5 Seconds Of Summer/Lewis Watson Acoustic Performance.

Around 150 teenage girls is what you would have found if you were at Hyde Park last Sunday, the 26^th of August, all waiting to catch an acoustic set from teen heartthrobs 5 Seconds Of Summer and Lewis Watson, a good turnout for a small gig only organised and announced a few days prior.

The boys of upcoming Sydney band, 5 Seconds Of Summer and British singer Lewis Watson arrived at the area near the War Memorial at Hyde Park at around 12 o’clock, sending girls running to try and meet the boys or just to secure a good spot.

5 Seconds Of Summer were up first, singing their first released original song, ‘Gotta Get Out’, most girls sitting watching almost speechless, stunned that they were only metres away from Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin and Michael Clifford, drummer Ashton, encouraged girls to help the band out and sing along.

Next from 5SOS was a Justin Bieber cover, ‘As Long As You Love Me’, the fans getting more involved, singing the rap in the song, as the band sat and watched.

Another original was next, ‘Everything I Want’, and their set was finished with ‘Jasey Rae’, an All Time Low cover, also a fan favourite.

Lewis Watson was up next, all the way from Britain on a short, few week visit to Australia. Lewis also performed 4 acoustic songs, including ‘Nothing’, ‘Calling’, ‘Once More’ and ‘Bones’.

After Lewis’ performance, 5 Seconds Of Summer left quickly, said to be heading back to the studio, leaving many disappointed girls having missed out on the opportunity to meet them. Lewis stuck around, determined to meet every single person who wanted a photo or to get something signed.

Lewis hung out with the fans for at least an hour, getting photo after photo, signing One Direction phone case after One Direction phone case, getting gift after gift from his fans.

I think that the day turned out as a great success, with all fans seeming to be extremely impressed with the acoustic performance, even if they did miss out on the chance to meet the 5SOS boys.

Soundwave 2013 Line-up.

The long awaited Soundwave 2013 line-up has finally arrived and it most definitely did not fail to impress. Celebrating a ten year anniversary of the festival for metal, punk and rock lovers, the line-up has topped anything we have ever seen previously.

Festival organiser, AJ Maddah, has managed to please most with the line-up this year. Metal heads were happy with the news that Metallica are being brought down to the festival as headlining act. 

Other headliners including Linkin Park, The Offspring, Paramore and Blink-182, drummer Travis Barker boarding a plane for the first time in 4 years to fly down for the festival.

Myself along with many other pop punk lovers were extremely impressed with the line-up, a whole string of pop-punk bands attending the festival, a very similar set to those featured on this year’s Vans Warped Tour.

At the festival, I’m most looking forward to seeing All Time Low, having missed their most recent shows in Australia, Counter Revolution 2011, also through Soundwave touring. I’m also keen to see Pierce The Veil, Sleeping With Sirens, Paramore, Blink-182, The Wonder Years and Sum 41.

The second announcement, announced just over a week after the first, added another set of huge names to the line-up, including Slayer, Cypress Hill, Bullet For My Valentine, Bring Me The Horizon and The Amity Affliction.

The festival is predicted to sell out in record time, 85% of tickets for Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne being sold through pre-sale within 24 hours of being on sale. The remaining tickets go on sale to the general public on Thursday 23^rd August.

Simple Plan - June 1st. Concert Review.

Arriving at the Hordern Pavillion on the 1^st of June, I knew I was in for a fun night. Able to hear Simple Plan warming up in sound check gave me a taste of what I was in for later on. Even arriving a few hours before the doors were set to open; the line was already filled with fans, stretching far past the entrance.

After a few hours of waiting, the doors were opened, ‘synth power-pop’ act The Never Ever, taking the stage soon after. The young Sydney band played an energetic set, getting the crowd warmed up and ready for the main support act, We The Kings.

We The Kings played a fun, crowd involved set, impressing fans and even those who were previously unfamiliar with the band. The band finished their set by playing their hits ‘Say You Like Me’ and ‘Check Yes Juliet’, the obvious crowd favourites.

The moment which the crowd had been waiting for was next; Simple Plan graced the stage, opening with old favourite ‘Shut Up’. The Canadian pop-rockers played a variety of songs off all their albums, from 2002 debut ‘No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls’ to their most recent release ‘Get Your Heart On!’, even throwing in a Maroon 5/LMFAO cover.

Front man Pierre Bouvier kept the crowd entertained in between songs, flaunting his great stage presence as did guitarist, David Desrosiers.

Upbeat singles from ‘Get Your Heart On!’ such as ‘Summer Paradise’ and ‘You Suck At Love’ seemed to be favourites as well as ‘Jet Lag’ in which the boys were joined on stage by 16 year old X-Factor contestant Christina Parie, filling in on guest female vocals, who impressed the audience with confidence and a great voice, living up to the original, sung by Natasha Bedingfield.

Soon after leaving the stage, the band was back for their first encore, and was soon back again for their second encore. They finished the concert with an acoustic set consisting of songs ‘Crazy’ and ‘Perfect’.

Overall, the boys put on a great show, keeping the crowd constantly entertained, and definitely not wanting the set to end.