The 1975 // Nottingham Arena, 2020 – Georgia Keenan-Hill
There’s nothing quite as nerve-wracking as losing your phone during the last song, whilst surrounded by thousands of other people, all squashed in Nottingham’s actually-not-that-large arena. Especially when that song is ‘The Sound’ and The 1975’s lead singer Matt Healy is shouting “one, two, fucking jump!” every other breath. Trying to find that balance between screaming until my lungs go hoarse, and having a heart attack—because there’s still a year left on that contract.
And then there’s that rush for the doors when they definitely aren’t coming back. The lights are back on, my eyes are spinning, and passive-aggressive Siri messages keep flashing up on the Jumbotron. That flush of humiliation when that guy couldn’t lift me on his shoulders (but it’s fine because Matty Healy definitely saw me when his mate hoisted me up for ‘Sincerity Is Scary’); the heightened hilarity of singing the wrong words to a song that they’ve never played before; the pure, unadulterated joy of recreating a moment from the year before, screaming the lyrics to ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’ into my best friend’s face. The knowledge that it could only have been better had I been able to re-experience Matty Healy shouting “Oi, no fucking fighting at my gig!” in his robot voice. Totally worth the night-long panic I endured when I realised that my phone would not turn on.
Who would you write your live music lover letter to? Is it the band you lost your live music v-card to? A show where you had a near death experience? Or a gig that was made special by the people you were with? Tweet us your love letters @indie_pendent
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