7:30 a.m. on a Thursday in August. Usually, I would be nowhere near awake at that time on a summer morning, but on August 30, 2018, sleep was nowhere to be found.
At 7:30 a.m. on that Thursday, I was packing up makeup, gathering tickets and paperwork, and driving to my best friend’s house the next neighborhood over.
The concert wasn’t starting until 8:00 p.m., but we had scheduled a 9:26 a.m. train into Boston to get to the concert venue. Because we’re crazy? Yes. But also because we had general admission tickets to 5SOS’s soundcheck experience before their show.
5 Seconds of Summer is an Australian pop/rock band that my best friend Megan and I have loved since 2014. This show in 2018 was not the first time we’ve seen them– or gone to a soundcheck. It was the third time we would be seeing them, and the second time we’d be experiencing soundcheck.
The first soundcheck we did was back in 2016 on 5SOS’s Sounds Live Feels Live Tour at one of their stops in Uncasville, Connecticut at Mohegan Sun Arena. And to put it simply, we had no idea what we were doing. We arrived at 12:30 p.m. (it started at 4:00) and were welcomed with a line of about 200 people circling the casino. We ended up in a row in the middle of the pack, which obviously was an INSANE opportunity to be that up close and personal to our favorite band, but deep down we knew we could do better.
So that’s how I ended up at Megan’s house at 8:00 a.m., scarfing down a Dunkin Donuts bagel and dousing my body in copious amounts of silver glitter to fit the aesthetic of the band at that time.
We barely made it to our train on time; if I remember right we literally had two minutes to spare, but we did it. I’ll never forget the confused looks of all the businesspeople headed to work when they caught a glimpse of us in our concert outfits, eyeliner, and bags filled to the brim with portable chargers, cameras, and glitter.
We arrived in Boston around 10:00 a.m. As we neared closer and saw the big, illuminated “5SOS” sign in the venue parking lot, we started freaking out (even more).
To our surprise when we showed up, there were only six people in front of us. SIX.
We instantly learned the names of the people in line, because we knew we’d be spending an extended period of time with them. They gave us a sharpie they’d been using to number themselves and keep track of everyone’s place. When I drew that number seven, and Megan drew her eight, it all felt insanely surreal.
After that? We waited. And waited. And waited, and waited.
The most exciting points during the six hours we sat in that line were when a few workers from VIP Nation came and set up the check-in tent at 1:00 p.m. when Megan and I crashed a nearby Legal Seafoods bathroom to touch up our makeup and hearing the venue testing out the sound before soundcheck with 5SOS’s live album.
Finally, at about 4:00 p.m., we began getting checked in. By this point, it was sprinkling rain outside and the sky was getting increasingly dark, and my anxious excitement was palpable. I was more than ready to get inside.
Turns out the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, (now called the Leader Bank Pavilion), is beautiful. It’s an outdoor venue that’s covered by a white cover, with a view of Boston Harbor from one side.
By this point in the day my pale skin and I were extremely sunburnt from sitting on the pavement in the 90-degree heat for hours, but luckily as the sun went down so did the temperature. But of course, I was in the front row for soundcheck–a literal dream come true–so there was absolutely nothing that was going to ruin my mood.
This soundcheck experience absolutely topped my first one. The premise is that it’s a Q&A with the band plus hearing them play a few songs before the show. It feels like your own exclusive 5SOS club.
People asked some great questions, like “What’s your least favorite fan favorite song,” “If you had to get another tattoo right now what would it be,” and “If you could go back and change any lyrics would you?” The band members gave hilarious answers as always, it seems like their personalities always shine no matter what the situation is.
The first two songs they played were Talk Fast and Valentine off of their album Youngblood, which crazily are my and Megan’s favorite songs from that album, respectively. The two of us were having the time of our lives, singing and yelling our hearts out about a foot away from our favorite band.
I remember the feeling I had after we had all been escorted out of the seating area after it was over. Somehow I didn’t feel like I had lived a real day. Megan and I had been talking about showing up to soundcheck early for years so we could just try to get front row, and the fact that it actually happened felt unbelievable.
We spent the next hour and a bit buying merch, eating, and listening to the opening act’s soundcheck and performance. We also randomly ran into their photographer Andy DeLuca during this intermission, another well-known figure to 5SOS fans, and got a couple of selfies with him before 5SOS came out again at 9:00 for their actual set.
They played every song I hoped they would, and the energy in that room had me smiling ear to ear and crying tears of joy for the entire duration. There is truly nothing like seeing your favorite band live.
We got home around 1:00 a.m., making our grand total time at the venue about 14 hours. It sounds like forever, but it flew by in the blink of an eye. To this day it remains one of the greatest memories of my life.
I can’t wait to do it all over again (maybe even earlier) on July 10, 2022.