[My special correspondent Kate Teegardin covered the 5 Seconds of Summer special fan event at The Tabernacle on Saturday. Kate is a junior at Rivers Academy and an aspiring music photographer/journalist who is dedicated to documenting rock 'n' roll history. She has been a 5SOS enthusiast since their debut on YouTube in 2012.]
Although our memories of summer are beginning to fade, 5 Seconds of Summer brought back summer for an exclusive fan event at The Tabernacle Saturday night.
Last year, the guys created “Derp Con,” which was the first-ever 5SOS fan convention hosted in Los Angeles. This year, they decided to create a new event called “The New Broken Scene” to celebrate the release of their sophomore album, “Sounds Good Feels Good,” which was released Oct. 23.
About 150 lucky fans from across the globe were flown to Atlanta for a fun weekend with the guys, including access to a live performance, which also happened to be streamed around the world via YouTube. To get access to the event, fans entered in various contests ranging from radio station giveaways to 5SOS trivia games to re-creations of 5SOS music videos.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
As fans arrived at The Tabernacle, they were escorted to the bar area, which had been completely transformed into The New Broken Scene. Creative artists had arrived at 2 a.m. to create the exclusive fan experience. Walls were plastered with album artwork, pictures from their tour were showcased everywhere and safety pin flags were flying high. Fans were given a different perspective of the band as they sat down with virtual reality headsets which showed an exclusive acoustic version of the guys singing “She’s Kinda Hot” on a rooftop somewhere in London. Very cool!
After exploring the New Broken Scene, fans were told they were going to meet the band. Many of the girls seemed quite together when they were given the news, but others dropped to the floor in tears.
I spoke to many of them after they met the boys and they told me how nice they were and how the 5SOS were just like them. Again, some of the fans managed to pull themselves together, however there were still many who left with happy tears streaming down their faces.
Once it was showtime, fans who had camped out at The Tabernacle since Wednesday were finally let in, and the excitement skyrocketed. Overall, the crowd was mostly made up of teenagers with a dash of a few uninterested parents watching the Georgia-Florida game on their phones.
Around 5 p.m., Luke Hemmings (guitar and vocals), Michael Clifford (guitar and vocals), Calum Hood (bass and vocals), and Ashton Irwin (drums and vocals) hit the stage with guitars slung low across their bodies to play an hour and a half set. Screams erupted from the crowd as they started with "End Up Here" which was from their self-titled debut album and the guys seemed pretty confident as they played to "one of (our) biggest gigs ever" because it was being live-streamed around the world. As the show continued, parents likely began questioning their decision to bring their young children to the gig because of the occasional f-bomb dropped – the band's attempt to try to be more like Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong instead of One Direction's Harry Styles.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Most of the songs on the set list were from the band’s first album, but guitarist Clifford explained to the crowd that they would not be playing them anymore because of their upcoming tour.
5SOS did play three new songs called “Permanent Vacation,” “Jet Black Heart” and “She’s Kinda Hot,” which are all on their sophomore album. The Blink-182, Green Day, and Killers influences were clear in the band’s performance, as well as on their new album.
It was surprising to see the guys with such high energy after waking up at 9 a.m. (not rock star hours whatsoever), participating in New Broken Scene festivities, performing 90-minute show, and then being whisked away to a radio performance. They kept telling the crowd how excited they were to play a gig because they hadn’t for a while – even though they had just played in New York two days prior.
The guys’ goal was to create a place for fans to be able to celebrate their music, meet fellow 5SOS fans, and to spread The New Broken Scene, and they did just that. During the performance, drummer Irwin told the crowd that the New Broken Scene is a place for people to embrace their problems because everyone is dealing with their own demons, and to let their music be an escape from reality. He also explained how they do not care if all of the songs on their record are hit singles – the band cares more about writing music that means something.
Even though the fans from around the world spoke different languages, 5SOS created an environment where everyone was able to honor the band.
Yes, the guys of 5 Seconds of Summer are indeed the Kings of the New Broken Scene, but Saturday they were able to crown new Kings and Queens and welcome them to their new revolution.
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