The 1975 played their “Heart Out” at Riviera Theater

In anticipation of The 1975’s unreleased album “I Like it When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It,” expected to release in February 2016, my excitement to see them live was through the roof.

I have been a fan of The 1975 since the summer going into freshman year, which is when they released their first EP, “Facedown.” Consequently, I woke up the morning of Dec. 8 with the recurring thought that in 13 hours, I would be seeing one of my favorite bands of all time. There is no better motivation to get through the day than that.

Throughout the school day, I kept hearing about people camping in front of the concert venue, The Riviera, overnight in order to get good spots. I became nervous, fearing that I would have to stand in the way, way back and miss out on how a concert should truly feel. Arriving an hour after the venue doors opened, it quickly became apparent that my friends and I would have to be crafty if we wanted to get good spots. By sneaking past some security guards, we were able to weasel all the way up to the 20th row. Mission accomplished.

The opening band, Swim Deep, seemed to have a good amount of fans. Personally, I was not really feeling their vibe. The lead singer screamed too much and for some reason, he constantly brought out this distracting tamborine. They played some of their more popular songs, such as “King City” and “She Changes the Weather.”

Swim Deep finished, and it was once again time to wait. The crowd was getting anxious, and I was getting hungry. The longer-than-usual wait caused me to drift off into thinking about random things: the homework I still had to do, why the person next to me was sweating so much and if the members of The 1975 were even alive in 1975. I played a little game in my head to see how many people I could find wearing Doc Martens.

And then the wait was finally over. The 1975 started their set in a stroke of brilliance. Static streaks of color flashed across the LED pillars and screen that surrounded them. The band’s silhouettes contrasted with the backgrounded–they were not there to show off who they are. In this show, it was all about the experience, the sound and the music. They started with their newly released “Love Me,” a very upbeat and lively song. “Heart Out,” one of their most popular songs, followed.

The crowd pulsed with each beat of the kick drum and riff of the guitar. The lights mesmerized me and I focused on the adrenalized performance. I felt guilty every time I pulled my phone out to snap a picture for this article, because I did not want to miss a second of it.

As the night went on, they played more songs from their old album and a few unreleased tracks from their new album. In the middle of it, Matty Healy began to speak directly to the audience. He urged us to put away our phones and “live for the moment,” which everyone took to heart. After he spoke, they began to play a couple of their slower songs, such as “Me” and “Fallingforyou.” What was a flashy show of lights eased into a steady pace of color gradients, evoking a feeling that was almost futuristic.

The speed started to pick up again, and they had reached their final song of their regular set, and possibly my favorite song of the night: “Girls.” I had seen their intro to the song on Twitter, which replicated a repeating pulse of colorful stripes and streaks that sped up faster and faster until it halted with a white flash, revealing what seemed to be a crashed computer screen. The audience was a mix of confused, curious and excited. As soon as the first notes of the song began blaring through the speakers, the crowd erupted. They eventually gave an encore performance and played their extra tracks “Medicine,” “Chocolate” and “Sex.”

I made my way through the sea of people and out the doors, knowing there was one thing I needed to do–get tickets for their next US tour.