5SOS heading in their own direction

And so are many of the band’s early adopters, the young female fans now mostly over the hump of puberty but not quite old enough for festivals, who were at their Sydney concert on Tuesday night.

These members of the 5SOS fam behave more like a young festival crowd watching a punk pop band than the hormonally-charged hysterical tweens and teens who have greeted the mere mention of the band’s name with tinnitus-inducing screams for the past five years.

The band’s opening night at the Hordern Pavilion, the penultimate gig of their Sounds Live Feels Live world tour, also happened to be their 100th this year.

“This is actually the 100th show. It was almost like it was planned,” frontman Luke Hemmings said.

And it showed.

The guitars crunched, the drums packed some poundage and the harmonies locked in from a band match-fit with a set that provoked plenty of high-pitched cheers and singalongs.

It’s more early Blink 182 meets Good Charlotte than One Direction, and the crowd’s arms were thrust pointed at the stage ala a rock crowd rather than side-to-side like a teen pop audience.

5SOS also expressed the same concerns as a rock act as they watched those in the excitable, packed front rows getting a little too squeezed for comfort.

Hemmings had to stop the show at one stage to call out to a mother and reunite her with her ill daughter.

Guitarist Michael Clifford, drummer Ashton Irwin and bassist Calum Hood spent plenty of time chatting to the crowd — it felt almost as much as their playing time — affirming their gratitude for the loyalty of their young fans.

Clifford may have set a new record for standing at a mic and soaking up cheers and screams with his winning grins and dramatic pauses during Jet Black Heart, with the stopclock well over four minutes.

But there were sweet moments too when the lads paid tribute to their families and Irwin promised his grandparents he will pay them back for buying him his first drum kit.

They probably should have offered thanks to the hundreds of parents waiting outside the venue in the rain for their offspring.

The young men were generous at offering out the golden carrot of partying with them later during their crowd interactions.

Of course few of the concert goers, which still included a big contingent of little kids with their parents, will be anywhere near the bars these young men would visit later in the night.

The gig reminds you that YouTube and streaming sites have made a string of 5SOS songs the fan favourites regardless of their radio airplay or position on the singles charts.

From Hey Everybody, Don’t Stop and Amnesia through to Good Girls and most recent single Girls Talk Boys, there are enough whoa whoas and oh-ohs to keep these true believers engaged throughout the gig.

Girls Talk Boys

5SOS were hardly going through the motions with a polished concert as the finishing line of a long nine months on the road looms into sight.

They clearly love playing, exercising the muscles built as they have practised their skills relentlessly since hitting the road with One Direction on their world tour a few years ago.

5SOS play their final gig on the world tour in Sydney on Wednesday before taking three months off.

And then it starts all over again as the four boys from the western suburbs of Sydney continue their quest to sell out more of the arenas they commanded worldwide in 2016.

Originally published as 5SOS heading in their own direction