Over the past decade, Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer has made quite a few appearances in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On the 10th of April, the band headlined an almost completely sold-out Ziggo Dome for the fifth time in their career as part of the ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR! World Tour’. Joining them as support acts this evening were Master Peace and South Arcade.
“Where are you? You should be on stage now,” the introduction sounded over the speakers at exactly 19:00 to get the crowd ready for the first act of the night. Master Peace, the stage name of British musician Peace Okezie, got to hype up the fans with his thirty-minute set. Together with his bandmates, he managed to play a whopping nine songs, opening with ‘One by One’ and ‘My Guitar’, during which he threw an inflatable guitar into the crowd, and his newest single, ‘Love Hate’. The singer also made sure the crowd could sing along to at least one track tonight by playing a cover of Busted’s ‘The Year 3000’. Finally, Okezie ended his set with ‘Home’, asking the crowd to sing along “really fucking loud” – and everyone happily obliged as the lyrics were relatively easy to learn.
At 19:50, it was time for the second support act, English Y2K rock band South Arcade. The band consists of lead singer Harmony Cavelle, guitarist Harry Winks, bassist Ollie Green, and drummer Cody Jones. They opened their set with ‘Fear of Heights’, quickly followed by ‘Nepo Baby’. Before playing the third song, ‘HOW 2 GET AWAY WITH MURDER’, Cavelle made every member of her band name their 5 Seconds of Summer member. The thousands of eager fans happily cheered when their favourite member’s name was called. Fortunately, there were lots of cheers for every one of the four members. Cavelle kept up this charade throughout the set by asking multiple times how each side of the room was doing, naming the right side of the crowd ‘Calum’s barricade’, the left side ‘Michael’s barricade’, and the middle Ashton’s. Just like Master Peace, South Arcade had also just put out a new song on the day of the show, ‘[Superman]’, which they of course had to play. In the middle of the song, Green turned around his bass to show off the words he’d taped to the back: “I <3 HOT DADS”. South Arcade definitely knew how to get the crowd going, and throughout the half hour, fans jumped and screamed along to the music.
Finally, it was time for the main act of the night to take to the stage. Just before 21:00, an introductory video began playing on the LED screen, showing the band getting ready as well as videos from a bunch of previous 5 Seconds of Summer shows. “On April 10, 2026, 5 Seconds of Summer performed to a massive crowd on their EVERYONE’S A STAR! TOUR at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, Netherlands”, the screen showed, and the cheers went crazy as the camera filmed the audience. Mere minutes later, the four band members took to the stage to start the first act of the night: The Peak. One by one, Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, Michael Clifford, and Ashton Irwin walked out from a car that also held Irwin’s drum kit to start the show with ‘NOT OK’. This act also included ‘No. 1 Obsession’ and the major hit ‘Teeth’.
The entire show was divided into acts, introduced by videos on the screen. In the video playing to introduce Act II – The Fall, the members spoke about their past decade as “boyband royalty”. The band came back on stage to continue the show with ‘Easier’, making use of the round catwalk for the first time tonight as Clifford and Hood each stood on their respective side, and Hemmings made his way to the front to get closer to the fans. After playing ‘No Shame’, the band took a small break from singing to present a PowerPoint to the audience on how to put on the best rock show. The four steps included pumping up the crowd, speaking in lore, knowing local pop culture, and giving the people what they want! For step three, 5 Seconds of Summer had prepared a plan particular to the city of Amsterdam. According to the band, the local pop culture includes biking around, eating stroopwafels, and visiting the Van Gogh Museum; quite accurate! The band then continued the second act with another major hit, ‘She’s Kinda Hot’. They finished it with three songs from their newest album, Everyone’s a Star!, namely ‘Boyband’, ‘Telephone Busy’, and ‘Evolve’. Before playing ‘Boyband’, a fan was invited onto the stage to present the four men with the boyband of the year award, which made for an adorable moment.
After another video, it was time for Act III – The Yearning. This was a relatively short act, with three slower, more emotional songs being played. The video that played before Act IV – The Breakup talked about how the members of 5 Seconds of Summer had decided to go solo. Each of the four members got their moment in the spotlight by getting to play one of their own songs, although the other three members were also there to play the instruments. Luke Hemmings’ ‘Starting Line’ was followed by Ashton Irwin’s ‘Have U Found What Ur Looking For?’, Calum Hood’s ‘Don’t Forget You Love Me’, and finally, Michael Clifford’s ‘enough’. This section was extra special because most of the band members haven’t gone on their own tour (yet), and so many people didn’t expect to ever get to hear these songs live.
Another video interlude showed an interviewer catching up with the band members post-breakup, as it was time for Act V – The Rise. This two-song section included a beautiful rendition of ‘Amnesia’. The audience held up their flashlights as the four members stood together at the front of the catwalk, with Irwin playing the guitar instead of the drums for the first and only time tonight. The second song was tonight’s Secret Song, a track decided by a poll the fans got to vote on before the show. The winning song turned out to be ‘Girls Talk Boys’, a single the band had made for the Ghostbusters film.
The second-to-last act, The Beginning, was introduced by a video that spoke about 5 Seconds of Summer needing to learn how to be a band again after the breakup. This section included only songs from their first two albums: without those, the band would have never made it to where they are today. They opened this section with ‘English Love Affair’ and ended it with ‘She Looks So Perfect’. During the latter, gigantic pink beach balls with black stars on them were thrown into the audience. Everyone standing was busy not only with singing and dancing along, but also with making sure they weren’t hit in the head. While a bit scary, it also made for a really fun moment and forced everyone to be truly present.
The final act of the night was not simply an encore, but a true ending to the show. Act VII – The Return was opened with a video of the band saying that “we come to concerts to laugh, to cry, to dance”. According to the video, “this was supposed to be [our end]” but fortunately for the fans, they’re not done yet. Instead, the band is “just getting started”. 5 Seconds of Summer ended the night with ‘Everyone’s a Star!’ and ‘Youngblood’. For the second-to-last song, the four members had walked around the room to the back of the venue and made their way past the fans back onto the stage. After playing ‘Youngblood’, the four men took their final bows as the credits rolled on the screen behind them.
Tonight, 5 Seconds of Summer truly showed why they’re the boyband not only of the year, but also of the past decade. Ever since they opened for One Direction, the band has been on the rise, and they keep growing musically as well as personally. The production for this show was simply insane, with stunning visuals, funny videos, and lovely fan interactions, having made this a night to never forget.
