The 1975 brings “Still…At Their Very Best” tour to T-Mobile ahead of (perhaps overdue) indefinite hiatus

The 1975 at T-Mobile. // Photo by Ivy Anderegg

“The 1975 Still…At Their Very Best” tour took the stage at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center on Wednesday night. The show is a continuation of last year’s “At Their Very Best Tour,” riding on the success of their most recent album “Being Funny in a Foreign Language”.

The 1975’s music ruminates on the attention culture of the digital age alongside the corruption and political unrest that plagues the world today. No stranger to controversy, frontman Matty Healy has recently been caught in digital fires due to his unfiltered communication and reactive commentary.

On paper, their messaging is fairly solid anti-capitalist rapport, but Healy’s Twitter campaigns and comments on podcasts raise alarms of racism and misogyny. As Jia Tolentino put it in a lengthy New Yorker profile, Healy’s current persona is that of “a post-woke rock star, switching unpredictably between tenderness and trollishness.”

Online, Healy oscillates between a rampant leftist delivering timely messaging on world issues and a scrutinous, rampaging individual with indistinct thoughts that are a complete miss. A recent tweet out to Lucy Dacus of Boygenius containing an ableist non-joke resulted in Healy deactivating his online platforms for a second time. Other recent online ridicule of Healy include the highly visible alleged fling with Taylor Swift, comments on Ice Spice during an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show, and a brief imprisonment by the Malaysian government following an on-stage kiss with bassist Ross MacDonald. 

Despite their shifting popularity and media drama, the band put on a damn good show that leaned on the nostalgia of their earlier discography on a fresh stage.

DORA JAR

The 1975 at T-Mobile. // Photo by Ivy Anderegg

The set opened with Dora Jar whose stage persona can be best described as a mythical woodland creature, her quirky personality shining through from the beginning of the set as she shifted between cartoon-ish voices throughout the entirety of the performance. 

Dora Jar brought so much energy that I almost forgot they weren’t the main act. The volume was cranked high and the bass thumped throughout the room during hits “Multiply” and “Polly,” closing with a performance of the unreleased track “Puppet.” Unwavering in her energy and vocal aptitude, Dora Jar’s performance was a phenomenal kickoff to the night.

THE 1975

The 1975 at T-Mobile. // Photo by Ivy Anderegg

Following a short interlude between sets, the 1975 took the stage with a revised edition of their tour last fall, that contrasted modern socio-political horrors against the set of a cozy, suburban household. Unlike last years performance gilded with fairy lights, a baby grand, and a spiral staircase, this show opened with a more laidback entrance replicating the casual flow of a house party. The furniture was less lavish and more 70s coded in looks, bringing an element of visual nostalgia to the stage. Of course, slamming shots and chain smoking made it’s appearance as Healy impressively held a microphone and bottle of wine, while taking drags from his Parliaments and playing the piano during the show’s opening song.

The 1975 at T-Mobile. // Photo by Ivy Anderegg

This show felt less like a theatrical staging than their previous tour and allowed more room between transitions. Following a less clear “storyline,” the concert jumped between eras of their music, but made sure to include most of their top hits. 

The Kansas City audience experienced the tour debut of “Pressure” as well as a performance of “Undo,” selected by a fan that has attended 72 shows. Healy announced the selection, saying, “This one’s for the Tumblr girlies”.

Though more tame than the “At Their Very Best” tour, where Healy ate raw steak and kissed fans on-stage, the show still leaned into shock-factor moments. Mid-set, the band shifted to a second stage in the center of the venue, where a nude model of Matty Healy laid in a fetal position. This moment of silent theatre, where Healy prodded at the ‘corpse’, clearly signified Healy’s death at the hands of the media to which he followed with a passive remark “The extent to which men will go to not have to apologize”.  The scene was followed by an acoustic performance of “Be my mistake” and “Paris”. It was an odd break in the set, with no subtlety in the messaging, but nonetheless interesting to watch.

Controversy aside, Healy said that he was “on his best behavior” at this show and that he thought he was doing a fairly good job at it. He also commented on how the audience turnout was good considering “I thought we were cancelled.” A fan was quick to call out that they were, in fact, cancelled to which Healy gave a quick “thanks, babe” before kicking off their next song. 

It’s worth noting that The 1975 show, though outlandish in nature, did not feel quite as personal or inspirational without Healy’s flowing commentary throughout. I could tell that the audience was waiting for him to speak throughout the concert, but the standard rant never came. Regardless of what he did or didn’t say, the show was electric and unlike many of the commercial acts that often take stage in larger venues. 

The set closed with a performance of “People,” ending the night in a pop-punk, screaming rage. The band took their final bows during the closing instrumental as hardhat-laden stagehands began to clear the stage. The audience left in a haze to the contrastingly eerie sound of “The End of the World” by Skeeter Davis playing through the speakers—a harsh drop back into reality.

The 1975 announced in August that they will go on an “indefinite hiatus” from touring following the European leg of their shows in early 2024. Though the band isn’t breaking up, there have yet to be rumblings of a new album, leaving fans questioning what the future of the group looks like. The “Still…At Their Very Best Tour” marks the end of an era for the band, though their global audience will be anxiously awaiting their next update. 

Dora Jar Set List

Multiply
Polly
Lagoon
Garden
Scab Song
Puppet

The 1975 Set List

The 1975 (BFIAFL)
Looking for Somebody (to Love)
Happiness
Part of the Band
Oh Caroline
I’m in Love With You
A Change of Heart
An Encounter
Robbers
Bagsy Not in Net
Pressure
About You
Be My Mistake
Paris
TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME
If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)
Me & You Together Song
It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)
The Sound
Somebody Else
Undo
I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)
Love It If We Made It
Sex
Give Yourself a Try
People