LIVE REVIEW: 5SOS Give A 5 Act Love Letter To Their Fans
5 Seconds of Summer took to Brisbane's Riverstage isbane for their "eighty-somethingth" show in Australia and the first night of their Everyone's a Star! Australian tour. They were welcomed by nicer weather conditions as the threatened rain held off over the outdoor venue. Setting the scene perfectly, Brisbane’s own Cub Sport who are joining 5SOS for the entire tour delivered an ethereal hometown set. Diving deep into their catalogue for crowd favourites, they treated the audience to tracks from some of their earliest bodies of work including ‘Hawaiian Party’, ‘Party Pill’ and ‘Come On Mess Me Up’.
Flanked by a large pink limousine parked mid-stage, band mates Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin immediately set about tracking their 15 year journey. Rather than running through a typical setlist, the band made tongue in cheek jokes about their own "boy band" origins by presenting their career as a seven act mock tragedy: The Peak, The Fall, The Yearning, The Breakup, The Rise, The Beginning, and The Return. Stitched together with satirical videos, this narrative structure allowed the band to tell their own story with a playful sense of self awareness. Early ego quotes flashed across the LED screens including Michael declaring them the "biggest boy band in the world" and a "global sensation". Pausing early on, the band joked that while they usually tell fans they're back and more professional, tonight in Brisbane they promised to be "so unprofessional".
During The Breakup, the satire made way for genuine respect. A solo medley featuring Luke’s ‘Starting Line’, Ashton’s ‘Have U Found What Ur Looking For’, Calum’s ‘Don’t Forget You Love Me’, and Michael’s ‘enough’ celebrated each member’s individual artistry. Rather than treating their solo projects as a wedge between them, they backed one another on stage in a beautiful display of camaraderie.
The band then took the audience through a slideshow explaining what they needed to do to come back to each other and put on the show. Watching archival clips of the band at 15 flicker beside the grown men on stage hit hard, especially as all four came together, side by side, for an acoustic rendition of ‘Amnesia’. The stripped back moment brought profound perspective and left barely a dry eye in the audience.
A QR code that appeared before the show let the audience vote on a wildcard, and ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’ won its place in the set. The Beginning then launched a rapid fire, nostalgic run of fan favourites starting with ‘English Love Affair’ and finishing with oversized beach balls bouncing across the crowd during ‘She Looks So Perfect’. Doubling as the evening's encore, The Return launched with a heartfelt message dissecting why we turn up to live music: “for the magic, to love, to cry, to dance," and for “an indescribable feeling”. It was a lofty declaration, but one the band unequivocally delivered on. Stating "We're not done yet", the band dropped the satire for a heartfelt moment of gratitude: "If you've been a fan with us for the last 15 years, we owe you everything," Luke told the crowd. "The only reason we get to do this for six albums in 15 years is because it started here, and we love you, and we appreciate you." Urging everyone to "sing it as loud as you possibly can", they closed out an unforgettable night with ‘Youngblood’.
Plenty of bands play their hits, but few frame a career as a narrative story and allow their audience to reflect on how far they’ve come together. With Everyone's a Star!, 5 Seconds of Summer have turned their boy band baggage into a punchline and their 15 year journey into a love letter. If the opening night in Brisbane is any guide, the rest of the Australian tour is going to be something to see.
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