LIVE REVIEW: 5 Seconds of Summer, South Arcade, Haiden Henderson, OVO Hydro, Glasgow, 30/03/2026
Photo Credit: Brian Ziff
It was a quick dash over from work to the OVO Hydro on the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow for a 7pm start for what was shaping up to be a decent night of music. With two support bands on the bill (Haiden Henderson & South Arcade), the 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) EVERYONE’S A STAR! World Tour hit Glasgow for the first night of the UK leg of the tour.
As we enter the arena Haiden Henderson is already on the stage entertaining the few thousand that got down early doors, Tension and Lovesucker were the tracks we missed. It is an unreleased track, Freak For You that is just beginning as we enter followed by a cover of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face that has some audience participation. Bleachers is decent but for us it’s Hell Of A Good Time which is the pick of the half hour set, some of the guitar playing during this one is outstanding. Haiden tells us that he grew up a massive fan of 5SOS and is eternally grateful for the opportunity to tour with his heroes. 7/10
Based in Oxford South Arcade are no strangers to us at Bring The Noise, we covered their show at Glasgow’s SWG3 back in November and we have great memories of that one, vocalist Harmony Cavelle was so energetic that night and is exactly the same tonight. The OVO Hydro is a huge step up from SWG3 and we are delighted that they are supporting 5SOS, they are also signed up for TRNSMT and Download Festivals already this year so it is shaping up to be their biggest year yet as a band. After the band members debate who their favourite 5SOS member is we get to hear HOW 2 GET AWAY WITH MURDER, Harmony uses the full stage to enliven the crowd while 2005 hits the spot. The new track Superman sounds great live in this size of arena, Stone Cold Summer ends the set and we think the crowd response is decent down at the golden circle for the set and we are sure that South Arcade have a few more fans after tonight’s performance. 8/10
By 9pm the arena is now at full capacity and the screams reverberate around the arena as Luke Hemmings (vocals & guitar), Michael Clifford (guitar), Calum Hood (bass) and Ashton Irwin (drums) take to the stage walking across stairs from the back of a car that Ashton is playing drums in the bonnet of tonight. If the stage setup is anything to go by we are in for an energetic show! Two tracks from the latest 5SOS album release EVERYONE’S A STAR! open proceedings – NOT OK & No 1. Obsession being the songs – the first confetti drop has happened already and we are only two songs in! The next song Teeth from the CALM album gets a great reaction from the crowd, this track has over one billion streams on Spotify alone. 5SOS toured with One Direction many years ago and a lot of the fans here tonight would have grown up listening to them but the big debate is: are 5SOS still a boy band or are they alternative? Well having listened to the latest album EVERYONE’S A STAR! we then went back a few years for some of their older tracks and we definitely think they have shifted genre but the conclusion has to be that they move from boy band pop to alternative with ease.
As the tribal Glasgow chant of “here we, here we, here we fuc*ing go” fills up the arena Hemmings tells us that we are the best crowd in the world, the show is intertwined with videos showing on the jumbo screens behind the stage and we have a chuckle when it is stated “it’s just us, The Beatles and Jesus!”. That’s a big statement … you have to admire their confidence we suppose.
Luke is right down at the front of the stage noising up those in the golden circle, the decibel levels rise once again as the fans bring out a collective scream. Luke tries his hand at some Robert Burns poetry “It’s a braw, bricht, moonlicht nicht, the nicht” and maybe mistakes it for Gaelic, it’s a good effort though. Ghost Of You is one of the highlights of the twenty-six track set tonight and has all four band members right down at the front of the stage. We notice that Calum Hood is sporting a kilt and the new Scotland football top and this prompts another mass singalong of “No Scotland, no party”, World Cup fever really has taken over our football obsessed country.
As the crowd awaits the band returning to the stage for an encore, the biggest surprise of the night happens as a bagpiper leads the band from the right-hand side of the standing area on to the stage amid very noisy scenes. The title track from the latest album EVERYONE’S A STAR is followed by the excellent Youngblood that for us is the highlight of the night, the band appear on stage with a World Cup replica trophy, so will Scotland win it? Mmm, no comment! The band exits below the stage as we all leave the arena to the sound of AC/DC classic Highway To Hell, a band with a big connection to both Scotland and Australia appropriately. The final question has to be: are 5SOS still a boy band? Jury’s out on that one! 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown
