for the self-proclaimed nepo baby, we’re starting to take that claim more seriously each time.

The 34-year-old has been a controversial figure in music for a good long while now and understandably so — he certainly hasn’t always hit the mark as a ‘character’ and sometimes says things we don’t agree with, whether sardonic or not — but what it comes down to is him being a showman first and foremost.

Better still, he took a lot of the recent criticism for his comments and on-stage antics and pivoted to write almost all of it into this new show in a genuinely interesting way. Finding rockstars that have just as much self-awareness as they do self-obsession is pretty rare but, above everything else, the group as a whole have created a truly incredible live experience. On their art alone, they’re up there with the best.

For anyone going along to night two of The 1975’s Manchester homecoming at the AO Arena this Sunday, if the band bring even half of the energy and charisma that they did one night one, you’ll be in for an absolute treat and we’ll jump at every chance we get to see them again – so should you.

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

A former legendary Manchester drinking spot and popular student bar, The Font, is reopening this summer under a new name and a new concept.

Font sadly closed its doors back in January 2023 after sitting as one of the most popular pubs in the city centre and go-to destinations amongst students for more than two decades.

Like many, we were gutted to see it go and relieved to see its sister site in Chorlton survive, but we’re now pleased to confirm that the former watering hole and food spot will be reborn as a new music venue and Irish-themed bar.

Set to be called Mother Mary’s, the former Font venue is set to burst back onto the Manc hospitality scene by mid-June.

The venture, which is being headed up by nightlife veterans Greg Dwyer, Joseph Finegan and Chris Sharp, will see a complete refit with brand-new bars, a bespoke KV2 audio setup and a stunning lighting system that will illuminate two epic stages. The once familiar space is set to look rather different.

With the two stages split across both floors, music is set to be at the very centre of Mother Mary’s business model; this isn’t just Font 2.0, it’s a whole new space built to spotlight live bands and wonderful performances whilst providing a platform for new and upcoming DJs and performers.

However, they’re still sticking to their food and drink roots, don’t you worry.

Set to serve an impressive food menu headed up by Chef Andrew James and his Blackbird concept, as seen in Stockport , the residency at Mother Mary’s will see the menu feature all-day breakfasts, brunch, hearty Irish favourites and some American classics too.

Can’t go wrong.

When it comes to booze, they haven’t lost their touch over here either, promising a dedicated cocktail menu, not to mention some of Manchester’s best beers, wines, cities and craft ales.

The menu will also pay homage to its history by serving a signature cocktail called ‘The Font’ with the ingredients and inspiration to change every three months, all for just £2 in a nod to the old gaff being one of the most affordable places to drink in town.

Mother Mary’s is also set to host a weekly event schedule including local and touring bands, curated entertainment, a jam-packed brunch every Saturday split across two floors, an open mic approach every Monday, stand-up comedy and more.

Greg, Joe and Chris have over 25 years of experience in hospitality, combined both with working in live music and concert promoting.

Greg has toured with some of the world’s biggest bands and worked with Manc nightclubs and music venues; Joe is instantly recognisable on the local music scene through his work with Gorilla, The Deaf Institute and South on some of their largest events, while Chris boats a similar background and pedigree.

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Dwyer said of the new project: “Mother Mary’s is all about providing a space for grassroots live music . I started going out around here, I was in here all the time and I was even fortunate enough to play records here a long time ago, so this is an unbelievable opportunity and to do it with two good friends that I’ve met along the way is incredible.

“We’ll be taking good care of the former Font site. The three of us have a wealth of experience and a bunch of ideas to make this a sustainable live music venue. Our tagline for Mother Mary’s is strangely familiar: ‘We’re a home away from home’. The old Font Bar is there, it’s familiar but strangely different.”

Finegan added: “The Font Bar has been a staple on the Manchester bar scene for almost 20 years so to come into such an establishment was a daunting feat. We knew people would be coming in and saying I used to come here 15 years ago, ‘What have they done to the place?’

“We had to consider how to make quality changes that would matter to the customer. Mother Mary’s as a concept has a number of moving parts but still keeps the heritage of the bar utilising old antique furniture and paying homage to former traditions. We are super excited for the launch in June and to bring our vision to life.”

We, for one, are just excited to see what the team delivers and we’re just glad to see the old spot on New Wakefield Street not just reopen but reborn as something hopefully even bigger and better.

Featured Images — Supplied/The Manc Group

It’s been a decade since Girls Aloud went on a hiatus that seemed like it may never end, but end it has, and The Girls Aloud Show has touched down for three nights in Manchester.

A lot has happened since the girl band formed on Popstars: The Rivals way back in 2002, including the tragic death of band member Sarah Harding at just 39 years old.

Girls Aloud promised that this huge arena anniversary tour would honour their late bandmate, and if Sarah was into 10/10, near-flawless pop concerts, they’ve done her justice.

It’s plainly obvious that hours and hours of rehearsal have gone into The Girls Aloud Show. They don’t put a foot wrong in the AO Arena , even if those silly inflatable red dresses played up again.

Even when a song falls a little flat, their performance sails on the wings of the choreography (their all-male troupe of dancers are phenomenal) and the production, and minor imperfections are quickly glossed over by the rest of the girls’ glorious pop catalogue.

‘Now look over here! Look at the shiny costumes and the harmonies here!’ they seem to say whenever the audience gets fidgety, quickly moving onto another chart-topping banger.

There are a lot to get through – the gig is split into four acts, with a setlist that includes Love Machine, Biology, Something Kinda Ooooh, and Jump, and costumes that range from skin-tight glittering bodysuits to full-length gowns that may have been pinched straight out of The Supremes’ wardrobes.

The second act, which harks back to their slightly more urban debut album, is a personal highlight. I’ve long maintained that Sound of the Underground is one of the greatest pop songs ever written – but chuck in four scantily clad pop starlets riding airborne motorbikes and it just gets even better.

Did I walk in thinking I knew all the words to every Girls Aloud song ever released? No I did not, but these catchy little bops are apparently neatly filed in my brain ready to come tumbling out with a single wink from Cheryl Cole.

I know everyone has a favourite girlband member, and on stage each one plays to their own persona, whether that’s the impeccably graceful Nicola or the effortlessly cool Kimberly.

And while on paper Cheryl is the most successful of the lot, this is now 2024 and I think we can all agree that Nadine Coyle is CARRYING this tour. She is an actress. She oozes charisma and camp, beaming the whole time, and looks like she is having the time of her life. It’s totally infectious and the crowd laps her up.

Of course, it’s a bittersweet celebration without Sarah. She is woven into the fabric of this band and into their live tour too. As hits like Can’t Speak French and Something New play, the original music videos play behind them. And with songs like A Whole Lotta History and I’ll Stand By You, her vocals take the lead along with a moving montage of the young late star, to rapturous applause.

If you’re surprised that Girls Aloud sold out this many arenas in this day and age, you are grossly underestimating the hold they had over British women in the noughties. We all used to buy false eyelashes modelled on their eyes, for god’s sake (personally, a big fan of Kimberley’s), and washed our hair with shampoos with their faces on the bottles.

21 years later and this is proven to be timeless pop music, and the styling of several acts of the show reflects that. Parts feel like they’re from a different era, from the tiny feather bustle stuck to Nadine’s sparkling bodysuit to the dancers in top hats and tails.

And things never feel more ageless than with The Promise, which closes the show.

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Some of us may remember the music video, where all five Girls Aloud members time-travelled back to the 1960s, their makeup taking some influence from Twiggy and their hair growing exponentially larger (this was surely about the same time that Cheryl got her L’Oréal contract). The essence of that has been brought to their live show.

They shimmy behind microphone stands and perform choreography with their arms in sparkling gowns.

And then comes the real tear-jerker – this song was always Sarah Harding’s to own, and no one could quite fill those shoes. So instead of replacing her verse, she remains the star.

Sarah’s face beams across the arena, and her original vocals bellow over a tearful crowd, while the other girls turn to watch their late friend shine once again.

The night wraps up in an explosion of colour and sparkle. A properly fitting way to honour Sarah.

Girls Aloud have two more shows in Manchester at the AO Arena to come – read our full gig guide here .

Girls Aloud setlist

Act I Untouchable The Show Something New Love Machine Can’t Speak French Biology Whole Lotta History Act II Wake Me Up Sound of the Underground Girl Overboard No Good Advice Graffiti My Soul Long Hot Summer I’ll Stand by You (Pretenders cover) ACT III Sexy! No No No… On the Metro Jump (For My Love) Call the Shots Something Kinda Ooooh Encore: The Promise

Featured image: The Manc Group

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The 1975’s Madison Square Garden Show Was Beautifully Packed With Cigarettes, Raw Meat, And Feeling

At a sold-out show at New York’s 20,000-cap Madison Square Garden, a shirtless Matty Healy got down on his knees and held a raw steak in one hand and his crotch in the other. The 1975 frontman dug his teeth into the meat and everyone murmured and put their phones up to take a video. There’s something beautiful about it, or at least I think so; I have no reasoning other than that it’s ridiculous and the reactions have been visceral. Some are dissecting the meaning of this act of performance art, but more are rolling their eyes or feeling sick. After he finished chewing, he crawled slowly to a box television that displayed a catalog of ape NFTs and he climbed into the screen.

There’s a viral tweet I saw recently that comes to mind: “matty healy is disturbing, weird, embarrassing, cringeworthy and awful. and he is the love of my life.”

matty healy is disturbing, weird, embarrassing, cringeworthy and awful. and he is the love of my life. — lucy 🗡️ (@givelucyatry) November 5, 2022

This statement can sum up a lot of the appeal of The 1975. Fans are disgusted by the heartthrob’s antics — whether it’s touching himself on stage or tweeting things like “ might start working on my handwriting cos some of these tattoos are f*cking dog sh*t ” — yet that disgust is mixed with a deep, confusing love. So much so that The 1975 sold out one of the biggest venues in New York.

They went on at 8:45 P.M. and Healy sat at a piano, cigarette in hand, slightly messing up the rhythm to “The 1975,” the opener of their bright new album Being Funny In A Foreign Language and not to be confused with their four other songs of the same title. The sound of the track is shamelessly influenced by LCD Soundsystem, who just released their first song in seven years just in time for what many people are deeming the revival of indie sleaze. Healy probably knows this, especially considering one of the afterparty DJs was The Dare whose song “ Girls ” is an inescapable, Manhattan-centric Peaches homage. While it’s safe to say that The 1975 have nothing to do with that scene, one could argue they’ve got the irony element nailed down. “This will get bigger, if you know what I mean,” Healy sings, opening the LP with an innuendo. But what separates them from others is that they walk the tightrope between irony and earnestness, and they do it gracefully. He continues: “And I’m sorry if you’re living and you’re seventeen.” For some reason, this line makes me and millions of other twentysomethings emotional, as if it still applies to us, as if we’re still seventeen.

That’s part of the deep love that fans have for The 1975 — the way their music feels perpetually juvenile, refusing to grow up. “I like my men like I like my coffee / Full of soy milk and so sweet, it won’t offend anybody,” he sings on “Part Of The Band,” which simultaneously questions our own ability to be sincere: “Am I ironically woke? / The butt of my joke?” Sometimes it feels like The 1975 is a social experiment, or rather just a vessel through which Healy tests the limits of what he can do, such as touching himself on stage. But that’s part of the fun — flirting with transgression. The best part about Healy is that he doesn’t want to be liked — a brave trait that’s impossible to find. The man literally said no to opening up for Ed Sheeran because it just didn’t feel right to him. He’s real. As he slouched down on the couch and touched his crotch at Madison Square Garden, the girl next to me blurted, “I’m uncomfortable.” “I’m very comfortable,” I said. She smiled and said, “We’re like yin and yang.”

I, like Healy, have been drinking too much and smoking too many cigarettes because of the ever-expanding sense of doom hovering over no only my own life, but also the world in general. It’s the kind of doom that forces everyone into apathy. For years, I only listened to songs that mimicked the emotional and mental state I was in; I filled my ears with monotonous instrumentation and passive vocals exhaling words of hopelessness. The 1975 were an unlikely respite. As they played through the new record, no one could’ve guessed that this band’s fanbase is known to be depressed. Everyone danced; the groove was undeniable and irresistible, like during “ I’m In Love With You ,” a buoyant love song with the simple hook. As they balance irony with earnestness, they also balance dread with hope — sometimes there doesn’t even need to be a reason for hope, it’s just an enlightening, infectious riff or an unabashed declaration of love.

Their live rendition of Being Funny In A Foreign Language was nonlinear and speckled with old songs as well, including “Roadkill” from 2020’s Notes On A Conditional Form and the fan-favorited classic “Fallingforyou” off their debut, which contains the Tumblr-iconic line: “I don’t wanna be your friend / I wanna kiss your neck,” a refrain the crowd screamed collectively. They have come a long way since that LP; their hits could’ve remained their hits, like “Chocolate” or “Robbers,” in the same way that Arctic Monkeys ’ hits are still “Do I Wanna Know?” and “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” from their fellow Tumblr-iconic album AM . But The 1975 are moving with the times and continuously unleashing memorable music that sticks. “Love It If We Made It” is a great example of that. He prefaced the song by complaining about still having to play it. I was grateful he did. The night before, I cruised down the left lane of the highway with my friend in the passenger seat and smoked a cigarette and blasted “Love It If We Made It” and screamed along, our voices getting louder every time the lyric got better: “And poison me, daddy / I’ve got the Jones right through my bones,” “Rest in peace Lil Peep / The poetry is in the streets,” “Thank you, Kanye, very cool,” to name a few. The song is a radical rejection of apathy and a brief jolt of feeling in this big cloud of numbness.

“Love It If We Made It” live was invigorating and powerful, especially followed by “The Sound” from their sophomore album I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It and then “Sex” from their debut. To continue with back-to-back bangers, they closed with “Give Yourself A Try,” a shot of adrenaline with vivacious riffs and a jittery beat. “Won’t you give yourself a try,” he repeated over and over, and it was like a continual waking up.

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A glass of whiskey in one hand, a cigarette in the other.

Other than a few aimless rambles between sets, British indie-pop-rock frontman Matt Healy’s message was clear: The 1975 is no less relevant in 2023 than they were in 2013 and the band’s performance at Madison Square Garden was a testament to their continued musical gifts.

Fans poured in with cult-like rage for a Tuesday night, some bearing rectangular tattoos of the band’s album cover, others still half-dressed in work clothes, taking no chance of missing the man who teased a “indefinite hiatus” after they wrap their ‘Still… At Their Very Best’ tour .

The crowd – a hodgepodge of teenage girls, married couples, and some likely single wannabe-groupies – was certainly buzzing. Healy’s closest followers live for his controversies. There was his fervent fling with Taylor Swift over the summer, and then a social media reckoning over offensive podcast remarks . Not to mention, his history of pulling fans on stage for a slobbery smooch (he skipped the make-out sessions for this show).

But, nothing lasts forever, as Healy has taught us. Attention quickly turned to the opener, rising star Dora Jar. The 27-year-old has an celestial, airy voice that melts down arena. Yet, her stage presence couldn’t be further from ghostly. You could hear a pin drop as she breathed into the microphone and sang like the calm before a storm.

That storm was Healy, banging through a door and grabbing his guitar, much to the excitement of the roaring crowd. He glided around the floor effortlessly – an unpretentious set designed like an unfinished bachelor pad loft complete with sporadically placed furniture and a spiral staircase to nowhere. Lead guitarist Adam Hann, bass player Ross MacDonald, and drummer George Daniel, took their places.

Healy and co. opened with a hit from their fourth studio album, “The 1975.” The eponymous song drew its lyrics from a speech given by environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, on civil disobedience. “Looking for Somebody to Love” played like a masterpiece; commanding and confident. The crowd then cheered for “Part of the Band,” a playful rock serenade broken up by an epic saxophone interlude. It was impossible to resist chiming along for “You Look So Cool” before Healy took down the volume and brought on an unexpected guest.

Everyone fell silent watching Healy’s 71-year-old father, Tim, step onto the stage. The retired English actor settled right in, hardly as impressed with himself as the crowd was, and began singing “All I Need to Hear” (with enough bravado to humble his own singer son). The slow jam was an unexpected turn from the punkier side of the evening, playing like a desperate love song with romantic lyrics “Cause it all means nothing, my dear If I can’t be holding you near” sticking in your ear. Outstretched arms from the crowd waved shining lights for the surprise guest.

But the show was not over. Spotlight turned back to what appeared to be Healy, but was actually a replica of his naked body stretched out on a turf platform on the other side of the arena. An eerie piano melody reverberated through the Garden as the real Healy rose through the platform to lay intimately beside his doppelgänger. The whole scene looked like something out of a dream – or nightmare – or psychedelic trip.

Healy disappeared through the grass and then reappeared, this time, with his guitar to sing “Be My Mistake.” A montage of fast-paced clips ran across the screen – TikTok’s, YouTube vids, and of course, outlandish tweets about the Proud Boys and Florida. The singer has not been shy expressing his political views, specifically his abomination of far right-wing content.

As the groove faded, the rockstar rolled into his final stunt of the night – what appeared at first to be a genuine apology for some of his mystifying antics. “I think it’s important to take inventory of yourself,” Healy shouted between swigs. “I apologize to those people and I pledge to be better moving forward.” He made a snuffy note about not being taken too literally, before adding, “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to better yourself…” as he made his impassioned plea, an ad for the popular online therapy service, Better Help, was projected behind him with the message “75% off your first session. Use the code Sorry75.”

And in classic Matt Healy-fashion, it was all an act. “I’m only joking,” the singer cackled, before the screen wiped away. Healy continued unfazed, jerking his head up-and-down to rock out to the night’s final anthems, “I love it if we made it,” and “People.” The lights flashed off at 10:30, and The 1975 dropped their instruments as if to say, we don’t need to impress anyone. Why? Because they’re still… at their very best.

Final verdict

If you’re considering buying tickets to one of their final shows, do so now. The set is an angsty, ethereal mind trip, staging is top-notch, and Healy’s shock factor does not disappoint. Ticket prices won’t break the bank either (the vodka lemonade and sweatshirt cost more than my seats).

In fact, some of them are only $6 before fees on Vivid Seats.

Yes, really.

Still on the fence? Don’t forget that the band has no indication of when they will be back on stage.

The 1975 tour schedule

You can find tickets for all nine upcoming “Still…At Their Very Best” concerts  right here .

(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout .)

Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand. 

They offer a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and your tickets will be delivered prior to the event.

iHeart Radio ALTer Ego Festival

On Saturday, Jan. 13, The 1975 will headline at Anaheim’s Honda Center along with some of the biggest names in the game for the annual one-day rock fest.

Just a few of the acts on the star-studded bill include Paramore , The Black Keys , Thirty Seconds To Mars , Sum 41 and Yellowcard.

Need tix ASAP?

You can grab them here .

The 1975 set list

For a closer look at all the music that the band performed at MSG on Tuesday, Nov. 14, here’s their set list, courtesy of Set List FM :

01.) “The 1975 (BFIAFL)” 02.) “Looking for Somebody (to Love)” 03.) “Happiness” 04.) “Part of the Band” 05.) “Sincerity Is Scary” 06.) “Oh Caroline” 07.) “I’m in Love With You” 08.) “A Change of Heart” 09.) “An Encounter” 10.) “Robbers” 11.) “All I Need to Hear” (with Tim Healy on vocals) 12.) “You”

13.) “About You” (with Carly Holt) Matty’s Nightmare

14.) “Consumption” 15.) “Be My Mistake” (Acoustic; Matty solo on B-Stage) 16.) “Streaming”

17.) “Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America” (Duet with Polly Money) Still… At Their Very Best

18.) “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” 19.) “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME” 20.) “Heart Out” 21.) “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)” 22.) “The Sound” 23.) “Somebody Else” 24.) “Chocolate” 25.) “Love It If We Made It” 26.) “Sex” 27.) “Give Yourself a Try” 28.) “People”

Huge concert tours in 2023-24

Amped up for live shows but don’t know who’s on the road?

Well, here are just five massive tours that might strike your fancy these next few months.

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The 1975 review – pop glitz and tech trickery in a millennial arena

SSE Arena, Belfast Blurred genres, digital anxieties and giant iPhones… the 1975 strive for the zeitgeist as they open their new UK tour

S inger Matt Healy is standing on a hydraulic lift at the back of the arena stage, rubbing his slicked-back, natural-coloured dark hair. Dressed down in athleisure and a V-neck top, he turns his back to the crowd and regards the massive screen behind his band, the 1975, with curiosity.

The visuals on this first night of the band’s latest tour have been pretty impressive thus far. “Modernity has failed us,” runs a line from Love It If We Made It (played later in the set), a stark statement from the band’s persuasive third album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships . But the 1975 do have some uses for the tech age. There is a lot of very shiny stagecraft deployed in tonight’s gig, bumping them up into the role of arena innovators.

For Sincerity Is Scary , Healy unexpectedly re-enacts the song’s video in a pair of chunky headphones and a rabbit-eared hat. A vast hi-res projection of a New York brownstone behind him, Healy cavorts like Michael Jackson down a sneaky treadmill that runs the width of the front of the stage. The band – drummer and producer George Daniel, bassist and keyboard player Ross MacDonald, guitarist and keyboard player Adam Hann – play on, safely behind a row of lights.

The stage set is full of moving light-boxes and glowing squares – nods to this band’s on-off obsession with rectangles. The quadrilaterals tilt, framing and reframing the action, referencing the original neon shape that appeared on the cover of the band’s 2013 self-titled debut album. (Fans have been known to get tattoos of “the box” .) It is, you reflect, a bit like a Facebook game of “how many rectangles can you see? 92% FAIL this simple test” writ large: there are zillions of them. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (their third No 1), dwells at length, too, on how those rectangles in our pockets suck us in, distract us and warp our sense of ourselves.

It’s hardly the most original of modern complaints, but the 1975 are credible emissaries from a land of surfaces and mistrust: they nail the ongoing experience of how our feelings are being manipulated by our technology more perceptively – and more tunefully – than most. Radiohead, for one, never had a pop banger as blithe as the 1975’s sweetly nagging TooTimeTooTimeTooTime , which considers infidelity while recalling Justin Bieber and Afro-swing.

And they are unlikely to have deployed dancers. The 1975 have always occupied a grey area between pop and rock – indeed, their creation myth involves shrugging off such delineations and making funky 80s arena guitar tunes, against the advice of the entire music industry. Most of tonight’s show feels more like pop in part because of two dancers, the Jaiy twins – thoughtfully non-sexualised in white overalls – whose dance steps Healy ably mimics.

It’s hard to conjure real cleverness out of large venues, where the tendency is to have people flying about for the sake of it. But this band, armed with such a heavy album, manage to pull off a deft conjuring trick or two.

As Healy gazes up at the back wall during The Ballad of Me and My Brain , a track from their previous record, I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful, Yet So Unaware of It , the backdrop buzzes with TV static. As Healy touches the screen, it warps into dazzling colour.

He then steps up, and into the static. From the side, it looks as though he has vanished. It is a moment that draws a collective gasp from the crowd: it’s not so much that Healy has broken the fourth wall, it’s that the fourth wall has eaten him.

Swiftly, the projections shift and Healy is visible once more, standing on a shelf inside the backdrop for one more audacious reveal. The singer is framed to look as though he is inside an actual iPhone , the word “hello” in an Apple-like font above his head. It’s quite a cool feat: toying with depth perception, then making people take pictures of you with their phones, standing inside a phone.

After this, the rest of the band’s set goes by in a blur of dazzling, hyper-lurid digital visuals, the trajectory slightly downhill. It’s not that the 1975 lack for momentum – they just fail to pull the rug out from under the crowd in quite the same way as before.

Healy, too, is more of an enigmatic presence tonight than he has been previously. It might be a case of first-night concentration, or perhaps, a clearer head than in years gone by. Whatever: he prioritises not falling off the travelator, rather than enacting his previous brand of foppish dissolution, or saying a great deal between songs. You can hardly blame him – the last time he was loose-lipped, he had to issue a clarification of his views on misogyny in rock and hip-hop .

When he came out as a recovering heroin user last summer, the internet did not exactly wilt from the shock. Few artists have gone about their business with as much gusto for rock’n’roll cliche as this 29-year-old.

Tattooed, frequently shirtless, when younger, Healy channelled the brash sensuality of 80s stars like INXS’s Michael Hutchence while simultaneously raising a millennial eyebrow at the absurdity of it all; tonight, he seems more contained, even as he gambols around.

The jaded might wonder if smoking opiates was on some bucket list of poses for Healy. More compassionate observers might ponder the need for unquiet minds to self-medicate. Healy, for his part, has been candid in song and interviews about his insecurities and suicidal thoughts, which populate this album even more audibly than before.

As a result, he has emerged as an articulate personality increasingly in tune with anxious times. Tonight, I Like America & America Likes Me (named after a Joseph Beuys performance art piece where he spent three days in a room with a coyote) marks the height of over-stimulation – our collective overload, and Healy’s personal version. Layered with Auto-Tune, Healy sings about his fear of death while the track hits a kind of auditory and retina-singeing peak, tilting at Xanax-addled trap hip-hop.

Having survived the age of 27 – when Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain died – the only rock cliches left for the 1975 to embrace are travelling in different tour buses and making a documentary about their group therapy, as Metallica once did.

Certainly, the album they made around Healy’s stint in rehab in Barbados is a sprawling, genre-hopping mashup that reflects both our era of always-on excess, and Healy’s particular responses to his own internal cacophony. That such harrowing fare can be this refreshing live is a coup.

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The 1975 Announce Dates for 2023 Fall/Winter N. American Tour

The band's biggest U.S./Canadian outing to date is slated to kick off off in late Sept. in Sacramento.

By Gil Kaufman

Gil Kaufman

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The 1975 announced the dates for their biggest North American tour to date on Tuesday (June 13), a 32-stop outing they’ve dubbed “Still… at their very best.” The fall arena outing continues the tour that has taken the Matty Healy-led band across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand in support of the group’s fifth studio album, last year’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language .

The 1975’s Matty Healy Opens For His Own Band, Responds to Noel Gallagher Diss With Even…

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See the 2023 North American tour dates and the “Intimate Moment” video below.

Sept. 26 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center

Sept. 28 – San Jose, CA – SAP Center

Sept. 30 – San Diego, CA – Pechanga Arena San Diego

Oct. 2 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl

Oct. 5 – Glendale, AZ – Desert Diamond Arena

Oct. 7 – Greenwood Village, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

Oct. 12 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center

Oct. 17 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center

Oct. 18 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena

Oct. 20 – Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center

Oct. 22 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena

Oct. 23 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Arena

Oct. 25 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center

Oct. 26 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center

Oct. 28 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum

Oct. 31 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena

Nov. 3 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena

Nov. 5 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena

Nov. 8 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena

Nov. 10 – Philadelphia, PA – Well Fargo Arena

Nov. 12 – Boston, MA – TD Garden

Nov. 14 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

Nov. 17 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre

Nov. 18 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena

Nov. 20 – London, ON – Budweiser Gardens

Nov. 22 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena

Nov. 26 – Salt Lake City, UT – Delta Center

Nov. 27 – Boise, ID – ExtraMile Arena

Nov. 29 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena

Dec. 1 – Portland, OR – Moda Center

Dec. 2 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena

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The 1975 Announce Fall 2023 Tour

By Matthew Strauss

The 1975 have announced a fall tour of North America. After festival dates in Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia, and the United States, the band will begin the Still ... At Their Very Best Tour in Sacramento in September. Find the group’s tour schedule below.

The 1975 began their At Their Very Best Tour last year in support of Being Funny in a Foreign Language . During a performance last month, the band’s frontman, Matthew Healy , addressed derogatory comments he made during a podcast appearance.

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

06-13 Cork, Ireland - Musgrave Park 06-15 Oslo, Norway - Piknik i Parken 06-16 Neuhausen, Germany - Southside Festival 06-18 Scheessel, Germany - Hurricane Festival 06-23 Luxembourg, Luxembourg - City Sounds Festival 06-26 Bucharest, Romania - Roma Arena 06-29 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter 07-01 Stockholm, Sweden - Lollapalooza 07-02 London, England - Finsbury Park 07-06 Madrid, Spain - Mad Cool Festival 07-07 Turku, Finland - Ruisrock Festival 07-09 Glasgow, Scotland - Trnsmt Festival 07-12 Paris, France - Olympia 07-14 Lisbon, Portugal - Super Bock Super Rock 07-18 Singapore, Singapore - MBS Convention 07-19 Singapore, Singapore - MBS Convention 07-21 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Good Vibes Festival 07-23 Jakarta, Indonesia - We The Festival 07-25 Taipei, China - Taipei Music Center 08-04 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza 08-07 Honolulu, HA - Waikiki Shell Amphitheater 08-13 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival 09-16 Atlanta, GA - Music Midtown 09-22-09-24 Las Vegas, NV - Life Is Beautiful Festival 09-26 Sacramento, CA - Golden 1 Center 09-28 San Jose, CA - SAP Center 09-30 San Diego, CA - Pechanga Arena San Diego 10-02 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl 10-05 Glendale, AZ - Desert Diamond Arena 10-07 Greenwood Village, CO - Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre 10-12 New Orleans, LA - Smoothie King Center 10-17 Miami, FL - Kaseya Center 10-18 Tampa, FL - Amalie Arena 10-20 Charlotte, NC - Spectrum Center 10-22 Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena 10-23 St. Louis, MO - Enterprise Arena 10-25 Kansas City, MO - T-Mobile Center 10-26 Minneapolis, MN - Target Center 10-28 Milwaukee, WI - Fiserv Forum 10-31 Detroit, MI - Little Caesars Arena 11-02 Indianapolis, IN - Gainbridge Fieldhouse 11-03 Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena 11-05 Pittsburgh, PA - PPG Paints Arena 11-08 Baltimore, MD - CFG Bank Arena 11-10 Philadelphia, PA - Well Fargo Arena 11-12 Boston, MA - TD Garden 11-14 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 11-15 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 11-17 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre 11-18 Toronto, Ontario - Scotiabank Arena 11-20 London, Ontario - Budweiser Gardens 11-22 Grand Rapids, MI - Van Andel Arena 11-26 Salt Lake City, UT - Delta Center 11-27 Boise, ID - ExtraMile Arena 11-29 Vancouver, British Columbia - Rogers Arena 12-01 Portland, OR - Moda Center 12-02 Seattle, WA - Climate Pledge Arena

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By Jazz Monroe

By Nina Corcoran

The Rolling Stones N.J. concert review: An inhuman display, no farewells here

• Updated: May. 24, 2024, 12:12 p.m. |
• Published: May. 24, 2024, 10:09 a.m.

The Rolling Stones perform at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Thursday, May 23, 2024. Al Mannarino | For NJ Advance Media

• Bobby Olivier | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The first time The Rolling Stones played New Jersey , they were invincible.

As Mick, Keith and crew rolled into Newark’s Symphony Hall in November 1965, for a pair of afternoon shows amid their fourth American tour, not only was “Get Off of My Cloud” gleaming atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but they’d just come off a monster summer — “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was the song of the season, notching the band’s first U.S. No. 1 single. Its corresponding album, “Out of Our Heads,” had also recently become the Stones’ first American No. 1 album.

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The Rolling Stones Really Might Never Stop

During a 19-song set at MetLife Stadium that spanned 60 years, the band tapped into what seems like a bottomless well of rock ’n’ roll energy.

By Lindsay Zoladz

“This song’s for Manhattan!” Mick Jagger told the crowd on Thursday night at MetLife Stadium, before launching into a punchy rendition of “Shattered,” that agitated ode to late-70s New York City that closes out the band’s 1978 album “Some Girls.” In the ensuing 46 years, the city has changed in some superficial ways but somehow remained essentially the same — much, as they showed throughout an impressively energetic two-hour set, like the Rolling Stones.

The Stones’ first New York-area stadium gig in five years was sponsored, without a hint of irony, by AARP. It was appropriate: At times what transpired onstage felt not just like a rock concert but a display of the evolutionary marvel that is aging in the 21st century. (Albeit aging while wealthy, with every possible technological and medical advantage at one’s disposal. I’ll have whatever vitamins the Stones are taking, please.)

Ronnie Wood, the core group’s baby at age 76, still shreds on the guitar with a grinning, impish verve. Eighty-year-old and eternally cool Keith Richards pairs his bluesy licks with a humble demeanor that seems to say “I can’t believe I’m still here, either.” And then there is Jagger, who turns 81 a few days after the Hackney Diamonds Tour wraps in July. Six decades into his performing career, he is somehow still the indefatigable dynamo he always was, slithering vertically like a charmed snake, chopping the air as if he’s in a kung fu battle against a swarm of unseen mosquitoes, and, when he needs both hands to dance, which is often, nestling the microphone provocatively above the fly of his pants. Sprinting the length of the stage during a rousing “Honky Tonk Women” — the 13th song in the set! — he conjured no other rock star so much as Benjamin Button, as he seemed to become even more energetic as the night went on.

Last year’s “ Hackney Diamonds ” — the Stones’ first album of new material in nearly two decades — was the nominal reason for the tour, but they didn’t linger on it, and the crowd didn’t seem to mind. Across 19 songs, they played only three tunes from the latest release, including two of the best: The taut, growly lead single “Angry” and, for the first part of the encore, the gospel-influenced reverie “Sweet Sounds of Heaven.” Mostly it was a kind of truncated greatest hits collection, capturing the band’s long transformation from reverent students of the blues (Richards’ star turn on the tender “You Got the Silver”) to countercultural soothsayers (a singalong-friendly “Sympathy for the Devil”) to corporate rock behemoth (they opened, of course, with “Start Me Up”).

Jagger, Richards and Wood all still emanate a palpable joy for what they are doing onstage. But those joys also feel noticeably personal and siloed, rarely blending to provide much intra-band chemistry. That is likely a preservation strategy — the surest way to keep a well-oiled machine running and to continue sharing the stage with the same people for half a century or more. But when Jagger ended a charming story about a local diner that had named a sandwich after him (“I’ve never had a [expletive] sandwich named after me! I’m very, very proud”), I did not quite buy his assertion that he, Keith and Ronnie were going to go enjoy one together after the show.

Some of that fractured feeling is likely due to the absence of the great Charlie Watts , the band’s longtime drummer who died in 2021; the Hackney Diamonds Tour is the Stones’ first North American stadium tour without him. His replacement, Steve Jordan, does about as good a job as anyone could — like Watts, he balances a rock drummer’s power with a jazzy agility — and his presence never overwhelms. Though they are surrounded by plenty of talented backing musicians, the staging makes it clear that the Rolling Stones are now a trio.

The night’s breakout star, though, was Chanel Haynes, a backing vocalist who took center stage to sing with Jagger during two of the night’s best performances. Haynes — who played Tina Turner in the West End production of the jukebox musical “Tina” before joining the Stones’ touring band in 2023 — ably filled the shoes of the mighty Merry Clayton on a blazing “Gimme Shelter,” and sat in for Lady Gaga on “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” matching the megawatt intensity of her “Hackney Diamonds” cameo. Though Haynes could be velvety soft when the song called for it, at her most impressive she sang with a low, grumbling hunger that often swelled into ferocity, as if she were taking big, meaty bites out of the songs.

Jagger, for his part, delivered many of his lines in his signature bark: The second song, a somewhat slowed down and blues-ified “Get Off of My Cloud,” was transformed by his almost scat-like delivery. But in fleeting moments — including a few falsetto runs — he showed that a certain tenderness in his tone remains intact.

That was most apparent on a gorgeous rendition of “Wild Horses,” the song that gained inclusion in the set by winning the nightly online “fan vote.” For so much of this show, the Stones effectively proved they could outrun age, irrelevancy and all the other indignities that time brings to mere mortals. But here they settled into something more contemplative, elegiac and vulnerable, and the show was better for it.

At a time when their few remaining peers are wrapping farewell tours and bands that have been together for half as long are running on fumes, the Stones are an anomaly. It’s not that their show is devoid of nostalgia, but it’s not coasting on it either. They don’t look like they did in the ’70s — who does? — but when their sound is gelling they are able to tap into some kind of eternal present. For better or worse, they seem intent to be the last band of their generation standing, to ride rock ’n’ roll all the way to its logical endpoint. Astoundingly, they don’t sound like they’ve reached it yet.

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StarTribune

Review: willie nelson, on the road again, is in fine form on a crisp night in duluth.

DULUTH – "Willie Nelson for President 2024″ proclaimed the $5 bumper stickers in the official merchandise tent Thursday night at Bayfront Festival Park.

The country music legend came to Duluth for the first time since 2011, giving his usual stump speech, er, concert. He started with the pleading "Whiskey River" and ended with the tongue-in-cheek "It's Hard to Be Humble."

If you've seen Willie in recent years, you've likely heard these same songs before. But there were many first-timers on Thursday like singer/songwriter Geno LaFond from Grand Marais and mining heavy equipment operator Allen Pangrac from Embarrass, Minn.

"For 91, this is awesome," Pangrac said mid-show of the nonagenarian's performance.

It was first-rate, age notwithstanding. Willie was in fine form, singing with thoughtful phrasing more than talk-singing, which has been his default approach on some nights as he ages. He punched his words on the end of the back-to-back Peach State odes, the stirringly wistful "Georgia on My Mind" and the chugging "I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train."

Willie's acoustic guitar work was eloquently expressive, embracing jazz, Tex-Mex, flamenco and deep-note blues whether he was taking extended solos, offering introductory passages or playing filigree between vocal lines.

His ballads, including "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," "Always on My Mind" and the aforementioned "Georgia," seemed to resonate more deeply as you realize this might be the last time you witness Willie even if it was your first time.

Unlike many of his recent records on which he addressed mortality in his songs, that vibe didn't permeate his lyrics on Thursday. Perhaps the closest he came was in the third selection, 1993′s "Still Is Still Moving to Me."

"And it's hard to explain how I feel," he crooned cryptically. "I can be moving or I can be still. But still is still moving to me."

Still? He can't wait to get on the road again. He's been doing campaign stops in smaller cities throughout the Midwest with Des Moines and Camdenton, Mo., on deck before he starts his summer Outlaw Music Festival with Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and others that brings him to Somerset, Wis., on Sept. 6, his second consecutive year in that venue.

But it wasn't summertime in Duluth. Hoodies and blankets were de rigueur as the temperatures dipped into the mid-50s with a Lake Superior breeze under a burnt orange full moon in the town where Willie's pal Dylan was born 83 years ago on Friday.

"I hope they give Willie a [space] heater," Pangrac, hiding under his just-purchased Willie hoodie, said before the Texas icon started.

Indeed, Willie had a heater onstage (he warmed his fingers at least once) and sported a quilted black jacket.

He arrived onstage without introduction, grabbed his red, white and blue guitar strap that he hitched to Trigger, his trusty weathered acoustic guitar. And he eased into "Whiskey River," as he always does to kick off his rallies.

Billed, as always, as Willie Nelson and Family, the band has shrunk in recent years. His son Micah Nelson is off playing guitar with Neil Young. Subbing for Micah was Waylon Payne, son of the late Jody Payne, Willie's guitarist for 35 years. Harmonica player Mickey Raphael, the main soloist other than Willie, has been on board since 1973. Billy English, a percussionist since in '83, replaced his late brother Paul, Willie's bestie, on drums. Upright bassist Kevin Smith joined in 2012. And there is no pianist since Willie's sister Bobbie died in 2022.

The quintet had the intimate feel of a bluegrass combo, especially with English playing with brushes on his sparse drum kit and Willie giving the band cues with his hand or head. Three times he asked Payne to sing lead, though Willie joined him for a few lines on "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night."

Willie's platform, er, set list could unite a divided country. From a cover of Merle Haggard's "Workin' Man's Blues" and his own music biz protest "Write Your Own Songs" to his playful "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die," the easygoing Texan connected with the crowd whether they were Vikings or Packers fans, North Face or Carhartt loyalists, urbanites or farmers, hippies or rednecks, kids or grandparents.

Like a dedicated candidate, Willie is not only stumping from town to town but busy publishing his views. On May 31, he will release "The Border," his 75th studio album and seventh since 2020. In November, he'll publish "Willie and Annie Nelson's Cannabis Cookbook: Mouthwatering Recipes and the High-Flying Stories Behind Them." (Willie's Joint, the booth selling his cannabis-themed T-shirts, was almost as busy Thursday as the official merch tent offering hoodies and those bumper stickers.)

Seated and saying little between songs other than "Thank you" and introducing the band members, the singer with the pigtails may not have been physically invigorating but he sure seemed vital, maybe proving that, at his age, he could fulfill the wishes on that bumper sticker.

After a crisp 60-minute performance that didn't seem as brief as it was, he got up from his padded stool, tossed his straw cowboy hat into the crowd, removed the red bandana wrapped around his head and threw that into the crowd. Then, like a victory-seeking candidate, he spread his arms as wide he could, put both hands to his lips and blew a two-handed kiss. About 7,000 folks were ready to cast their votes.

Jon Bream has been a music critic at the Star Tribune since 1975, making him the longest tenured pop critic at a U.S. daily newspaper. He has attended more than 8,000 concerts and written four books (on Prince, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan). Thus far, he has ignored readers’ suggestions that he take a music-appreciation class.

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Anitta’s ‘Baile Funk Experience’ Fulfills Its Promise With Sweltering U.S. Debut: Concert Review

By Thania Garcia

Thania Garcia

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Anitta had never headlined her own concert in the States before Wednesday night’s sold-out show at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. Yet it was hard to believe it was her first time after witnessing the Brazilian star dart through a remarkably tight and nearly 30-song setlist.

Popular on Variety

Anitta equally left room on the setlist to allow her biggest hits in both Brazil and in Latin America and the U.S. to shine, including her catchy and career-defining collaborations with J Balvin, Cardi B and Missy Elliott. After buzzing through “Funk Generation,” her dancers exited the stage for her to sweetly sing her pop songs “Girl From Rio,” “Mil Veces” and “Envolver” on a single stand-up mic with nothing but a DJ supporting her. The latter half of the show is dedicated to showcasing her early stints in funk carioca trap with songs like Tropkillaz’ “Bola Rebola” and “Vai Malandra,” inciting a dance battle and perpetuating the high energy stakes of the evening that Anitta so happily maintained.

The visuals remained mostly consistent throughout the night (outside of a quick change or two); Anitta and her team of dancers would balance on the tips of their toes by hooking their fingers onto a chain-linked fence, replicating the set for the music video for Anitta and Bad Gyal’s “ Double Team .”

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