The difference between a bit and a creative, artistic concept is having a message — and 5 Seconds of Summer certainly had one.
The band hit the stage at Madison Square Garden on June 13 and 14 for two electric, sold out nights with The Band Camino opening. For a band that your grandma probably hasn’t heard of, it might be shocking to know this isn’t their first time at the World’s Most Famous Arena. In fact, they are no stranger to the big stage; their fame started after they were plucked from Australian obscurity by One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson and thrown onto two global stadium tours.
However, that origin story long since seemed to plague the band, who spent the early days of their career being placed in the boyband box. In fact, at times, they even scoffed at the pop label, pushing for a much edgier pop punk feel. Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, and Calum Hood rejected the boyband mold, but soon came to learn that “boyband” was never a dirty word.
Finally, in 2025, they embraced it – and then they went ahead and criticized with a fresher, more mature outlook in 2026.
Their album, Everyone’s A Star!, which became the namesake for their tour, picked apart the music industry with digs at marketing, image, and the dilution of music for commercial success. Unlike their prior albums, Everyone’s a Star! immediately came out swinging, and I was glad to find it was a concept album. With tracks like Boyband, No. 1 Obsession, and Evolve, their message was abundantly clear: they’ve been raised like circus monkeys while simultaneously clinging to a rockstar image they’ve never been able to truly achieve. While they didn’t get all the rockstar glitz and glam, they did get all the draw backs.
Boy in a boyband, imaginary boyfriendIrritates the metal heads, it’s your favoriteBoy in boyband, make that monkey danceLet me see you clap your hands, it’s your favorite boyband
“Boyband” by 5 Seconds of Summer
Mirror that message into a concept tour full with stage protection and acting… that’s the Everyone’s A Star! tour, which is currently meandering its way across North America.
EAS! takes a drastic shift from prior tours
If you’ve seen 5SOS before, a lit up stage, transitions, skits, and direct fan engagement might feel like a foreign concept. They even joked during their show that the budget has been upped significantly, and we have to wonder if there’s humor in that at all or just a stale truth delivered with a smile. 5SOS began to dabble with the theatrics during their last tour, adding in a rolling dice of fan favorite songs and a few props, but the Everyone’s A Star! tour seemed to have an almost musical theater quality gimmick that spread even into the fans themselves.
Take me to heaven, kill the depression
Make me your number one obsession“No. 1 Obsession” by 5 Seconds of Summer
5 Seconds of Summer framed the tour under a single concept: it would be their last show ever. Throughout the night, pre-recorded skits depicted a documentary-like plotline, including interviews with the band members who were playing some sort of exaggerated versions of themselves. We won’t spoil the plot, but we can tell you the funniest moment — when they were asked about their break up.
The night contained special moments true fans can savor
While the band never actually broke up or went on hiatus, for some reason a rumor tore through the industry and fan-o-sphere that they were on hiatus. Actually, it’s happened many times. After every album, the world seems to take the band’s silence and recovery time as a structured, possibly never-ending break. Perhaps, the industry is still holding them to the boyband formula of an album a year that titans like One Direction were forced into.
The break up rumors were only exacerbated by Luke, Ashton, Michael, and Calum working on solo projects. The humor wrote itself, “How did I feel when I found out the band had broken up…?” A lingering question that transitioned itself into a segment of the show where each member gets a chance to show off their independent work. However, in a sign of unity, the other members played the backing instruments on their selected singles.
I wanna do drugs
I wanna make love
I wanna get fucked
(When you gonna grow up?)
Get a pink limousine
Creme de la creme
You know what I mean?“Evolve” by 5 Seconds of Summer
Outside of the stage production and (may we add stellar) acting, 5SOS gave fans an extra enticing element — a fourth wall break.
‘Real bands save fans, real fans save bands’
The tour’s creative director understood the reality that there is no boyband without two things: diehard fangirls and a gossip-hungry press.
Before the 5SOS Fam (yes, that’s what we’ve been calling ourselves all these years) step foot into their show, the band has already set the scene. In promoting the tour, 5SOS developed their own faux newspaper to track their every move called The Daily Sauce. The social media account post updates, content, and in-character lore from this not-too-far-from-reality world the artists have created. It leans into the style of fan accounts while still offering a charming commentary on the press.
Plus, fans with VIP tickets, who get early access to the venue, received the chance to be a part of a soundcheck Q&A stylized like a press conference. That’s right: the fans became part of the show in a way no artists truly has been able to do.
Suddenly, you’re not just watching the show; you’re performing in it. The tour was curated perfectly under the concept that we all contribute to the boyband machine, even if we’re well-meaning. Not only do we contribute, but we’re stuck in it, too. After all, aren’t the young girls filled with passion the ones who are sucked dry by record labels?
With this tour, 5SOS were able to tackle the truth of the entertainment industry without shafting some of the blame to their adoring fans. Instead, they treated their concertgoers, mostly young women, like equals who could understand the strife they were attempting to dissect.
Those girls (me) grew up with them. It’s clear 5SOS understands their fans in a way that’s more than just demographics and statistics.
5 Seconds of Summer finally learned how to fully embrace that boyband lifestyle — not run from it. Boyband was never a bad word, but the mainstream views the label like poison because it’s associated with fangirls. The mainstream hates anything women love. But women love 5SOS, and it’s clear, for sure, they love us back. The care put into this tour proved it.
So, was it all just a bit? Yeah, probably. 5SOS has always been a band not afraid to lean into their humor. However, who said a bit can’t have a true, meaningful message?
Oh, by the way, #KnicksIn5SOS.
