Filipino fans during the concert: ‘It’s not living (if it’s not with The 1975)’

By: Gillan Lasic - 5 years ago

Despite the rainy weather, Filipino fans stormed to the Mall of Asia Arena to witness a night of musical and visual spectacle with Matt Healy, Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald, and George Daniel from The 1975, along with No Rome as their opening act.

The British indie pop-rock band returned to the Philippines last September 11, 2019 for a one-night show, as part of their Asian Tour for their album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (ABIIOR). The 1975 filled the arena with Filipino fans singing and dancing their ‘heart out’ to some of their songs from their three albums.

For years, The 1975’s music has evolved from grunge, pop-rock songs to colorful synth-y bops—becoming more raw and sincere with their lyrics and it just keep getting better. This time, the band is going for a bolder and unabashed approach as they tackle societal, climate and ecological crisis in their songs. They also recently released a “wake-up call” song called “People” from their upcoming album Notes on a Conditional Form.

One of the highlights from their show was when The 1975 played a five-minute spoken word track featuring 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg. The track calls for awareness on climate change and encourages people to act against it to save the Earth: “We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis… It’s now time for civil disobedience, it’s time to REBEL!”

During the show, The 1975 rocked and danced to songs like “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME”, “Give Yourself A Try”, “Sincerity Is Scary”, “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)”, “Love It If We Made It”, “I Couldn’t Be More In Love”, “I Like  America & America Likes Me”, and “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” from ABIIOR. They also played these songs from their self-titled album and I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it: “Girls”, “Chocolate”, “Fallingforyou”, “Loving Someone”, “A Change Of Heart”, “Love Me”, “She’s American”, and “Somebody Else”.

Crowd favorite “Robbers” and “Sex” made everyone go wild as they sang along to every lyric of the songs. The 1975 wrapped the show with their chart-topping hit “The Sound” and said that they’d “probably come back,” talking about the possibility of a tour for their upcoming fourth album.

Check out some of the highlights from The 1975’s show in Manila:

Prior to the concert, we got to talk to London-based Filipino artist No Rome and he shared about his journey as an artists and what inspired him to make music. He said that his music was greatly influenced by the bands and the friends he grew up with.

“I was born and raised in Manila, and by the time I was 18, I flew to London. Two and a half years since… it’s been wild!” No Rome signed with Dirty Hit, the same record label with The 1975, and has released two EPs: RIP Indo Hisashi (2018) and Crying In The Prettiest Places (2019).

He also talked about how he loves collaborating with The 1975 and how surreal it was for him to perform with them and even become the first Filipino to perform in Coachella. “I really appreciate it and I’m trying to protect it… I really just wanted to make some art and make a contribution. I guess performing in these shows is like a bonus to me already.”

No Rome was the opening act for The 1975’s show in Manila and he played some of his songs such as “Do It Again”, Saint Laurent”, “Stoned In The Valley”, “Cashmoney”, “Seventeen”, “Pink”, and joined the band on stage when they sang their collab song “Narcissist”.

 

When asked about who he wants to collaborate with among the local artists, No Rome said he’d want to work with Nadine Lustre. “She’s got good voice, kinda like Ariana (Grande) vibe,” he said.

“It’s going to be fun! I’m really excited!” No Rome is set to have his first solo show in the country at the Market! Market! Activity Center on October 6, 2019.

“The 1975 Live in Manila” was presented by MMI Live and Smart Live Nation.

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