Seeing My Favourite Band of All Time in Another Country

First of all, I couldn't believe how inexpensive the tickets were. I was really sad because I missed their shows in both Chicago and Philly, and thought I would have to go to Paris or London to see 5 Seconds of Summer, but they happened to have a concert at the venue just 15 minutes away from my dorm by bus!

A week before the concert, I decided to get soundcheck tickets because I figured this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see them in such an intimate venue. The grand admission ticket alone cost about 50 euros and the soundcheck upgrade cost 150 euros, which is around the price of a far away ticket in a stadium venue in the U.S. I also set out to find someone to stay in line with, so I looked to Reddit for a buddy. There was also a lot of helpful information regarding soundcheck and waiting in line. I wanted to be as close as possible, so I got there at 10 AM for the 5 PM soundcheck. I don't regret this decision at all, because it turned out that 156 people had come before me.

Some fans actually took it upon themselves to create a system where you could arrive and get a wristband with your name and number in line and then leave until doors for soundcheck opened at 3 PM.

This seemed beneficial at first, but it actually felt more unfair because not everyone knew about it, so the lucky ones could have come extremely early--even the day before--and gotten their number and went back to the hotel. Meanwhile, there are people like me who planned to stay the entire time and hold our place fair and square. There were so many people who weren't there when we finally lined up, and it was really annoying to see people come last-minute in their cute outfits and full-on makeup because they were hanging out in their hotel. I saw a lot of cute outfits, like this amazing 5SOS5 jacket!

There was also a place people had sidewalk chalk. Such a fun idea!

Aside from the concert itself, the most positive aspect of waiting in the line for so long is that I got to meet so many people from around the Schengen Zone who had traveled to see One Direction. Funnily enough, I didn't meet a single person that was actually from Luxembourg. There was a German girl in charge of the lines who did a Disney program at Epcot for the Germany section twice, and she introduced me to some other Americans.

They seemed a bit uninterested in talking to me though, so I didn't stay with them for long. One was making cute bracelets and the other was doing her makeup. It was like pulling teeth making conversation. What was crazy about them though, is that they had attended 18 concerts in 5SOS' U.S. tour and were seeing 6 in Europe. PLUS, they had seen Taylor Swift and Harry Styles. They must have tons of money...or, at least their parents do.

As we were entering, a girl was asking to take short videos of people wearing the sunglasses she made for a TikTok. I totally forgot her username, but here's a pic of me in the glasses, so maybe we can find it that way! We also were given cups to get water in the bathroom while we waited for almost two hours. Someone even had snacks was kind enough to give me this cool Twix!

The person I stuck with the longest, Brenda, was the very first person I spoke to when I arrived. She was willing to wait with me in the general admission (GA) line before we found out that I was VIP. I couldn't believe how nice that was of her. She is French, so we spoke in French most of the time, but she also used English with me. Later on, she made friends who only spoke French, so I got to practice more French! Speaking French did get tiring after a while, so it was nice to sit on my phone and take a break when we were inside past the ticket and security check.

Once the doors to the standing room opened, the line started moving very quickly. Girls started running, but this made the venue staff angry and one security man even held someone back who was running. I am so glad that didn't happen to me and that I was able to be fast enough to get in the fourth row from the stage. Of course, I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't in the very front, but I felt better when I saw the rows of general admission people behind me at 7 PM.

When I saw Michael come on stage first, I couldn't believe my eyes. It sounds so cliche, but I really couldn't believe how close I was to them. Michael and Luke are my favorite members, so I couldn't believe I had the perfect spot in between both of them. My view of Luke was better because it was less obstructed, but I could see Michael really well in some moments. Unfortunately, Cal was quite far and there were some tall people blocking my view of him. Thankfully, people move around during concerts, so this wasn't the case the entire time.

During the Q&A, all 5 people whose questions were chosen were not even from Luxembourg. The last one was asked by my Reddit friend that I made, who happens to be an Australian who just recently moved to Iceland! The Q&A was so short and I wish there was more time seeing them talk. I was a bit sad that Calum didn't speak much. Ashton took over mostly, and he was so fun. The two songs they played for the soundcheck were Talk Fast and Out of My Limit, which were sooooo unexpected!! Out of My Limit is one of my all-time favourite songs of theirs from when they first got started as a band. I also really love If You Don't Know, which was one of the dice songs. I reallyyyyyy wanted it to land on that one because it really hasn't been played live.

After 5SOS finished their soundcheck, there was a duo that played EDM. Later on, I discovered their name: AR/CO. They were fun as an opening act, but I wouldn't listen to their music on my own.

The lead female member was very tall and looked like a model, but she also kind of danced like a SIM lol. The male member was quite short compared to her and had bleach blonde hair. He also kept doing the Usain Bolt pose, which I didn't like--not necessarily because I associate it with Bolt but because it felt really really cheesy to go with their futuristic/outer space theme. After they finished, people started sitting down. I couldn't have been happier to rest my legs at this point.

Next, Charlotte Sands took the stage. I knew that name rung a bell, but I couldn't place it until she actually performed her set to open the show. It turns out that I've been listening to her music since the summer of 2020, when I discovered my favourite song of hers, "Sweatshirt." I used to play this on repeat allllll the time. I drove to it, walked to class with it, played it when I worked in the study abroad office, etc. I couldn't get enough. I followed some of her other songs like "Blame It On My Ex" and "Dress," and I couldn't believe it when I realized I got to see her live. Her music is very pop-punk, so it was living in my "2013 hot topic n chunky bracelet vibes" playlist, which has A LOT of 5SOS songs. This concert truly couldn't have been any better with surprising me. I really wanted her to play "Sweatshirt," but I guess that's too old of a song. She finished with "Dress," so I'm glad I was able to sing along and jump around to it.

I am sooo happy that I didn't see the setlist in advance and that it was a surprise because that really made the experience more magical. I was a bit sad though because I had made a countdown video with COMPLETE MESS, and it wasn't even played!!! Once I realized this, I knew I had to record something to make another video, so I had to use "She Looks So Perfect." I can't believe they still play this song. I guess they probably can't either.

This show was their first one ever in Luxembourg, and there were many people who had never been to a concert of theirs before, so it must have been a dream to hear their most famous hit in person. I wish that they had played some more songs from the newest album, because I feel that is meant to be the main reason of their tour, but I also know that fans can get very mad when they don't hear the classics.

Earlier, I talked about the dice song, which refers to the part of the show where they send a large inflatable die into the audience with 6 different older songs to mix things up at the shows. If it doesn't get back to the stage after 60 seconds, then the band gets to choose the song. As I said, I really wanted "If You Don't Know," but we got "Heartbreak Girl." This used to be one of my favourite songs from their first album, 5 Seconds of Summer, but I would have preferred "Voodoo Doll" because that is my number one favourite on that same album. The other options were "Heartache on the Big Screen,"English Love Affair," and "Wrapped Around Your Finger." They were all truly great choices because they're ooooold songs. I still couldn't believe I got to hear "Out of My Limit" because you can't even find it on Spotify. Try Hard is probably my favourite song from that beginning era of 5SOS though.

When the concert had finally come to an end, it felt so incredibly short. They played songs one after another very quickly, and didn't actually finish every song because there were too many on the setlist to play them all the way. I had mixed feelings about this because it didn't really give breathing room for the audience or for them, but I also get that they have a time limit and they were already running behind. They didn't come on stage until 9 PM because the openings acts took the first two hours.

The end of the concert was a bit rough because the rude staff were yelling at people to leave and physically trying to push them out. I know they want to leave, but girls were just having fun and taking pictures and they were being too aggressive. Since they ended with confetti, a lot of people had the idea to get pictures with it.

I also had to run to catch my bus, so I said goodbye to my French friend and took off. After concerts, there are typically men who stand outside selling bootleg merch, but one with pretty good, and big, posters caught my eye, so I took the chance and bought my 5 euro poster to hang in my dorm.

I had a smooth time getting home, but tons of people had gotten on the bus who were supposed to be going in the other direction. I helped a girl with this when I first got on the bus, but then I heard someone else say that the next stop was a train station that I knew was the other way. I assume these people all had to catch their trains at that station since it's a main stop. They probably missed it though because buses are very infrequent that late at night. I decided to make an announcement in English at the next stop to tell people that if they needed to get to the gate, then they were on the right bus. I was relieved to see some head nods and blank stares, but then someone said "oh no! and got off right away,

I was so incredibly tired when I got home, but couldn't sleep out of excitement. This was truly one of the best nights of my life and I would do anything to play that concert over and over again. That must have been the fastest 2 hours of my life and I will cherish it forever.

Want to watch parts of the concert? Check out my TikTok here.

UPDATE: They made it into the daily paper!

I'm actually riiiiiiight behind the blonde person on the right in the second row!