Things are certainly gearing up for Mad March, with a blast of international acts descending upon ‘Radelaide’ this week including Roxette and of course One Direction…. on the same night! Glam Adelaide writer and fangirl Jenny Nguyen had the delight of attending the 1D concert at AAMI stadium and was amazed by the lads’ charm and charisma. Here’s how the night unfolded…
To some it may only seem like yesterday that the One Direction ‘Take Me Home’ tour and the surrounding whirlwind tore its way through Adelaide in 2014. For avid Directioners however, it felt like a lifetime. Luckily, on Tuesday the wait was over, the ‘On The Road Again’ tour had arrived and thousands of 1D themed prayers were answered.
The exploding growth of One Direction and their attempt at world domination was clear. In just a year, the boys have outgrown the four walls of an indoor arena, and instead graced the stage at AAMI Stadium. It was the perfect balmy Adelaide evening for an outdoor music spectacular.
The first supporting act of the night was gorgeous Aussie X-Factor champion, Samantha Jade. Her powerful poppy vocals filled the stadium as she belted out the lyrics to her latest single “Sweet Talk”.
She was followed by rocking British boys McBusted. The newly formed band are a collaboration of early 2000’s bands ‘McFly’ and ‘Busted’ and their fun brand of energetic pop-rock even had the supervising parents and guardians on their feet.
As the sun set, the crowd were well and truly warmed up and you could feel the anticipation building in the air. After a slight strategic delay, the boy-wonders that make up One Direction burst onto the stage.
So what happens when you fill a stadium with 20,000 teenagers, their parents, a handful of media, and put five worldwide superstars on the stage you ask? Tears. So many tears.
Some sort of award needs to be given to the sound technicians who somehow managed to carry the incredible sounds of “Steal My Girl” over the screams, squeals and hysterics of the crowd.
The intense passion exuding from the “Directioners” was further put to the test when curly-haired band member, Harry Styles led the first part of the obligatory stage banter. He encouraged the star-struck crowd to engage in a screaming contest, Styles egging on his female audience to “scream as loud as you can”. The thoughtful teen heartthrob acknowledged his male audience members and extended their invitation to also participate, they made a decent attempt, whilst incredibly outnumbered. The One Direction set list was comprised of songs from all four album releases. The songs from their latest album, titled ‘Four’, were the make or break moments of the evening. But nothing really compares to the glorious moments of unity, particularly evident in the moment where the five boys gathered around Harry for his solo in ‘What Makes You Beautiful’.
This time on the ‘On The Road Again’ tour, fans were deprived of the cheeky larrikin acts (bum pinching, hair pulling) the band members have previously pulled on Styles during tender moments. Perhaps a sign of maturity and a desire to seriously pursue the music profession.
If Niall’s music career doesn’t work out (debatable) MC could be on the cards. Horan knew exactly how to work a crowd and his shout out to the local AFL team, The Adelaide Crows was the icing on the cake.
To close the evening, One Direction returned to the stage, Harry sporting a miraculous man bun, and performed “Best Song Ever” completed with fireworks which really were the epitome of the night’s proceedings. A colourful explosion of heated passion for the five most teen desired boys on the planet.
Photography by John Goodridge
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