MUMBAI: This weekend saw the arrival of the long awaited Derp Con, a 5SOS fan convention. Fans and media all checked in to the Andaz Hotel in LA where they were able to congregate in a ‘Common Room’ and make new 5SOS friends. Saturday night began with a welcome dinner before VIP access to The Forum show, the biggest headline show to date for 5SOS. Sunday kicked off with an open top bus tour taking in all the 5SOS highlights of LA ending in the arrival at Derp Rock City at Paramount Pictures Studios. Fans were treated to unique 5SOS convention experiences, as well as special 5SOS created pizzas, street entertainment from a 5SOS singing Mariachi band, a fighting turtle, a giant dancing bunny, superheroes, the list is endless before drawing a close to the day with a special fan Q&A and acoustic performance. Feedback so far from the band, management, label reps and all involved has been hugely positive with everyone having an amazing weekend.
5 Seconds of Summer unveiled an epic virtual world for their fans at Paramount Studios in LA over the weekend to kick off a huge fan convention called ‘Derp Con’. The band, whose self-titled debut album has sold in excess of two million copies worldwide in just five months, converted the Paramount New York backlot into a space they called ‘Derp Rock City’. The band also kicked off their first ever headline arena tour this week in Phoenix and played to 25,000 fans this weekend over two nights at the LA Forum.
300 competition winners were flown out to LA for an exclusive Meet & Greet with the Aussie four-piece and also took take part in a 5SOS conference Q&A. The fans were treated to an intimate acoustic set as well as VIP access to one of the band’s LA Forum shows. #derprockcity was trending in the US and UK during the convention. The Andaz Hotel housed all 300 fans including who had travelled in from 35 countries including Taiwan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand, India, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Argentina, Columbia as well as Europe and the US for the duration of the convention. The official Derp Con Hotel, which itself is rich in rock ‘n’ roll history, provided a specially created Common Room for fans to congregate, make new friends and share experiences throughout their stay.
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On Sunday, fans were taken on a tour of Hollywood on three open top buses to see places the band had frequented on their time there over the last 18 months, including locations where they had shot various videos and restaurants they liked to eat out at. The final destination of the tour, Derp Rock City, had been kept a secret throughout trip and was finally revealed as the buses pulled up outside the Paramount Studios entrance to whoops and cheers from very excited fans.
The entire convention was held at Derp Rock City, where fans had to get their Derp Con passports stamped before entry, allowing them to enjoy the totally unique convention experience. This included: The Canteen which served the band’s own recipe pizzas – Chocolate & Strawberry, Vegemite & Cheese and Double Margherita; an electronic virtual graffiti wall allowing fans to create their own pieces which had already been tagged by the band’s own designs; The Giant Hungry 5SOS Room which featured retro arcade games including the band’s very own version of Pac-Man (Hungry 5SOS) with all scores logged for a chance to win a big prize; Virtual-SOS – a room recreated to look like the band’s original rehearsal garage where fans could sit on a sofa with virtual reality headsets and watch Luke, Calum, Michael and Ashton rehearse as though they were there in the room; The Hi Or Hey Record Store was decked out like the band’s very own record shop with signed and exclusive releases and merchandise displayed; Da Green Screen gave fans a chance to put themselves into the artwork for the album and singles ‘Don’t Stop’ and ‘Good Girls’; Awkward Family Photoswas the next big surprise – personal Meet & Greets for each competition winner before the band answered questions from the fans and then played an impromptu acoustic performance to top-off an epic day.
“The past few days have been awesome. Meeting fans from all over the world has been so epic! We gave a lot of hugs today and feeling like four of the luckiest guys in the world. Just want to say a massive thanks to all of our amazing fans,” said 5 Seconds of Summer.
The secrecy and security surrounding the plans for Derp Con were heightened well beyond a normal fan convention, given the sheer scale of the production, which sprawled throughout the five acre space at Paramount Studios, which has been the location for some of the biggest movies in Hollywood’s history including Spiderman 3, Mission Impossible 3, Ghost, Forrest Gump, Coming To America, Saturday Night Fever, Godfather and The Great Gatsby to name just a few.
Organisers managed to keep everything firmly under wraps until the day itself leaving fans and media gasping in amazement at the Derpness of this epic one-of-a-kind set, which has been one of the most ambitious undertakings ever for any band convention.
“Derp Con’s enormity and scale is a reflection of the massive success of this band along with the huge commitment of Universal Music globally.
We would like to thank 5 Seconds of Summer and their fans for making this event so memorable for everyone involved,” Universal Music UK international marketing SVP Hassan Choudhury.
