I originally only intended to go to two gigs, but here I am, having attended five in total. Let's get this straight: I don't have much money. I'm good at budgeting and not spending, but this month I've spent more than I usually would, and in hindsight it has provided me with so many wonderful memories that I wouldn't change it for the world. I've got to see one of my absolute favourite bands with some of my favourite people and it's been so much fun. Admittedly I do currently owe four of my friends money for tickets/hotels, but they've all been super nice about letting me pay them back as soon as I can. (It'll get to you, I promise.)
Nights #1 and #2 were in Birmingham. I had never been to Birmingham before, so that in itself was pretty cool for me. I'd booked my train ticket way, WAY in advance so luckily it only cost me £7.90 for a return journey, and then we managed to get a super cheap deal on our Premier Inn, so I ended up not being too badly off in the money department.
On the first night, Shibby, Lucy and I walked to the venue after a few drinks and then split up (Shibby were sat somewhere else) so we could head to our seats. We arrived towards the end of the support act's set (they're called Hey Violet) and realised we were actually kind of far away from the stage; the furthest we'd ever been for a 5SOS gig, in fact. Additionally, somehow, between leaving the hotel and 5SOS going on stage we had got, admittedly, a bit drunk. ('Somehow'...let's be honest, we'd bought more drinks at the venue, however overpriced they may have been.) I was wearing heels which usually I'm fine with, but for some reason my feet were killing me by the time I got to my seat, so I made the important decision to just do the whole gig without shoes (it was probably one of my better ideas of the night). I had fun on Friday, but with the drunkenness, combined with being far away and unable to see the stage, Lucy and I both agreed we felt a kind of disconnect, and ended up looking more at each other than the four boys on the stage. If you asked me to remember little details about that gig, in all honesty I probably couldn't tell you - it felt about three seconds long! It wasn't a bad concert, it was just a really strange experience to not feel the connection I'm so used to feeling at their gigs. We were wearing a lot of glitter on our faces and in our hair though so that kind of made up for it. Kind of.
(A visual summary of Birmingham show #1.)
Let's move onto gig number two shall we? I was super excited for this one. We were all very tired before we left (in fact, we had a communal nap. We're all adults I swear.) but this was soon rectified by the realisation that on this night, we'd all be partying together in one of the standing pods. Our friend Emma managed to sneak into standing (thank you Barclaycard Arena for your lack of organisation, it helped us) and eight of us met up in our little pod on Calum's side. There is such an immense satisfaction when you walk to the front of a venue, past all the seats, and I LOVED it. The VIPs and most other GA people were already in the pen, and we established our spot behind them at the back of the small area, making sure we had more than enough room to get our groove on. The excitement built and we started to dance to the pre-show playlist and to Hey Violet, the support act. The evening was made a little funnier by the realisation that John Feldmann and Zakk Cervini were in the pod right behind us, and were forced to bear witness to our (arguably) fantastic dance moves.
When 5SOS came on stage we went crazy, and it was such a fantastic night overall. I really felt like the band bounced off the crowd, and the atmosphere was awesome; all around me everyone seemed to be having the most incredible time. Perhaps the greatest moment of the gig was when John Feldmann took over Ashton's place on the drums and the guys launched into an emotional rendition of their heartfelt ballad called 'Pizza'. (I'm kidding. If you don't know what song I'm talking about, just YouTube it, it's about thirty seconds long and you won't regret it.) Seeing Ashton get to be a frontman, even for such a short period of time as this, was amazing. That guy knows how to own the stage! It was really cool to see that even though he spends 99.9% of his time behind a drum set at the back, on the rare occasion he moves forwards he has such an incredible stage presence and commands the attention of everyone in the room as if he's used to being at the front of the stage every day. Another cool moment was Zakk coming on stage during Rejects to do a guitar solo and putting all of the boys to shame with his instrumental skills. I'd also like to give a mention to our dancing throughout the set - from hardcore head-banging during Pizza to interpretative dance during Amnesia, we sure put on a good show for everyone around us. I've never been so sweaty (something the band articulated too) because it was so warm in there and I was dancing SO HARD, but I didn't even care, I had such an amazing time. As expected, Calum side-eyed the entire time, but none of us had any shame in partying as hard as we possibly could. This show took over the my-favourite-ever-5SOS-gig title from iTunes Festival, and that is saying something because iTunes was SO SICK and I never thought I'd be able to top it.
We ended the night hoping to go to a pop-punk night at a club but the queue was too long so Libby and Emma and I (Shannon had to stay at our hotel as she was feeling a bit unwell) made our way to Aimée/Emmy/Amy's (shortened to AEA for the purposes of this post because THEIR NAMES ARE ALL SO SIMILAR) hotel room and we had a midnight Domino's pizza party, accompanied by some delirium-fuelled (but very funny) TV-watching that lasted until 3am.
(Second night in Birmingham.)
Now we move onwards one week to the three gigs I wasn't supposed to go to. A few weeks ago my friend Yiota messaged me saying that another friend couldn't go to the Friday Wembley gig with her because she had an exam, and she asked if I'd like to come instead. In a (stupid) 'YOLO' moment I agreed, and there I was, now about to attend yet another 5SOS show. Yodz and I met up at the station and proceeded to buy a few snacks and some alcohol from Sainsbury's, after which I bumped into my long-time friend Rachel, who seems to be developing a habit of catching me looking tragic buying cheap alcohol before gigs. Yiota and I shared our bottle of vodka (didn't want to waste it y'know) and so by the time we eventually made it inside the venue we were, you guessed it, a bit drunk. Our seats were quite good and we had an empty one next to us, which gave us a little bit more room to dance. John Feldmann happened to be at their gig again and I got to see Pizza performed for the second time in a week (absolutely bangin' tune). Again, I don't remember TOO much from the show, but I know I could feel it was a good one, even if I wasn't entirely present, if you know what I mean. This show was the first time I'd seen the band use pyro and confetti and I remember getting excited when the first POOF went off. Oh, by the way, look out for me on the live DVD during Don't Stop - the camera guy filmed us groovin', so maybe they'll keep us in.
(My only three acceptable photos from this show.)
I got my Saturday ticket just days before the show after minimal persuasion from Lucy. I was desperate to be standing again and she'd told me she knew someone selling tickets in Pod 1 (i.e.: Michael's pod, which we hadn't been in before), so I said yes without really thinking. I had a bit of a stress on the morning of the gig when plans changed and it turned out I would have to go home alone late at night (South London is gross and not very safe at night) and so after my mini panic I arrived at Wembley significantly later than I'd intended. I was a bit stressed for a while and not really feelin' super tip-top but from then on I was determined to try and improve my day. This being said, I got to Wembley just as some of my friends were at the front of the queue to meet Hey Violet, so naturally I snuck in and got into their group photo. Over the course of the shows I found I started to like Hey Violet more and more; they always had so much energy and enthusiasm and were really fun to watch.
I met up with a few more people and we went to get a Nando's (I shared with Lucy because we are #bros) and after a while we headed into the venue, super excited to be in Michael's pod. However, when we were directed down to our entrance, we realised we had been put on Calum's side yet again. For some reason Wembley had switched the pods around (all other venues had said Pod 1 was Michael's side and Pod 2 was Calum's), and though we were glad to be standing, we were a little sad we weren't actually in Michael's area as we'd hoped (out of all the times Lucy and I had seen them live we'd very rarely been on his side). We bought ourselves a drink in annoyance (even though I had vowed not to drink that night) and soon forgot about our misplacement when the boys came on stage. The Wembley pods were bigger than Birmingham's, but even at the back of the crowd we were closer to the stage than we'd been the weekend before. Calum's whole family was just behind us and seeing them singing and dancing along was the absolute cutest thing to witness. Overall, the show itself was a really good one; they were all putting so much energy into their performance and really getting involved with the crowd...that is, until DISASTER STRUCK.
At the end of She Looks So Perfect (when usually they go off stage for a minute or two and come back to perform two more songs as the encore) the wait was really long. At first we thought they were just leaving it longer to film people getting pumped up for the DVD or something, but after a few minutes we realised something wasn't right. We looked up at AEA (hehe) who were just to our right in the seated section and they all frantically pointed to their phones, trying to convey a message that I just WASN'T GETTING. When my phone finally decided to let 3G work I checked Twitter and in our group chat I read that the others had seen Michael be hit by the pyro and had run off stage just before the end of SLSP. Not long after, the house lights came on and Ashton (obviously it was going to be Ashton...he is always the man for these kinds of jobs) walked on stage to announce to a very confused crowd that Michael had been hurt, that he was okay, but that they would not be continuing the show. In retrospect, I'm oddly glad we were put into the wrong standing pod as it meant we didn't get to see Michael's accident right up close. Everyone slowly trickled out of the arena, and I've never seen a crowd so disheartened as on that night. Amongst many tears and overheard frantic questions like "I know Ashton said he's okay, but is he okay?" we made our way to our meeting place to be with our friends, most of whom were feeling a bit down. We'd intended to go out after the gig but no one was really feeling it, so we all headed home.
(Wembley: Take Two.)
We arrived at Wembley on Sunday just before Hey Violet did their mini acoustic set and sat on the steps listening to that, then got in the queue for a photo (because why not?), which ended up pretty cute. We went back to the steps and I hung out there for a while, taking some pics and just chillin' with the pals. Everyone was still a little concerned about Michael but throughout the day I'd been making jokes about his accident (I knew it was inappropriate but...he had said he was fine...I couldn't help myself), and then when he changed his Twitter icon to a photo of him on fire we knew he was almost completely okay. We made sure to get to our seats before Hey Violet's set started, wanting to watch the whole show that night (hopefully uninterrupted by pyrotechnic-related incidents). This show was the final one of the UK leg of the tour, and the last time we'd see the band perform for a long while, so we wanted it to be a good'un. We'd only bought our tickets a week or so before the gig, and were surprised to find that our view was really good - the seats are meant to be restricted view but in reality they just offer a side view; we could still see the entirety of the stage, and were super close (in fact, we were closer than the people who'd paid 3x as much for VIP tickets in the first five rows of the floor). For every gig, 5SOS have a pre-show playlist which is usually pretty constant (occasionally they'll add or remove one or two songs), and as this was my fifth show of the tour I knew exactly what to expect. However, when Adele's Set Fire to the Rain began to play from the speakers I amusedly turned to Shibby and asked "are they doing what I think they're doing?" When the next songs were Eternal Flame and Sex on Fire I knew I'd picked the right band; the pre-show playlist was now completely dedicated to songs about fire, and I was crackin' up.
At around 8.45pm the boys ran onto the stage to an always-appreciated rendition of End Up Here (one of my favourite songs off the album), and we became painfully aware of how close our seats were to the stage. Upon Calum starting the second verse, Luke made his way to the platform just metres from us and I continued my emphatic singing and passionate air-grabbing, as is my usual concert custom. I was expecting his eyes to just skim over the crowd, and so when I pointed to him while warbling "'cause you were so far out of my league" I certainly did not expect his eyes to lock mine until I had finished my dramatic serenade to him, but hey, what can you do? Throughout the show, Shibby and I felt so exposed, completely within view of anyone who looked our way whilst on the platform. It wasn't a bad thing, just weird.
I don't usually get super emo during the Wrapped Around Your Finger/Amnesia/Beside You/Everything I Didn't Say segment like many others do, but on this day, from our vantage point we could see Wembley Arena light up like stars in the sky, and it truly was such a special scene to witness. Upon hearing everyone sing these lyrics back to the boys I was struck by just how far they'd come from the first time I'd seen them headline a venue. Sadly, it was around this time of the show that Michael seemed to lose his fire (for want of a better word...I'm sorry, that was unintentional, I promise), and he didn't seem quite so into the show as he had been previously, which was unfortunate because the two nights before he'd been really going for it with such enthusiasm. However, Calum saved the day and was far more interactive than he usually is; directly communicating with and smiling at fans (I know...Calum...smiling?) and I think he was kind of overcompensating for Michael's lack of fervour in the second half. Thankfully they'd made the decision to remove the pyro from this final show, but kept the confetti with the finale. With What I Like About You as their final song, I realised I'd seen them go from performing it live for the first time ever in November 2013 in a 1,500-cap venue, to playing it as the conclusion to their hat-trick of sold-out Wembley Arena shows just a year and a half later. An impressive contrast, right?
(The final instalment.)
Aside from the fact that we are all puddles of emo knowing that we are unlikely to see the band perform again anytime soon, I know that everyone who has been to any ROWYSO gig has had the most amazing time, and I'm so glad I personally got to share my experiences with the people I did. To everyone I went to a show with and everyone I hung out with before and after (however briefly): thank you for helping make those ten days some of the most fun I can imagine. It's made the prospect of me leaving the country soon a lot more palatable knowing I got to go out with a bang. Tour was so much fun and I genuinely cannot wait to do it again sometime in the (near?) future. LADS!
To conclude this absurdly long post; if you're one of those people who feels the need to adopt a holier-than-thou attitude at the idea of me liking a band made up of young men and/or at the concept of me going to multiple shows of the same tour, please remove your head from your judgmental, pseudo-musically-knowledgeable ass, refrain from making any snarky comments and just let me live my life in such a way I so clearly enjoy. I've had an AWESOME month and I'd do it all over again if I could. You'd be more than welcome to join if you wanted to give it a shot.
See you next time!
Georgia
No comments:
Post a Comment