Midnight Memories at the One Direction Concert

Fireworks erupted, visually encompassing the mental state of every person in the audience during Zayn Malik’s high notes in songs like “You and I.”

Clara Lacey '17, Staff Writer

From September 11 to September 13, thousands of teen girls in Los Angeles flocked in “one direction:” the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena. Yes, as you can probably guess, the biggest boy band in the world, One Direction, played a much-anticipated leg of their “Where We Are Tour,” three days in a row. Girls traveled from all over Southern California to see band members, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik perform. Excitement was bursting in the air through every shrill scream arising from the many One Direction perfume commercials, music videos, or even safety announcements that played on the stadium screen. Even clueless onlookers driving by the stadium could see the mania surrounding these five boys. Anyone could tell that it was a big deal from the crowds waiting to enter the venue four hours before the show even started, and the massive golf course that was transformed into the fully occupied parking lot.

The concert began with a short performance by Jamie Scott, one of the brilliant minds behind hit One Direction songs like “The Story of My Life” and “More Than This.” Jamie’s stellar acoustics and soulful songs like “Free” amazed the crowd, a difficult thing for this indie styled singer to do, considering that his audience was crazed fan girls seeking pop songs. Next, the fall days were blown away with the heavenly opening act 5 Seconds of Summer. This emerging Australian band, who also opened for One Direction during last year’s Take Me Home tour, rocked the stadium with their cool pop rock songs, intoxicating stage presence, and well, let’s face it, their good looks helped a little, too. These band members, Calum Hood, on bass guitar, Michael Clifford, on guitar, Luke Hemmings, on lead vocals and guitar, and Ashton Irwin, on drums, gave quite a show, featuring ballads like “Amnesia” and their hit songs like “She Looks So Perfect.” Some highlights of their performances at the Rose Bowl include newly added songs to their set list and the boys singing a punk rock version of “Happy Birthday” to One Direction’s Niall on the last night.

Finally, the act everyone was waiting for was here. After a dramatic entrance, the boys of One Direction opened the show with their song “Midnight Memories.” Throughout the concert, tremendous fireworks went off behind the stage, and streamers burst into the crowd on the floor in sync with the chorus and high notes of the vocalists. However, it seemed that fans were preoccupied with the boys. I mean who wouldn’t be? Between Liam’s smooth dance moves, Harry’s cute interactions with the crowd, Niall’s speeches, Louis’s goofing around, and Zayn’s high notes, which sounded like everything good in the entire world rolled up into one definite note, I’d say that the fans were pleased. The boys moved around a lot during the songs, from the main stage to the catwalk to the second stage in the middle of the stadium’s floor, ensuring that as many people as possible would get to be close to them. The crowd went crazy during upbeat songs like “C’mon C’mon,” yet surprisingly, the arena was almost silent when the band played heart-retching ballads including “Little Things.” Yes, although there was absolutely no lack of ear-piercing screaming during this show, emotions were also high during the concerts. Erica Lydon ’17 remembers, “at one point during the concert, I looked around and saw all the girls around me crying.” But don’t worry; the tears were only tears of joy from seeing their idols up close and live.

The show on September 13th was especially exciting, due to the fact that it was Niall Horan’s twenty-first birthday, of course! Harry gave a great speech about Niall having come so far from his little Irish town to playing huge stadiums. He then proceeded to make the whole arena sing him “Happy Birthday” while Niall did an Irish jig.

Overall, everyone had a fantastic time no matter when they went, where they sat, or even what they initially thought of the band. “The boys really did put on a great show,” Erica also comments. Ivieosa Aimufua ’17 agrees, declaring, “The One Direction concert took me from 0 to 100 real quick.” Ayanna Neal ’17 says, “This concert was an unforgettable experience that I was lucky enough to share with my best friends.”