A Brief Inquiry into an English "Rock" Band Playing in Dublin

For someone whose absolute joke of a social life has led him to attend no formal concerts throughout my life, I found it to be advantageous to attend a concert in Dublin for the 1975 -- a band who I had heard of but not heard a single note of a song of. In roughly a week of preparation and homework of the band, whose millennial voice on Gen-Z issues in society has drawn some critical acclaim, I came to the calculation that this was not necessarily a band that I would covet having to see live, but also one that I could have a decent time watching (if that makes any sense). In the grand scheme of things: why not? I was tired of having a social life distinguished as having had no actual fun, and I came to Ireland to change that exact purpose, so a concert could make that change for the better.

Come concert day, after our excursion to Dublin City Hall, I was ready to go. After having studied the five studio albums released by the 1975 since their inception (and only remembering a few of their songs), I found out that maybe I could at least lip-sync to some of the songs that I had encountered, which is the great barrier to enjoying a concert in my mind (not that I had any actual clue on that). 

The trek to St. Anne's Park was angst-filled -- filled with wonder on how the night was going to play out, or if I could compete with the band's diehards in hopefully having a good time out, etc. Having to walk nearly a mile in the park just to get to security and ticket scanning, my trusted comrade William -- the diehard 1975 fan of the group that went -- endured a security concern with his iPad mini and had to divert his attention to returning his beloved iPad mini back to Marino. In the meantime, I downed four pints of Heineken in a roughly 45-minute drag of time with two of our fellow concertgoers, which I honestly can say I have no regrets about accomplishing. Returning in time for his beloved lead singer Matty Healy and his opening acoustic set, William and I were "upgraded" to the gold circle seating "randomly" for the security mishap (if you were wondering, I downed two more pints of Heineken throughout the rest of the night with no food intake).

Reeling from his failed week(s?)-long romance with the untouchable Taylor Swift, Matty Healy opened up his actual band act with his acoustic set. I knew probably zero songs from my functioning memory of the opening act, but oh well. But hey, he spray-painted "Sorry?" on a bedsheet! Cryptic!

Nonetheless, for the rest of the night (it was partly a fun blur for obvious, aforementioned reasons), I can confidently say I had a good time, which is why I went to the show in the first place. For example, when the band played "People" from their Notes on a Conditional Form album, which is basically the 1975 at its most punk performance, I may have gotten a little too rowdy in the crowd, of which William offered some constructive criticism following the show (no apologies, mate). The act went on shorter than I expected, but with no experience of concertgoing in the past, I don't have any frame of reference for the length of a concert.

The 1975 put on a hell of a show (pictured near the end of the show). Song? Honestly not sure at this point in the show.

The concert does not imply much for any of my classes or their teachings, but the show ties directly to Dublin's vibrant culture and nightlife, of which I did desire to experience in my time here. One of the only connections I can make to class teachings include the festival attended by a teenaged-Colin Broderick in That's That, in which his evening of debauchery is one of the few moments of unadulterated joy a young Colin got to experience as a Catholic facing constant prejudice from Protestant Northern Ireland. As for politics, the concert industry itself is part of the general economy of the Republic of Ireland for tourism and entertainment, which can in itself be regulated freely by the Irish national government (apologies to Dr. Dale for the lack of connecting input.)

For a first-ever concert, I was definitely satisfied with the band's performance and with the notion that I actually enjoyed my time -- the latter of which I don't say as often as I should or as much as I would like. Overall, I give the concert a B+ and the six Heinekens a C for getting the job done but with no distinguished taste.