5 Seconds of Summer’s Latest Tour is a Celebration of Fandom
Real bands save fans, real fans save bands.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JACKILYN COOPER
From rhinestones on their faces to decals on their clothes, fans of 5 Seconds of Summer showed out in Camden all adorned in one thing: Stars. Stars bedazzled onto pink cowboy hats, printed on customized platform boots and even fans in full-body gold star costumes decorated the venue. Though a themed outfit for a pop tour has become somewhat mainstream lately, the commitment level for 5SOS speaks to the love these fans have without saying a word.
The motif comes from their latest album and tour of the same name: EVERYONE’S A STAR! The album explores the “boyband” identity they’ve battled and then embraced over the last 15 years together. And ultimately, the tour makes being “your favorite boyband” the best thing 5SOS can be.
But being the best boyband in the world is only possible thanks to fans, and the show they created makes that abundantly clear. Their VIP experience allowed fans to become reporters at a press conference asking their best questions. One lucky winner even got to present them with a “Boyband of the year” trophy mid-show. The actual performance took a journey through the stages of their career, punctuated by sections like “Act 3: The Yearning” and “Act 5: The Beginning,” fit with songs to match each era.
Because Pleaser is all about the fans, we knew we couldn’t review this show without seeing the audience’s side of it, too. These archetypes the band knows about and is celebrating wouldn’t exist if fans hadn’t created the memes, brought signs to shows and even written fanfiction. Most bands would shy away from that last one, but guitarist Michael Clifford literally told fans to use something singer Luke Hemmings said on Wattpad.
One fan named Emily, who has been listening to 5SOS for 14 out of their 15 year career, told Pleaser what makes being a fan of this band so unique.
“I feel like they’re timeless in a sense,” she said. “Even though they’ve changed so much, they’re still so true to themselves and love their fan base.”
Emily was in attendance with her best friend Stephanie, who she’s known since kindergarten, but their friendship has been made even stronger by their years together as fangirls. When having to choose the most special memory of more than a decade being a fan, it was the “full circle moment” of being at this show together.
“We have a picture that we were at this same venue 10 years ago seeing 5 Seconds of Summer. So being here exactly 10 years later at the same venue with my best friend, it’s amazing,” Emily said.
The long-time fans like Emily were given a real treat during the surprise song section of the show. For most nights of the tour, fans were given the chance to vote on the song from a selection of four — usually a mix of deep cuts (which the early entry crowd tends to vote for, Hemmings said at VIP) and more recent tracks that aren’t on the permanent setlist (which he said often win out when the rest of the crowd enters). In Philly, the four choices mysteriously changed after the “press conference” ended, all reading “????”, setting up for the real surprise.
After playing it at Lollapalooza for the first time in a decade, 5SOS once again reprised their cover of “Teenage Dream.” From the screams the crowd let out at the first few chords, suffice to say they were thrilled by the band’s pick. (Even if some had been hoping for “If Walls Could Talk,” one of the original choices for the night, myself included.)
This throwback moment was a gift to the day one fans; the ones who remember when “Teenage Dream” first became part of 5SOS’ legacy. A 19-year-old fan, Grayson, told Pleaser she’s been listening to the band since she was 7 — making them a part of more than half her life. These concerts are most special to her because she’s “seeing the band that saved my life in person.”
It’s this kind of emotional connection that drives energy at the shows. Not only is the band so important to the crowd, but as evidenced by their conversational VIP, the band values getting to have a real human connection with fans, too.
For Grayson, what’s really unique about 5SOS is “the connection between them and their fans. They’re very open about how much their fans mean [to them]. There are a lot of artists just like, ‘Oh my fans just pay my bills’...They actually interact with us. They let us in on so much.”
