5 Seconds Of Summer: North American Tour Could Make Or Break Their Career

5 Seconds Of Summer are arguably the worlds biggest pop band at present. With One Direction taking a backseat at present, 5 Seconds of Summer looked set to wear their crown, at least temporarily. As every 5SOS fan is well aware, One Direction took 5 Seconds of Summer out on tour with them, something that proved a huge boost to their fledgling career. To be fair touring with One Direction has proved a mixed blessing for 5 Seconds of Summer. They undoubtedly gained a huge amount of exposure, but it came at a cost.

Ever since touring with One Direction, the 5 Seconds of Summer boys, Ashton Irwin, Calum Hood, Michael Clifford and Luke Hemmings, have been labelled as a boy-band and a manufactured pop band. Make no mistake, that is a label that 5 Seconds of Summer are desperate to shed.

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5 Seconds of Summer write most of their own tunes, they play their own instruments and they did not come through the reality TV circuit. The boys grew up together and were noticed when YouTube videos of them playing songs by the like of Green Day went viral. They are, however, managed by the same team as One Direction.

Despite a huge string of hits, 5 Seconds of Summer’s credibility is frequently and unfairly called into question. Much of the media still call 5 Seconds of Summer a boy band and it seems that opinion is divided among musicians. Many will have seen MTV’s report that claims that The 1975 singer Matt Healy is the latest to question 5 Seconds of Summer’s credibility.

Healy’s comments seem to have painted 5 Seconds of Summer as “soft, easy and faddy,” the sort of band kids listen to before they know any better.

Did The 1975's Matt Healy just throw MAJOR shade at @5SOS? Yikes: https://t.co/C4XNKVLtMy pic.twitter.com/JL8ayAxgc3

— MTV UK (@MTVUK) June 25, 2016

Healy’s comments seem to be out of step with a host of respected musicians. As 5 Seconds of Summer’s career has progressed they have collaborated with the likes of Good Charlotte, Kaiser Chiefs and Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup. As reported recently by the Inquisitr, in a recent interview Reddick described 5 Seconds of Summer as the “biggest band in the world.”

Perhaps Healy is more than a little jealous of 5 Seconds of Summer’s level of success. Healy has just over 600 thousand Twitter followers whilst Michael Clifford has ten-times that number. The 1975 have sold around one million albums worldwide whilst 5 Seconds of Summer more than double that. You have to wonder if the 1975 could sustain a 101 date worldwide arena tour as 5 Seconds of Summer currently are.

That said their current tour is likely to prove the ultimate test for 5 Seconds of Summer. The Daily Mail reports that Clifford flew out of Sydney at the weekend to join up with the rest of 5 Seconds of Summer for the North American leg of their massive tour. They are just days away from playing two nights at the Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville. At present neither show is even close to sold out and tickets are available at all but two of the 51 dates remaining on the tour.

https://twitter.com/imperfectmalum/status/746787821520752640

It is strange that given their popularity fans have not exactly been scrambling to buy up tickets for 5 Seconds of Summer’s “Sounds Live, Feels Live” tour. Easy availability of tickets was never something that One Direction fans were able to enjoy. perhaps it could be claimed this is because 5 Seconds of Summer appeal to a slightly older demographic. It was often claimed that every fan represented two ticket sales for One Direction as young fans needed to be chaperoned by a parent or guardian. Perhaps 5 Seconds of Summer fans are old enough to attend with a group of friends.

The current tour is a massive undertaking for 5 Seconds of Summer and its success will prove a key ingredient in the bands future career. “Sounds Live, Feels Live” gives 5 Seconds of Summer the opportunity to prove their credibility across the globe. If the tour bombs in the all-important North American market 5 Seconds of Summer could prove to be the flash-in-the-pan that Matt Healy claims they are. The next three months will map out the future of 5 Seconds of Summer.

[Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP]