5 Seconds Of Summer Show Review
Article written and photos by Vanessa Holt
5 Seconds of Summer hit the road this summer for “The 5SOS Show” and it was a tour that catered to day-one fans and newer ones. I had the privilege of seeing them in Irving, TX at The Pavillion At Toyota Music Factory. At first glance, you wouldn’t have guessed that it was a venue that could hold thousands of fans with it being tucked in the middle of local restaurants and business buildings but once inside, it was a nice summer amphitheater venue. Without even stepping out of the car, you knew it was going to be a great night. The general line had wrapped all around the venue with fans dressed in outfits that varied from colorful suits to match vocalist, Luke Hemmings current aesthetics these days, to flannel and ripped skinny jeans for all the fans that were day ones, and even all of the old school tour tees. One of the biggest things that gave off the warm and comforting vibes was watching everyone run around trading friendship bracelets which is a trend that has recently come back these days, a simple act like that makes it easier to make friends and take the concert experience up another level.
We started off the night with Meet Me At The Altar, a band that I was no stranger to. I’ve had the pleasure of watching this band go from opening and headling 600 cap venues to opening amphitheaters and arenas for 5 Seconds Of Summer. This trio pop punk band is a perfect opener for the night, all three members perform with high levels of energy from jumping around and spin kicks. A majority of their setlist is their debut album, Past // Present // Future which is highly recommended to give a listen. They kicked off their set with my favorite, Same Language. As the standard goes for opening bands, the majority of the crowd had never heard of them before so a lot of these songs were new for everyone. However, they did something special and performed Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, and Jonas Brothers covers so that everyone in the audience would know and have a moment to get hyped up and sing a long! They covered; Since You’ve Been Gone, Complicated, and Burning Up. Fans were respectful all around and cheered for them making the band feel welcomed and seen as much as possible.
The wait for the changeover seemed never-ending as everyone was antsy for 5 Seconds Of Summer to take the stage. The minute the curtain dropped it had almost felt surreal to see the five members lined up in the back with the biggest smiles on their faces taking in the entire scene in front of them, to top it all off, they opened with their most popular single, Bad Omens off of their latest album, 5SOS5. A song that hits deep in the feelings, a song that resonates a little with everyone but mainly for the ones who always love and choose others first. When I first heard this was the opening song, I was thrown a little because I’m so used to the sad songs being somewhere in the middle of the setlist, I was unsure of how it would start off the night. The minute it hit the chorus the first time around, it solidified that there was no better way to start off the night, with fans screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs and tears being shed. There wasn’t a single person in the venue who wasn’t giving it their all. The real kicker was right before the bridge, Luke Hemmings called for everyone in the venue to be jumping when it kicks in. Which everyone had delivered accordingly, the barricade was shaking and for the whole bridge I couldn’t hear any of the members due to how loud everyone was singing along.
The rest of the set was an absolute whirlwind of emotions and left many surprises. We’d go from a newer song such as CAROUSEL to an older song from their first album, Don't Stop. They did perform a shortened version of some of these songs, it was hard to be mad at that fact when they came up with killer transitions in between the songs. The real surprise out of the whole setlist was the dice song. Many big artists these days have brought on the concept of having surprise songs in their setlist, 5 Seconds Of Summer brought that concept to this tour run with their own spin on it. They had 6 different songs on an inflatable dice and gave the crowd 50 seconds to toss it around in the pit and land back on stage, whichever song it landed on facing up was the song they would play. The songs listed on the dice were all part of their older discography, Texas was extremely lucky and the dice song was If You Don't Know which has been played only three times throughout the entire tour and is a song that isn’t listed on any streaming services and was a B-Side song. Their entire setlist was 27 songs, and as stated before it catered to fans who were there from the beginning to the newer fans who were more familiar with their last two albums. It was a show that served as a core memory for many and was without a doubt a tour that wasn’t one to miss.
Be sure to catch a show before this tour is finished!
