Reminiscing 5SOS @ HMV Institute Birmingham

Hello Everyone!


Earlier this week marked one year since I saw 5SOS on their first UK headlining tour at the HMV Institute in Birmingham.
It's safe to say that Timehop was pretty EMO on Monday morning as I scrolled through photos of me, Georgina and Vanessa queuing and videos of what was one of the best gigs I've been to. As a result of my overwhelming emo nostalgia, I thought it would be interesting to write a post which takes a trip down memory lane.


Let's go back to Saturday March 1st 2014. The weather is okay. I've arrived in Birmingham after a pretty relaxing coach journey and I've met up with Vanessa and Georgina outside the Bullring. We get coffee and some meal deals before heading to the venue to see if any other fans are sneaking around like us. We take a walk around the city, grab some food and wait it out. Then comes the very LONG night, in which a security guard asked if we are groupies, Vanessa is told to get on a coach back to Spain by some 'LADDISH' lads in the coach station, who also attempt to insult Georgina by calling her Khloe Kardashian. Then there's the moment we witnessed two people being kicked out of McDonalds for having sex in the toilet at 5am, when we were trying to survive on more coffee and a shit ton of chicken nuggets and free wifi. Luckily we weren't running low on vodka or Oreos.


On the Saturday a few girls had asked us if we were in the city to see 5SOS and kindly told us that security were handing out a limited number of priority passes to urge fans not to camp out. We arrived the next morning with these passes, but also with hearts that told us it wouldn't be fair to just show up five minutes before and demand to be let in, so we queued from 6am. That's when the hell started.


From personal experience whenever I've waited a lengthy time for 5SOS the weather is SHIT! This trend was more prominent than ever as it rained literally all day. We wrapped up in a cocoon of blankets and the vodka began to run low. Because everyone was so sleep deprived, half way through the day everyone was becoming restless. We were cold, wet and laying in uncomfortable positions. People had spilled coffee which began to run into our blankets, so we started taking it in turns to go to the coach station, pee and warm up. Georgina dropped her Crème Egg, and I chucked my half eaten Subway in the bin when the band arrived.

Obviously, as the door opening got closer, people who had priority began to turn up and that's when the drama started. Throughout the day security had been giving us mixed messages. One guy would say that everyone who arrived at 6am (aka me, my friends and about 5 other girls) would get in first, but another guy would say that only priority would go first. In the end they made two queues and a pair of priority followed by a pair of us would go in.


Once we were inside we were relieved and SUPER pumped for the show. The HMV Institute is my favourite venue and I couldn't wait to see 5SOS on that stage. The support act was super upbeat and ready to play on the crowd's energy. The tour playlist played on the speaker, and when Dirty Little Secret and Are You Gonna Be My Girl reached their end point, the lights dimmed and the four Australians we had waited for were finally ready to perform.


I remember that earlier in the tour they'd began playing new songs such as Heartache on the Big Screen and Amnesia, and though I'd heard them on Tumblr, the low quality and rustling of the screams of the crowd didn't allow me to perfect the lyrics, so I may have bopped my head and mimed through those songs.

Obviously the banter you'd expect from the band was created, with tales of Calum's birthday stripper, Ashton's cold and the EMO 'we can't believe we are playing our own tour' moment. The gig was fast paced, sweaty and full of great music which you'd anticipate from 5SOS show. It's still so surreal for me to think that they've gone from a relatively average sized venue like the HMV Institute to some of the biggest venues in the country aka Wembley. Though I am super proud and so ready for this years tour I really hope that 5SOS get to play intimate venues again on future tours with future albums!


Thanks for reading,
Aimee :) x