TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
5 Seconds of Summer: charms their flock of screaming teens
Thousands of teenage girls donning black T-shirts flocked to the Indonesian Convention Exhibition (ICE) in South Tangerang to watch Australian pop punk band 5 Seconds of Summer
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Thousands of teenage girls donning black T-shirts flocked to the Indonesian Convention Exhibition (ICE) in South Tangerang to watch Australian pop punk band 5 Seconds of Summer.
The band was performing live for the first time in Indonesia as part of its 'Sounds Live Feels Live' world tour.
The concert was scheduled to start at 8 p.m. but the many die-hard teenage fans, some accompanied by their parents, arrived at the venue at 1 a.m. to secure their entrance pass and purchase 5 Seconds Of Summer official merchandise.
Aware that thousands of enthusiastic teenagers would gravitate toward the ICE concert hall, the event organizer, Live Nation, took care to organize a professionally managed-crowd flow system.
Hours before the concert started, Live Nation allowed 500 fans to enter the concert hall and interact personally with 5 Seconds of Summer band members ' Luke Hemmings (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Michael Clifford (guitar, keyboard and vocals), Calum Hood (bass guitar and vocals) and Ashton Irwin (drums, keyboard and vocals) ' during a sound check session.
Separating the 500 fans, Live Nation had divided the thousands of teens crowded outside ICE into two large groups, making the queue for the tickets less crowded and, in a way, provided more safety for the teens who had lined up during the scorching hot day.
Two hours before the concert started, the organizer began to provide access the concert hall, divided into two large sections.
The first section provided seats despite the fact that this was supposedly a pop punk band concert in which most of the audience were planning to jump up and down. The second section had no seats, allowing fans the freedom to roam around, mingle, dance and jump.
At 7 p.m., Indonesian pop punk band Pee Wee Gaskins opened the concert. The crowd warmly welcomed the short and sufficiently timed opening set featuring hit songs such as 'Di Mata Sang Garuda' (In The Eyes of Garuda), 'Berbagi Cerita' (Sharing Stories), 'Sebuah Rahasia' (A Secret) and 'Di Balik Hari Esok' (Behind Tomorrow).
Unfortunately for Pee Wee Gaskins, being an opening act also meant they were the first performers to test sound quality and, during their performance, as the vocals failed to reach the audience watching from the back of the hall, it was clear something was technically wrong.
5 Seconds of Summer began at around 8:30 p.m.
Nevertheless, the 30-minute delay did not reduce the enthusiasm of the teen crowd. The hall literally shook with their screams when Luke, Michael, Calum and Ashton entered the stage, took up their instruments and began to perform 'Carry On'.
The teenagers roared even more when 5 Seconds of Summer performed the hit single 'Hey Everybody' and started to sing together in harmony when the band performed 'Jet Black Heart'. Those who were in the seated section eventually decided to leave their seats and let themselves loose.
In town: Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer performs at the Indonesian Convention Exhibition (ICE) in South Tangerang.
In total, 5 Seconds of Summer performed 19 songs, including two encores ' 'She's Kinda Hot' and 'She Looks So Perfect'.
Throughout the performance, the band maintained the mood and the spirit of the audience; they performed superbly without missing a lot of notes and kept their energy strong for almost two hours.
The band's members also made the concert fun with their humble interaction with their teenager fans. To regain some energy after a high octane song, they spent time talking to the fans but they managed to do this while keeping up the crowds level of enthusiasm.
At one point, they performed a spontaneously composed song titled 'Jakarta' as an ode to their Indonesian fans. Some fans protested saying the song should have been called 'Tangsel,' an abbreviation of Tangerang Selatan, the city that actually hosted the concert.
Overall, the 5 Seconds of Summer concert showed exactly how a concert should be. Despite of a little hiccup in the sound department at the start, all involved did a great job, providing an entertaining event by not sacrificing comfort for security.
' Photos by JP/Don
