There are so many good bands, artists, and musicians that put on shows with so much effort. This can be said and proven by the band, 5 Seconds of Summer.
Last night was an immense amount of blessings and good times for me. I got to meet my internet best friend, who literally fell for me (I don't say that, as in feelings, I mean, she literally fell down the stairs of the mall across the BOK Center to come hug me). We walked around the arena, and as luck would have it, Roy English -- one of the opening acts -- came out and greeted a group of us fans. He gave us a couple of shirts, posed for pictures, and signed various things for us. He was very sweet, contrary to the multiple negative opinions they have of him.
When we finally entered the line, everyone was very chill with the others in line. The radio station, 92.1 The Beat, came and played iconic 5SOS songs. They had the entire line singing and dancing around. There were various people out there handing out things for our project, however, later I will describe how successful that really was.
My one rant for that experience; if you want to help out with a project and make sure it's a major success, you should NOT go through the line and make it next to impossible by charging people for supplies. It's not like they don't want to participate in the project, it's the fact that most of those who went most likely can't afford to pay for glow sticks. They most likely just spent all they had on merch that they bought to remember that night for the rest of their teenage years.
I'm not calling anyone out, because I ran into multiple people that were selling glow sticks for various prices that most likely kept them once everyone got inside. I do understand that you want to get back the money you spent on the glow sticks, but the purpose of buying those were to make 5SOS's experience in Tulsa a little more exciting. We were their first show back from their break. We should've gone all out.
Anyway, the point is, the projects kinda flopped, kinda didn't. I personally appreciate the effort that was put into the thought and process of the projects, and thank those who were attempting to make their experience here great. Although with the rowdy crowd last night, I think it was safe to say they would have the desire to come back.
Now I'm getting ahead of myself. Trust me when I say that everyone was super chill when the doors opened. I simply loved how everyone loved and conversed with each other like family. I met so many new friends just standing in line. Then it came time to scan my ticket, and I couldn't have been anymore nervous than I was in that moment. I received my ticket, yes, but I was shaking so badly because this was it, this was the moment I find just how close I'm going to be to my biggest inspirations and favorite band of all time.
When I got downstairs onto the floor, I had an attendant show me where I was standing. I gasped and nearly died on the spot. I was right in the space that was directly in front of the stage. I was standing at the little entrance, receiving my green wristband, and the lady swept the tip of the Sharpie marker across my ticket (which now hangs with various souvenirs of the night above the bed in my dorm). Smiling, she told me to enjoy the show. I now was standing with various others in the general admission pit on Michael Clifford's side. By the way, Michael Clifford is one of the guitarists in the band, and in my opinion, a legend on the guitar. Look up his videos on Twitter or YouTube, his solos that night were beyond phenomenal.
I made some friends around the pit, but stuck with two girls as they were super nice, and loved both of the opening acts. Now, when Roy came out, I cheered louder than I ever had before. Mind you, this was also before 5SOS came out, so we'll get to that. Roy recognized me from earlier, and when he came to sing on our side, he made eye contact a various times and smiled, waving at all of us. His set was the single best opening act, beside Hey Violet's act, I've ever experienced. His voice was so sublime, and you would not believe the amount of effort you could see in his performance.
Next came Hey Violet, with them starting with a new song from their latest EP, "Brand New Moves" (still recommend you all to buy it). Rena at various points would wow us with her killer vocals. I know that's very highly opinionated, because there are also a lot of people who would say her vocals aren't that good. Well, tit for tat, I still think she has amazing vocals that are made exactly for the genre the band is going for. Not everyone likes them, but not everyone hates them. I'm a major part of the latter. Their set was amazing, and I was so glad to be there for that. I missed their acoustic hangout, and I was simply devastated. Also, Rena made a comment that she loved the interesting accents we had here.
Then came that moment. That feeling of suspense and awe, in which we knew what came next. The boys were playing songs from their playlist, various alternative punk rock songs that got the crowd a little more involved and pumped up. When the beat dropped in a Green Day song that was playing, the last song that played before they came on, the screens lit up with the logo for the tour. Everyone is going ballistic. No one is calm. They were about...three minutes late? But no one cared as soon as we saw a familiar drummer's shadow at his drum kit. Then came out Michael Clifford, in all his punk rock glory, walk to the piano and everyone quieted down enough for everyone to hear the beginning of the 5SOS Fam's anthem -- "Carry On." I looked around and saw my fist was not the only one with my fist raised, ready to start this concert. You could hear a chorus of fans singing along with Luke as he begun the song.
When it was over, they immediately broke into a fast paced song called, "Hey Everybody," in which I now have a sore neck from head-banging so much. When "Money" started, you could hear everyone singing along, at least, from my side of the arena. I honest to God could not hear anything for long. My ears started to ring and sounds became muffled as I realized just how loud the set was. When I say 5SOS goes hard, they go hard. By the end of "Money" (in which another project was to throw fake money in the air), Luke brought up how it's been a while since they were in Tulsa.
The last time the boy were here, they were just an opening band themselves, for One Direction.
They then broke out in various other songs. I'm not listing them all out, because I was so focused on rocking out I didn't pay attention to most. Some I'd like to note were "Vapor," "Castaway," and "Girls Talk Boys." The tweet in which contains the video of the amazing guitar solo you should listen to is below.
https://twitter.com/Texas5SOSTeam/status/766635962...
Now, there is one song that will always hold a lot of value in my heart and soul, one song that will always jerk tears from the bottom of my heart -- "Jet Black Heart." When the lights went down and all you could see was Michael's smiling face while he was taking in all of the success the boys have earned, it was a raw and emotional moment for a lot of people, including me. My eyes began to water as he begun to sing the first few verses. When the other boys joined it, my face was gleaming from all the tears that spilled from my eyes. I held up a project sign, and it was a true statement, "I AM NO LONGER AFRAID!" These boys have inspired me to pursue my dreams and so much more. When I looked at how close they were, when I looked around at my 5SOS family, my home state, listening to the lyrics of this song, I couldn't help but start to cry as I realize that I was meant to have this small moment of blissful happiness.
I just stopped singing for a moment, softly mouthing the words instead of screaming at the top of my lungs. I stopped for the moment in which the last bit of chorus was being sung. In that moment, I was completely at peace.
Overall, the concert was great, and impact on me that it made has changed me forever. That is a night I never ever want to forget.