As far as peculiar juxtapositions to set the scene for a One Direction concert at LP Field on a Tuesday night, we couldn't have asked for more than the dovetailing din of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and teen screams swelling out of the stadium and reaching the pedestrian bridge. Here, more teens, and their dutiful parents — some also decked out in neon or DIY 1D merch, others not so much — walked over to LP and cars inched across Korean Veterans Bridge. We had just been discussing, half-jokingly, with our date the number of selfies we were about to take: At least one for SnapChat and another for Instagram, figuring the latter would double as a Facebook post. No selfies were taken, however, because ... well, good God, why would you want to take a picture of yourself when you could photograph Harry Styles thrusting and throwing water over himself?!
We assume this was the mindset of the two teen girls sitting next to us, who filmed more or less the entire One Direction set on an iPad mini. But feh to those wanting to bemoan the inability of the youths to "connect with reality" due to their Tumblr-vision. The absolutely crushing deluge of screams was proof enough that no one was lost in an infinite scroll; plus data collected on-site provided shocking results when it came to "Total Number of Lyrics Sung by the Aforementioned iPad Filmographers Throughout the Night": All of them.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, we must talk about the openers. 5 Seconds of Summer is an Australian pop-punk band, but they're marketed like an Australian boy band. The tour with One Direction is the most obvious ploy (they also share a management company and have written some songs with 1D), but their music videos and much of their marketing also bare the distinct patter of a Tiger Beat. That said, the band is outfitted in Black Flag, Sonic Youth and Nirvana T-shirts, and their sound is distinctly that of kids from a suburban wasteland raised on latter-day Blink 182, Green Day and contemporary pop-punk heroes All Time Low. Fashion aesthetics aside, the sound itself is pure pop punk, yet 5SOS is not measured on Billboard's rock charts, even though they have more in common with Paramore than Sam Smith. But we're sure the good ol' music biz has reasons that totally aren't rooted in latent sexism to categorize music primarily geared towards teen girls as nothing more than "pop."
Chart nonsense aside, 5 Seconds of Summer blasted through songs from their self-titled debut, including gems like "Don't Stop," "Amnesia" and set-opener "18," which not only offers a hell of a riff, but a female character with agency whom the narrator actually looks up to: "So tell me what else can I do / I bought my fake ID for you." Though 5 Seconds of Summer debuted atop the Billboard album chart with 250,000 copies sold in its first week, the band remains a bit of a blip. As such, their set was fleshed out with two covers — Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and The Romantics' "What I Like About You," a combo that rather perfectly sums up this band's dual identity. They finished with their breakout hit "She Looks So Perfect," an ode to young love and American Apparel skivvies, which resonated throughout LP Field with all its predestined sonic resplendence, from howling "Ayy-ayy" chants to simple, crescendoing riffage. We can only hope that 5SOS inspires some young fans to pick up instruments themselves.
A prolonged intermission followed as the crew prepared, and not only did we watch one kick-ass mom march right on into a deserted men's room, but we also got a peak at the imminent madness. Cheers erupted every time a One Directioner's face was shown on the big screen (double when they pulled off their balaclavas in their new perfume ad), and some even greeted roadies tuning the instruments. When the show finally did begin, it was big — huge, ear-splitting, head-spinning big: 23 songs, about 11 fireworks displays (three during closer "Best Song Ever") and five bros moving around a monstrous stage, their mere presence enough to elicit maddened screaming. We swore at one point they were pumping some of that aforementioned perfume into the air, too.
One Direction opened with "Midnight Memories," a song with Zeppelin-lite guitar riff and a delightful chorus that we finally pegged as the same as Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" — which we then proceeded to sing, only slightly to our date's chagrin. In four years, One Direction has amassed quite a catalog, three LPs that mix boy-band pop with bubblegum, EDM, hair metal, pop punk, power pop and even neo-folk. Everything is played to the rafters, from big smash bangers like "Kiss You," surprise standout "Better Than Words" and "Live While We're Young" (during which Styles, who was spotted the night before in a Nashville bar, spent about a whole verse trying to figure out how to work a camera a fan tossed to him), to the ballads like "Right Now" and "Little Things," which got the smartphone-flash-as-swaying-lighter treatment. We asked our date, again to her slight chagrin, how similar this 1D show was going to be to Bruce at Bridgestone, and felt rather vindicated when the boys brought a toddler celebrating his third birthday and asked him if he liked girls yet. His answer: "Yes."
The production value for the Where We Are Tour is impressive and ginormous, but there is something of an austerity to it: There are no props, set pieces or costume changes. Just a whole bunch lights, large LED screens and a portion of the stage that lifts the boys into the air for a few songs. One Direction has never been one for dancing, so they saunter about, waving and pointing; they have so much ground to cover we often found ourselves losing track of one or two, who were making sure to pander to the sides of the stadium. While the One Direction boys — Harry, Liam, Louis, Niall and Zayn — don't lack chemistry, the between-song banter was minimal, and centered mostly around the following: the freaking heat; how big LP field is; thanking fans for all their support; expressing incredulity that they had gotten to this point in only four years.
1D's rise truly has been an amazing feat (all hail Simon Cowell!), and while the tour's name, Where We Are, attempts to capture an exact moment of wonder and amazement in the middle of this journey, we got the sense that a more existential question was brewing: Well, How Did We Get Here? One Direction closed out their set with "What Makes You Beautiful," their breakout smash, which still hits the Top 40 fan's cerebral sweet spots the way it should; but it was given an very workmanlike introduction, just, "Here's 'What Makes You Beautiful.'" This is understandable, sure. What successful band doesn't grow to resent their biggest hit in some way, at some point? But it underlies the creeping inevitability that all boy bands and teen heartthrobs face: They get old, their fans get old, everyone just gets old. Sustainability in this realm of pop is not easy to harness, especially when you throw in the wear-and-tear of the road and basic human growing pains. Four years is a long time for any one in their late teens and early 20s to do just one thing — sing the same songs night after night, live out of a bus, see the same 30 or so people every day, confronting a faceless mass that wants you every which way. We bet it's fun as hell at some points, but we all know what it feels like to be restless and in your 20s.
Blech, but that stuff is boring and gross and for old people to think about. Unless of course you were the balding dad in the khaki shorts and neon green T we watched wave his hands in the air like he just didn't care — you, sir, were an inspiration. So here's to living while we're young and making midnight memories, because that's what makes us beautiful. As one girl screamed last night, "I LOVE CONCERTS!"
