Australian pop-punk sensation 5 Seconds of Summer rocked Nikon at Jones Beach Theater on Tuesday, the first of back-to-back, sold-out concerts at the seaside amphitheater before taking the stage again Wednesday night.
After Los Angelas-based rockers Hey Violent got the show started, 5SOS played hits such as “She’s Kinda Hot,” the new single off their second album, Sounds Good Feels Good, which is set to drop next month, and a few covers, including Green Day’s “American Idiot.” The crowd was jumping as soon as they opened with their party anthem, “End Up Here” off their self-titled debut released last year. The band’s line-up includes Luke Hemmings on guitar and vocals, guitarist Michael Clifford, bassist Calum Hood and drummer Ashton Irwin.
“I’d like to thank my mom for giving birth to me, I’d like to thank Michael’s mom for giving birth to Michael, I’d like to thank Calum Hood for giving birth to Luke Hemmings,” the band, who are mostly teenagers, joked between songs in a nod to their mothers, who were at the concert laughing and cheering on their sons.
The group’s Jones Beach concerts marked the first time the band has headlined a major venue in the New York Metro area, The Village Voice noted. The concerts came shortly after the group performed at the Teen Choice Awards, where they were nominated for multiple awards, including music group male artists and music group of the summer, but continuously lost to One Direction.
The Jones Beach show didn’t all go as planned. When they played “Rejects,” toward the end of the song, Hemmings had the stage crew turn off all of the lights in the theater. As he urged the crowd to dance as the band started performing again, at one point, they sounded like amateurs, as feedback from their microphones lasted for at least 10 seconds.
But the boys recovered and the show went on. While performing the heartbreaking song “Amnesia,” the crowd was singing along in unison as they had through much of the performance. At another point, the crowd put their hands in the air and clapped along to the rhythm.
The multi-color lights were flickering everywhere as they worked their way up to “She Looks So Perfect,” their breakout hit that reached No. 1 on the charts in multiple countries. For their encore, 5SOS saved the best for last: “Good Girl” and “What I Like About You,” a cover of a song by The Romantics.
The band’s Rock Out with Your Socks Out Tour, which started in Portugal in May, is on its last leg with just eight more stops before concluding in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Sept. 13. After that, they plan to work on new music.
