Live Review: The 1975, Cub Sport

Brisbane's Cub Sport step onto the stage to a sea of screaming girls. They waste no time in blasting the speakers with their, self-described "new-dream-death-wave-goth-pop". Their sound is a mix of dreamy '80s pop synth and jangly surf-rock guitar with a delicate folk vocal. The set features songs off their debut album, This Is Our Vice. Each song is greeted with more screaming. They do a cover of a classic new wave track, frontman Tim Nelson saying, "It's one of our favourite songs. It's This Must Be The Place by the Talking Heads." The set wraps up in a dreamy fog of pop with Come On Mess Me Up and I'm On Fire. The biggest scream they get is when Nelson mentions they'll be hanging out at the merch desk — it's ear-splitting.

The audience buzzes with teenage, fangirl excitement waiting for the clock to hit nine. Fans scream at random intervals unable to contain themselves. The lights go down and single Love Me starts up with an improvised sax solo. The crowd's response to The 1975 is instant — girls scream and climb onto their boyfriend's shoulders for a better look, everyone dances and sings along. It stays this way for the whole show.

The band's sound is a melting pot of all things pop — new wave, New Romantics, Britpop — with a sprinkling of alternative rock and neo-soul. The band have a touring sax player who delivers some killer '80s-inspired solos. Their performance is polished, songs bleeding into one another creating a neverending dance track. The light show is an impressive and dazzling display of obnoxiously bright colour and patterns.

Midset frontman Matthew Healy tells the crowd, "I wanna try and connect," he pauses, "not in a weird way, in an emotional way. I want one song where it's just us and you — no phones." He acknowledges how strange that is for our modern lifestyle. "The memory will be far more potent than that video on your fucking phone." We cheer in response and tuck away our phones. Me, a moody ballad, pours through the arena. The crowd and band feed off each other creating an electric energy. After the song Healy thanks everyone. "That was nice," he says. "I loved it."

The night wraps up in a whirlwind of classic 1975 — Girls, Chocolate, The Sound and Sex. Healy shouts, "We're going to come back as soon as we can. Until next time we love you!" Melbourne will be counting down the days until The 1975 return to host another all night rave.