5 Seconds Of Summer Headed In One Direction: To The Top

Australian hitmakers 5 Seconds of Summer have been on the road for the last few weeks and are already 11 dates into their Sounds Live, Feels Live tour. As any pop fan will know, 5 Seconds of Summer are managed by the same team that look after One Direction, and the similarities do not end there. 5 Seconds of Summer caught their big break when they supported One Direction on part of their last three tours and as a result earned themselves an unwanted “boy-band” label. This is a label that 5 Seconds of Summer have been desperate to shake as they battle to establish their credibility as a bona-fide pop-punk outfit.

It is understandable that 5 Seconds of Summer want to establish their own entity — after all, no band wants to be defined in terms of another band. Yet, 5 Seconds of Summer have every reason to be grateful to One Direction. Touring with One Direction thrust 5 Seconds of Summer into the spotlight and allowed them to establish a large and devoted fan base far more quickly than could have been achieved by any other means.

Whilst that fan base may not have been what 5 Seconds of Summer initially envisaged, working with One Direction fast tracked them to touring arena’s and having huge selling albums.

It is fair to say that fans of One Direction are far from enamoured with the team that masterminded their rise to the top. Many fans believe that Simon Cowell and Modest Management have exploited One Direction by overworking them and by forcing them into an almost constant stream of inappropriate PR stunts. For the last five years, One Direction fell into a cycle of releasing an album and taking on a huge world tour in support of that album whilst recording the next release during any down time they managed to find.

Manila you were one of the greatest crowds of all time… We will be back ASAP… ???? pic.twitter.com/rZzpMRHTz2

— Ashton Irwin (@Ashton5SOS) March 13, 2016

The signs are that 5 Seconds of Summer are already falling into the same cycle. Of course, Luke Hemmings, Ashton Irwin, Calum Hood, and Michael Clifford are young guys, they are resilient and at present touring is exciting. One Direction thought exactly the same. 5 Seconds of Summer would do well to learn from the experiences of One Direction by insisting that they have some time out of the limelight when their current tour is complete.

Speaking of that tour, Rappler reports that 5 Seconds of Summer put on an electrifying show in Manila in the Philippines last night. Apparently, 5 Seconds of Summer didn’t back down with the energy, and their Manila fans responded by singing their hearts out and jumping along in what was described as an unforgettable evening.

As the Daily Mail reports the energy of 5 Seconds of Summer’s performances are becoming their stock-in-trade as they whip their adoring fans into a frenzy at each of their shows. The Jakarta Post reports that thousands of 5 Seconds of Summer fans queued outside the venue at the Indonesian Convention Exhibition from 1 a.m. for a show not due to start for 15-hours. Some 500 lucky fans were separated from the crowd and taken into the venue early to meet 5 Seconds of Summer, a stroke of genius from the event organizers. This is the kind of gesture that will turn young 5 Seconds of Summer fans into lifelong supporters.

Again, 5 Seconds of Summer’s performance was praised by the media, who said that the gig was pretty near perfect.

“5 Seconds of Summer performed superbly without missing a lot of notes and kept their energy strong for almost two hours. Overall, the 5 Seconds of Summer concert showed exactly how a concert should be.”

With One Direction currently on hiatus, it appears that 5 Seconds of Summer are set to fill the musical space they occupy. It seems that 5 Seconds of Summer are winning fans and admirers wherever they perform, since their catchy pop-punk tunes are accessible and fun, and they score with the teenage audience.

Many within the music industry believe that 5 Seconds of Summer are set to become the biggest band in pop and with One Direction out of the picture for now it is hard to dispute that assessment.

[Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP]