When I reflect on my childhood, I don't think I originally intended to watch the 'Big Time Rush' TV show.
My sister was watching 'Hannah Montana', and the other Disney Channel shows, while I was more interested in cartoons. Yet, as I found myself watching Nickelodeon after school every day, I soon became a huge fan of 'Big Time Rush'.'Big Time Rush' had a certain appeal that was missing in other 'child pop star' style TV shows from the late '00s/ early '10s era. A little bit edgy, a little bit goofy, but, above all, incredibly sincere.
As with most things in life, time eventually brought 'Big Time Rush''s TV show to a close and the band fell into a hiatus in 2014. The four members pursued solo careers, now all grown up and seeking new ventures.
Even in these wilderness years, as I grew older too, you couldn't go to any party without hearing at least one Big Time Rush song. The band had successfully wormed their way into becoming a permanent mainstay in pop culture for Generation Z.
Imagine our collective surprise, then, when amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Big Time Rush was seen together again for the first time in six years over Zoom. Things snowballed, and soon Logan Henderson, Kendall Schmidt, Carlos PenaVega and James Maslow were performing as Big Time Rush live across the United States, just like the old days.
That said, I still would have argued until I was blue that, even with the boys sharing a stage again, we Australians would never get to see a Big Time Rush performance in all its glory on our side of the world.
When the (let's face it, inevitable) announcement finally came that Big Time Rush would be touring down under, I genuinely couldn't believe it. I was sharing the poster with friends, reminiscing the TV show and half-jokingly suggesting ticket purchases.
I say half-jokingly, knowing that I'd signed up for a pre-sale ticket as soon as the option was available. Do you think I'm going to miss seeing Big Time Rush live? In Australia? No chance.
Brisbane's Fortitude Music Hall was the perfect place (8 October) for Big Time Rush to perform on their second trip to Australia (their first being a brief tour alongside Nickelodeon's Slime Fest in 2013). The dance floor and the upstairs mezzanine balcony were equally buzzing in anticipation, many in the room eager to relive the memories of seeing Big Time Rush on television.
After ariving straight from work, I had a moment of self-reflection with the realisation I was now in my mid-20s with a career, and the last time I'd seen Big Time Rush in any meaningful capacity was after my carefree primary school days.
Without a smidgen of irony, Big Time Rush were an absolute delight to watch perform live. From start to finish, all four boys were in top form, seemingly having never missed a beat even with the hiatus.
They kicked off the set with the pump-up anthem 'Big Night', an apt description of what was set to be 90 minutes mixing old (is a 2011 album considered old now?) favourites and some new material the band have been testing.
Finishing off 'Big Night' with a synchronised backflip between Maslow and PenaVega, the boys kept the party rolling with throwbacks like 'Windows Down' and 'Song For You'. It was hard to stop the smile on my face, singing along and feeling truly young again.
The band then tried out some post-hiatus material on the crowd, and it's safe to say the new songs still have the same boyish charm from when they were kids on TV.
A highlight of the evening was the impromptu acoustic performance of the fan-favourite ballad 'Cover Girl', performed at the request of the father of a girl in the front row. All four boys took a seat on the stage to sing directly to the dad over FaceTime, a truly touching and laugh-out-loud absurd moment in the set.
They followed it up with 'Worldwide', inviting four girls from the pit to come onstage to sing with them.
As all great things tend to do, the night ended with the typical fake encore trick. We were treated to the band's arguably most well-known songs, a three-punch combo of 'Til I Forget About You', the eponymous TV theme 'Big Time Rush' and, finally, 'Boyfriend'.
I cannot understate the pure, unadulterated glee I felt singing the theme song to one of my favourite childhood sitcoms at a sold-out show. The confetti cannons that went off at the end of 'Boyfriend' was simply the icing on the cake.
Before walking off stage, Henderson took a drink of beer from a shoe and promised all of us that it wouldn't be another 11 years before we saw Big Time Rush in Australia again.
Regardless of how long or short the time is between visits, I can guarantee that you'll be seeing me at the next Big Time Rush show in Brisbane.
