As a little preface, I am an avid concert-goer. The other day I counted it out, and realized I have been to a grand total of 16 full-fledged concerts throughout my life, not including any small, underground events, or concerts like The Wiggles that I saw when I was seven.
Thus, I have decided to start a mini-series of concert reviews to tell my raw, unfiltered thoughts and feelings on any shows that I attend.
For my first, I present to you 5 Seconds of Summer. This review is a little delayed, because the concert took place on Wednesday, August 29th, at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Although I have been to a concert since then, I wanted to start with this one, simply because it was an incredible show.
This was my fourth time seeing these boys live, including when they opened for One Direction back in 2014, so I was ready to be hit with nostalgia the minute I entered the arena. Their new album, "Youngblood," was released in June of this year, however, I hadn't listened to it until mid-August. Quite honestly, I thought I was over this band, but when my dad came across free tickets to the show, I crammed their album in two weeks and quickly rekindled my love for them.
At the venue, the crowd was filled with aesthetically dressed teenagers and people in their mid-twenties (girls and boys alike) and those few adults sprinkling the audience, accompanying younger fans. Thankfully, the 5SOS fan base has moved away from trying to replicate the boys' attire by wearing flannels and bandannas to these shows. At least, the style for this show, in particular, was much more retro-skater…if that even is a style.
But now, let's cut to the chase. The actual concert itself completely exceeded my expectations — the boys truly have stepped up their game. The lighting effects, their vocals and harmonies, the revamping of their older jams, and their overall attitudes onstage all made for one of the best concert experiences I've had in a while.
Opening the show with one of their new songs, "Babylon," the audience got hyped and ready for an hour and a half more of jumping, dancing, and major sweating. Although my friend and I had great seats close to the stage, the floor would have been the perfect spot for this show, to fully maximize the amount of dancing I could have done.
The concert was a whirlwind of "feels," from Luke melting our hearts when he sat down for a slower solo on the piano, to Michael turning their older song "The Only Reason" from boy band pop to an electronic-punk genre. When the time came for the show to end, I was so much sadder than I thought I'd be to see them do their traditional group hug before waving goodbye to the audience.
Now, even though I am completely biased from the rediscovering of my love for these boys, it is nonetheless still a concert I highly recommend people to go see. Even if you don't know the music, the show in itself makes the experience worthwhile. A solid 10/10.