The year is 2013 and my life has been consumed with my love of One Direction.

I was spending my days listening to their music, watching videos, looking on Instagram and Twitter for updates and new pictures. Their second album Take Me Home has been released and their world tour for the album is underway. Opening for them on the tour is this band from Australia called 5 Seconds Of Summer. Being the curious fangirl I am, I had to look into who this band was. If they were supporting my favorite band, I had to know everything about them. Little did I know, I would become just as in love with this band and I would be seeing them in concert for the third time ten years later. 

I saw 5 Seconds Of Summer, or 5SOS as they are more commonly known, for the third time on August 25 at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. I had previously seen them in 2015 on the Rock Out With Your Socks Out Tour and the Sounds Live Feels Live Tour in 2016. Seeing them live again was exciting, emotional and a trip down memory lane. 

I discovered 5 Seconds Of Summer going into my last year in middle school, and their music has been a part of all the big and transitional moments in my life. Their first album 5 Seconds of Summer was released the summer before I started high school. Their second album, Sounds Good Feels Good brought me and one my best friends to this day together. Their third album, Youngblood, came out right after I graduated high school and was getting ready to go away to college. Their fourth album CALM came out at the start of the COVID-19 quarantine, which I had on repeat while stuck at home waiting to see what would happen. Their fifth album 5SOS5 was one that grew on me slowly, as it was released as I was beginning my first post-college job, but still had a special place in my heart.

Needless to say, their songs became the soundtrack of my life, and listening to their music takes me right back to those times in my life. Not only that, I have watched the band grow from a small group opening for One Direction and posting videos on Youtube, to selling out tours. I can remember when their first major radio single “She Looks So Perfect” was released, and now they have put out five studio albums. It is like, as I have grown up and gone through these major milestones, so has this band I fell in love with as a 13 year old. 

Attending the 5SOS Show tour brought that feeling to life. The group played songs from throughout their career. Of course, heavily focusing on their more recent releases, but still playing songs from their early albums. It was a trip through the discography and career of 5 Seconds Of Summer and, as a fan who had been there from early on, it was an emotional and exciting time. The show was a chance for us to hear all the stages of their career, from their early stages with some pop punk influences on their debut and sophomore albums to the more pop rock sound of later albums. The band went through an evolution of the years, and after witnessing it in real time, having it condensed into one concert was magical. 

5 Seconds Of Summer not only played their big hits off of their albums, but also fan favorites. They played songs like “Vapor” and “Waste The Night” off Sounds Good Feels Good and “Babylon” and “If Walls Could Talk” off Youngblood. They even played part of “Don’t Stop,” the song the band famously likes to talk about how much they dislike it. They knew that would be a crowd favorite, and it was for sure. The music video featuring the boys as superheroes is iconic. Being one of the first singles from the group, it is a key part of the band’s history, whether they like it or not. 

They played their song “2011” which was released in 2021 in honor of their ten year anniversary of the band, really hitting home the fact that I have loved the band for over ten years. The song references going back to 2011, when things were simpler, before their lives got crazy and the band skyrocketed into stardom. 

The first song of the night to take me back in time was when they played “She’s Kinda Hot,” the lead single off of their second album Sounds Good Feels Good (OG fans will remember the spray painted wall livestream for the single announcement). I was immediately taken back to replaying that song again and again on summer vacation, and screaming “We are the kings and the queens of the new broken scene.” I was convinced I was going to get the New Broken Scene logo tattooed (I did not). It is also being released prior to them touring the United States, which meant I got to hear it live when I saw them in 2015. 

The first time of the night I got truly emotional was hearing “Amnesia” live. I was practically in tears, not only because the song itself is emotional, but because I could picture the music video as I heard the song. I was transported back to when the song came out and watching the music video in my bedroom. The scenes playing vividly in my head. This may have been the third time I had heard the song live, but it hit the hardest this time. It felt cathartic to scream along to the lyrics that immediately pulled from the depth of my mind at 23 years old. 

The last time of the night where all my emotions came out was when they played “Outer Space” as the first song of their encore. This song is off of their second album and has been a favorite of mine since it was released in 2015. A line from the song “nothing like the rain when you’re in outer space” was my laptop wallpaper for a good portion of high school. I have been waiting to hear it live and never thought the day would come. And when they came back on stage and the opening notes of the song began, I was in full disbelief. It felt like an out of body experience. My jaw dropped and was immediately consumed by the music and joy and shock. I sang my heart out and lived in the moment. The built up energy of eight years of singing the song in my car and in the shower, dreaming of hearing it live was released. It was an unforgettable moment that I will cherish forever. 

Of course, their newer songs like “Blender,” “Carousel” and “Me Myself and I” were fantastic moments as well. Over the months, they have taken up the space in my heart just as much as their other songs. They represent the growth of the band and how they have evolved to find their sound and grow as musicians. They are not the same band that I fell in love with on Youtube ten years ago. These songs will become classic songs to us in no time, and getting the chance to hear them live hit just as hard as the ones we have loved for years.

No 5 Seconds Of Summer concert would be complete without “She Looks So Perfect:” their very first single, the song that put the group on the radar for many people who are fans to this day. I can remember when the song and music video were released and the anticipation for what their debut single would sound like. Waiting to see how it would do on the charts and being so proud of them. I played the song nonstop and watched the videos over and over. Hearing the song on the radio for the first time was crazy. They were no longer the small band that felt like my own little secret. They were actually making it big and having their dreams become a reality. Now, I may have not gotten the iconic punk job at the end of the song like they did for years, but it was still fun to hear it live nine years after it was released. Everyone in the crowd screamed those words and took a trip back to 2014. It was like I was 14 again, in my bedroom listening to the song on my iPod. A full circle moment for sure. 

The moments when I think I really got the most emotional were “The Ghost Of You” and “Jet Black Heart.” The “Ghost Of You” live performance is beautiful. The sadness and heartbreak behind the lyrics is heard in the vocal performance and the instrumentals are beautiful. It was always a favorite song of mine and getting to hear it live and letting the music and lyrics consume me brought me to tears. The emotions overtook me and I just let it all out. 

“Jet Black Heart” from their second album always evokes a strong reaction from me. When the song was released, I immediately felt a strong connection to that song. Something about it drew me in and became possibly my all time favorite song by 5 Seconds Of Summer, and the live version of the track is a whole other experience. The song starts out acoustic, with guitarist Michael Clifford singing the opening verse with a solo and the crowd backing him. Then the rest of the band comes in and I am a full emotional mess. I think that was the loudest I screamed the whole show. I let everything go and let out all my built up emotion, frustration, and was taken back to being 16 and blasting the song. It hits just as hard, maybe even more all these years later. The bridge of the song had the crowd doing a call and response “ohhhh” and the whole crowd sang back in unison, creating a sea of beautiful, emotional voices.

 I feel like that moment is when reality really hit that I was watching a band that had been a staple in my life for so many years: Looking forward to the albums being released and waiting to see if the band was coming to tour near me, or even traveling five hours to see them in Hershey, Pennsylvania as a sixteenth birthday gift. Watching every music video, interview, buying books and merch, stalking their social media, and waiting for new pictures to be released. They’re a band that truly changed my life and a band that will not be leaving my life anytime soon. 

The 5SOS Show was a magical night that brought back memories from the last ten years. 5 Seconds Of Summer are amazing live. They are fantastic song writers, musicians, and put on a memorable show from start to finish. Whether it is a song from their first album or fifth album, I was singing along, dancing and, sometimes, crying. But with tears comes laughter and smiles and having the time of my life. Ten years later, and I am still as obsessed with this band at 23 as I was at 13. 

5 Seconds Of Summer are currently on The 5SOS Show world tour. Tickets can be found on their official website.