The 1975 @ The Fillmore with Swim Deep.
Text and images by McCall Cox.
The 1975, accompanied by Swim Deep, performed on Saturday at The Fillmore.
UK Indie pop band Swim Deep, consisting of Austin Williams on vocals, Tom Higgins on guitar, Zachary Robinson on drums, Cavan McCarthy on bass guitar and James Balmont on keys and percussion, opened the show. They performed songs such as “King City” and “The Sea.”
“Thanks to everyone who knows our songs, that really means a lot,” Williams said. “Thanks to The 1975 for bringing us out. Great band, great crew.”
After their set, the lights gradually dimmed and smoke filled the stage. The 1975 walked out to the screams and cries of their audience. The alternative, pop-rock band launched right into their new single, “Love Me,” with a pink lighting scheme to match the band’s new aesthetic (which had been notoriously black and white prior). The band followed with two songs, “Heart Out” and “Settle Down,” from their first, self-titled album.
The 1975 features Matthew Healy on vocals and guitar, Ross MacDonald on bass guitar and keyboard, Adam Hann on guitar and George Daniel on drums. The band has also recently added John Waugh on saxophone. The band hails from Manchester, England.
“It’s so fucking good to be back in Philly,” said Healy.“We love it here.”
The 1975 played songs from a couple of their older EPs, such as “So Far (It’s Alright)” and “You.” Before “Menswear,” Waugh performed a brief saxophone solo to lead into the ambient beginning of the track.
“Philadelphia! Look at me,” Healy ordered before jumping into single “The City.”
“All of you, look at me. You’ve got to look after one another. You’ve got to stop pushing and starting kissing and hugging. Less pushing, alright?”
Following the track, Healy said, “We’re back! We’re back on tour. We’re doing it again. Thank you for coming. We’ve done an album in the time that we’ve been away and it’s due out in February. And we wanted to do a tour where we could fill it with our proper fans so you could hear it before everybody else.”
The band then supported this by playing new song, “Change of Heart.”
“This next song is called ‘She’s American,’” said Healy. “Okay, let’s do it.”
The band previewed the new track from the upcoming album. The 1975 also performed other unreleased songs, including “Somebody Else.”
The band took a break in order to thank the crew and other personnel touring with the band.
“Give it up for Swim Deep!” Healy encouraged the audience. “We’re so lucky to be with some great people.”
“How’s everybody doing?” Healy continued, pointing to sections of the audience and individual fans. “How are you, love?”
The singer later discussed the detriment of living through technology—a theory Healy has mentioned in the past.
“I just fear if we leave so introspectively and try to document everything, you might miss what’s actually happening,” Healy said. “Do you know what I mean? Not to be a grandpa but – I‘ll tell you what. Ten minutes right? Ten minutes—us and you and no phones. No more people. Don’t experience this thinking about showing it to somebody else. This is for you. So I mean one or two people, you’re going to keep your phones out ‘cause you’re an asshole but the majority of us, let’s have 10 minutes where we fucking experience just what this is. Cheers!”
The band then performed “Me.”
“This song is about me,” Healy said.
Following the song, Healy asked the audience, “Don’t you feel a bit better?”
Healy responded to the cheers of fans by saying, “This song is about you.” The band then launched into the slow ballad, “Fallingforyou.”
“This next song—you don’t know it. You don’t know this next song but just go mental for this next song so I don’t look like a wanker. You ready?” Healy introduced The 1975’s new song, “The Sound.”
The frontman prefaced the performance of the next song, the hit single “Robbers,” by saying, “Alright Philly, let’s get emo.”
Following “Girls,” The 1975 ended their performance and left the stage. As the crowd cheered and chanted “We want sex!” the band resumed their positions on stage to play a three song encore, including “Medicate.”
“Right! We have two songs left. Do you still have some energy?” Healy asked the audience as The 1975 performed their hit single “Chocolate.”
“Philadelphia, we can’t thank you enough for coming out to our show tonight,” he said. “I know it’s hard to get tickets. This really means a lot to us, so thank you very much. So this is it. Now we’ve got a new album. We’re going to be on tour for fucking ever. So we’ll see you around. Until then… you know.”
The band started the single “Sex.”
As the band members came to the front of the stage to bow, Healy left the audience with a simple, “Goodnight Philadelphia!”
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 
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