I met Maria by chance, at a music event, the same way that many others have met her. It was at a Radiohead Kid A listening session in Rotterdam, where we both lived at the time. We crossed paths again in the train back from Amsterdam after Rosalía’s concert in 2022, where I immediately recognised her - she’s hard to miss with her larger than life attitude and strawberry blonde hair. Her passion for experiencing and enjoying music at a pure level became immediately clear to me as I followed her adventures online. More recently, I noticed that she went to a couple of The 1975’s concerts. Out of curiosity, I asked her then (and time and time again since) how many times she’s gone to see The 1975. To my awe, she answered that she’d seen them live almost 20 times. At that point I decided, out of sheer interest, that it was time for the two of us to sit down and talk about this hobby.
You see, Maria is a bit of a The 1975 superfan since she first discovered them at 15 years old, at a time when they just had one studio album. “My first concert alone was at the O2 to see them after their second album’s release”. She had just moved to London and hadn’t met any fans yet. “I had seated tickets so it was okay. If I had floor tickets I would have made friends, but of course, I didn’t know that at the time.” She recounts how excited she was, but talks of her initial wariness to solo concert-going: “I was just 18. Now… it’s completely different”.
Maria has seen The1975 many times in their last two tours promoting their most recent album. She went to three concerts in the UK, then two festivals, where they toured promoting their latest album - the At Their Very Best tour. Most recently, she went to three more shows in the UK along with nine more in Europe for their tour reboot - Still At Their Very Best. “It was the first time they were touring Europe in 19 years [...] I wasn’t doing the States, and not a lot of the UK because of prices”. However, she handpicked shows in cities like Lisbon where the “venues are smaller and you get to be super close no matter where you are”, and the price is, of course, much cheaper. “The ticket in Lisbon was like 40 euros, and in London it’s like 150 or something!”
I asked her why she wanted to see so many shows on the same tour. Her answer was: “they change their setlist a lot.”. She describes that usually the show would vary every time around “30 to 40%”, but in the last few days they (The 1975) were a bit “burnt out”. “They were like we’ll play whatever we want” she explains, “you get this feeling of ‘you have to be there’ because then what if they play my song and I’m not there?”. Such is a song they don’t often play called ‘Love Me’, a song that she implies is “her song”; “I have to say the first half of the show was kind of the same”.
When it came to the potential of waning excitement, she recounts that the first four shows were “super exciting”, but then, while the excitement doesn’t fade, it switches. “It’s like seeing your friend for the first time in a long time, the first time you’re like !!! but then the fourth time it’s different. You get the feeling of ‘I can't believe I get to see you again.’”
Seeing the same band so many times, I wondered if she ever got noticed, or if that was her goal at all. “I haven’t met them, no”. The most recognition that is received is eye contact. She doesn’t really like to carry around signs because “I guess I’m lazy, and I just feel bad”. Describing her aversion to heckling artists, she states “I’m not too fussed about meeting them also because if it’s not through this, then it’s through my job (in the music industry)”.
In total, Maria has been to 83 concerts. She keeps track of all of them on a spreadsheet which she had open during the interview. “In the past two years, especially after the COVID-19 crisis, it’s usually at a rate of 16-20 per year”. She anticipates that it may be less next year as The 1975 aren’t touring. The pandemic really made her realize that “all of this could go away so easily”, so she was just going to attend all the gigs she wanted to from now onwards.
Interestingly enough, this love she has for attending gigs is generational and entrenched in her childhood. “I was raised by a fangirl”. Her mother has been to “80 Bruce Springsteen concerts” - which also happened to be Maria’s first concert - a practice which her mother would travel to the States for. “My mom was and is very supportive of me if I wanted to or want to go to any concerts”. Maria describes seeing Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, One Direction (some of them several times), growing up in her hometown, Barcelona. Back in the day, she “didn’t overstep or overdo it”. However, when she moved to London and started independently gig-chasing, things changed. “Everyone goes to London.” Yet even when they weren’t, her mindset was “if you’re not coming to me, I’m coming to you”.
This hobby is not for the faint-hearted though, Maria warns. “If I had to warn or give a PSA to people wanting to do this, money and time is something to be aware of”. She describes saving up for the next The 1975 tour: “The financial hit I’ve taken…” she trials off, “it’s so worth it though, and I would do it again”. Additionally, gig-crawls, if you will, are quite high octane and energy-consuming: “you’re gonna get sick for sure”. She smiles; indeed her voice is gone from the concert she’s recently been to, “but it’s worth it”.
Delving into judgment from the inside and outside of those who attend gigs, she explains how some people have a mentality of “earning your spot” in the queue and camping outside, whilst others prefer the check-in system. “I don’t really like suffering to do something, and I just think everyone should do whatever they want to”. This judgment is two-fold though, as it also comes from the outside.
“People don’t understand it” Maria says, describing how she has gotten used to and grown tired of people questioning her about her hobby, relentlessly asking her if she gets bored of it. Part of it, she claims, is definitely internalised misogyny. “A 15 year old screaming at a One Direction concert vs a 50 year old male football fan at a match”, the double-standard is astounding. She claims that there’s this certain image of a “fangirl”, where they assume you “peaked at 14” and they use it to box you in, and “diminish” what you’re saying. “At some point though, you just have to ignore it”. She elaborates, “It’s just passion, and you’re just enjoying yourself. Besides, the fangirl to music industry pipeline is real, and I’m in it”.
Maria currently works in Amsterdam at a music distributor agency, a company that works with many medium to small sized record labels. “‘I’m the social media and community strategy manager. I talk to social media platforms when there’s a big release coming (to gain traction) and advise artists on what to do for social and community building”. Truly winning, she’s “made a job out of being a fangirl.” She discusses how fans need to be “emotionally invested” now with artists, especially live: “it’s not the same as it was before, you have to create lore, and make it an identity thing (like a subculture)”. When the “fans are there, the passion is there”, and now with so much going on, fan-artist dynamics have evolved. We are yet to see how artists will adapt to this, but for now, as I joke with Maria, she has inspired me to browse DICE…
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