About the WWJ Tour
Judging by the reports coming back from those of you who have attended the shows so far, and the boys’ reactions onstage and off, I think they are having a bit of an existential moment/crisis right now.
For most of their careers, they have been touring to “hometown advantage” crowds; crowds that match their fan demographic pretty well. This meant that they could feed off of the energy of the crowd, interact well with them, and basically make it a big 5sos party every night.
Based on what I’m hearing about this tour, that is not the case here, and 5sos are realizing this. I think they hoped that they could win the CS crowd over, but it doesn’t seem to be consistently happening. You can immediately tell from their post-show social media posts (or lack thereof) how a show went. You can tell by videos posted by 5sos fans who attended how it’s going...and it’s not going anywhere near as well as their previous tours did. 5sos are doing everything awesomely given the circumstances...just to the “wrong” crowds.
Calum’s message tonight on Instagram in particular brought this home. I’m certainly not saying that they didn’t appreciate their fandom before...but I bet they damn sure appreciate them now, because they are now feeling what it’s like to lose that “hometown advantage.” It’s not easy to play your heart out to a crowd that is neutral at best and uninterested at worst.
I give props to those of us in the 5sos fandom who have gone or are going/can go, and give their all during 5sos’ set. The guys need all of the energy from you that they can get, because they are definitely feeling the difference, and I can tell that it’s affecting them. I’m definitely planning to try and be at the front of my show, cheering them on.
