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Patrick Bateman could be having a whale of a time. The infamous, fictional 80s assassin from Bret Easton Ellis’ controversial novel American Psycho loves his pop to be pure pop; Huey Lewis & the Information, Phil Collins, extreme, business, decadent, aspirational. A method of music that was by no means cool, and was butchered to dying within the ’90s by grunge the identical method that Bateman would butcher his co-worker Paul Allen with an axe.
However this night, the sophistipop renaissance that began within the 2010s is full as The 1975 headline Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage for the primary time. Someway, these bizarre little nerds from Manchester have repackaged Deacon Blue, Hue & Cry, Residing in a Field and myriad different lengthy forgotten, 80s yuppie-pop bands and efficiently bought them to the trendy youth. And tonight is their crowning second of glory.
Because the band slink on to a saxophone solo (a fucking SAXOPHONE SOLO!) and strike up Happiness, the high-pitched squeals are deafening. The robo-synth beats, the neon throb of the lights, extra sax… MORE FUCKING SAX, it’s so day-glo, coke binge, shell go well with sporting, 80s kitsch that you just wouldn’t be stunned if Timmy Mallet turned up onstage and began bopping the band over the top with a plastic hammer.
The one factor that stops it from wanting like a Thompson Twins efficiency on Prime of the Pops from 1984 is frontman Matty Healy. The divisive lead singer has acquired a little bit of the Bateman power about him; we by no means actually know if what he’s saying is real, we are able to’t actually work out what kind of ideas are skittering via his thoughts, behind that furrowed forehead and mop of floppy, unkempt hair. There’s an thought of Matty, some form of abstraction, however we by no means see the true him.
He turns up with a fag in his mouth, swigging a pint of Guinness between vocal elements. Is it a deliberate try to look “rock and roll”? Is he a tortured artist? Is that this some type of post-ironic, meta deconstruction of the rock star archetype? Who is aware of, however as he swaggers round, sometimes being actually humorous (claiming sincerely to be a poet, earlier than enjoying Chocolate with the lyrics on the display intentionally mangled into gobbledegook is a legitimately humorous piece of self-sabotage), and infrequently being extremely annoying (making a speech about not making political statements attributable to there being “an excessive amount of” politics all over the place is lame and inherently political. You daft tit!), you’ll be able to’t assist however really feel, you understand, one thing. Which is greater than you get with most pop stars within the fashionable period.
The 1975 have a stage set that principally appears like a facet mission in GTA, they’ve acquired a mouthy frontman, they play music that has way more in widespread with Spandau Ballet than something “rock” associated, model over substance then is it? Properly, see, right here’s the factor… they’ve additionally acquired some actually good pop tunes that would go toe to toe with any of the most important artist they ape. If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know) might swallow Duran Duran entire, Intercourse would kill The Killers, Love It If We Made It batters INXS, The Sound whams Wham. And despite the fact that the power does dip across the center when The 1975 resolve to spend a bit too lengthy in full energy ballad mode, theirs is a set that’s breezily enjoyable, understanding, arch, filled with character and with a tonne of danceable bangers.
By the top the band, Healy specifically, look overwhelmed and exhilarated by the entire expertise. They simply needed to thrill lots of people.
