5SOS Brings the Party to TD Garden
Australian alt-pop/rock band 5 Seconds of Summer brought their massive EVERYONE’S A STAR! arena tour to TD Garden last Friday night. After a nearly three year break from touring, the band proved they’re back and better than ever.
This show was unlike any other I’ve seen from the band. Fifteen years into their careers, it’s clear 5 Seconds of Summer keep getting better and better. Everything about the show was crafted perfectly for the fans.
The band leaned into nostalgia with comedic bits dedicated to their longtime fans; each night they choose a nostalgic fandom joke to display on the big screen, take a break from the music to present a city-specific powerpoint, and even spoof Nicole Kidman’s beloved AMC ad before the encore. Longtime fan traditions were still going strong too, with flashlights in the air for heartbreaking “Ghost of You” and “Amnesia” and synchronized claps during “She’s Kinda Hot”. It was heartwarming to see all of these fan traditions going strong after so many years of being a fan.
The show was split up into six acts (plus the encore): The Peak, The Fall, The Yearning, The Breakup, The Rise, and The Beginning. Each act was accompanied by a video interlude telling a fictional story about the rise and fall of the band. They made sure that their beloved sense of humor was still at the heart of the show, even with the massive twenty-seven song setlist. Old fan-favorites were mixed in with songs from their newest record, EVERYONE’S A STAR!. The first half of the set was mostly new songs, with a few fan favorites. The second half felt like such a love letter to their hardcore fans. Act 4 (titled The Breakup) began with a video interlude showing the band finding out on the news that they had broken up, accompanied by mockumentary style interviews; the songs that followed were not 5 Seconds of Summer songs, every member instead had their moment to shine with a song from each of their recent solo records. Each song flowed into the other as the four band members celebrated each others’ creative work outside the band.
The band’s love for their fans was so evident in the last bit of the show. Act 5 (The Rise) and Act 6 (The Beginning) featured fan favorite after fan favorite. Act 5 notably performed a surprise song (which fans were able to vote for before the show started). The band played “Red Desert” from their 2020 album CALM for the first time in full. I don’t think I’ve heard a 5SOS crowd louder than they were during that song. The energy in the room felt electric when the band began playing. As a longtime fan, Act 6 was the highlight of the show. The band played b-sides and hits (“English Love Affair” and “She Looks So Perfect”) from their 2014 self-titled album and 2015 sophomore album, Sounds Good Feels Good (including 5SOS show staples “Jet Black Heart” and “Waste The Night”). For their (dare I say) near-perfect encore, the band walked through the crowd to begin performing “Everyone’s a Star!”, accompanied by special guests Celtics mascot Lucky the Leprechaun and Bruins mascot Blades the Bear. The show was just as high energy during the last song (smash-hit “Youngblood”) as it was during the first.
