On Thursday, December 4th, 2014, I had one of the best nights of my life. Three of my high school friends and I went to the Terminal 5 venue in Hell’s Kitchen to see one of my favorite bands perform in concert. The 1975 is a British indie pop/alternative rock band that released their first album last year, which was self titled meaning it was named after the band. They got their name from a notebook beat poetry with one dated “June 1st, The 1975” and grew fond of the strong use of language putting “the” in front of a date. I listened to their album on repeat for months and when they released tour dates in June, I immediately bought tickets. For six months, I waited in anticipation until finally the day arrived and then I suddenly felt nervous because I knew I would be so sad the next day when it was over forever.

Since there are no seats at this venue, we had to arrive early and wait in line for hours to get a good spot, which paid off because we were maybe 20 feet away from the stage. There were two opening acts (also bands) and I enjoyed there music too, but when the main event began I felt a wave of ecstasy and excitement that lasted the rest of the night. My favorite thing about the band itself is the lead singer Matty Healy. He has such a peaceful and mellow personality, yet he reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean’s Jack Sparrow because he was smoking cigarettes and drinking out of a bottle on stage and just wanted all of us to have fun. As for the music, I love the electronic sound they have that makes you want to dance and Matty’s voice is amazing. During the concert, Matty kept telling us to put our phones away and instead appreciate the fact that we were all together enjoying the music. It’s so hard not to take pictures and videos at concerts because I want to remember every second of it, but at the same time you miss out on the present moment so I try to only record special parts. Between two of the songs Matty said something that was so truthful concerning today’s societal issues that I couldn’t help but write it down in my phone. He said “Art in its condition, in its essence, especially music…Music transcends a lot of things-gender, sexuality, race, etc., etc., etc.”  That’s a huge reason why I love music so much, it’s universal in that anyone can relate to it. It can make you feel a certain emotion so quickly and easily that it takes over your body and mind.