One Direction w/ Icona Pop
CenturyLink, Seattle, WA
07.15.15
More full than usual, my typical commute into downtown Seattle via the Bremerton-Seattle ferry was swirling with an above-average number of young teen girls accompanied by their moms. Something special must be happening in Seattle…
Something special was indeed happening in Seattle! And it all resided inside of CenturyLink field: One Direction. The second night of the start of the Honda Civic Tour: On the Road Again Tour with One Direction, was paying Seattle a grand visit, and what a visit it was.
The sun had begun to duck behind the Olympic Mountain Range, and the stadium went dark. From the top of the 50-foot stage, fireworks shot off and the four members of One Direction walked onto the stage. With just a few dark clouds left in the sky, their opening song was “Clouds,” as they uniformly spread out across the stage. The screaming from the crowd was deafening and almost painful it was so high pitched. In the stadium where Seattle Seahawks fans broke the world record for loudest sports fans, member Liam Payne challenged the crowd, populated with mainly teenage girls, to break that record: “One Direction fans can do anything!” While One Direction has a ginormous fan base and gets what some may call a bad reputation for being another boy band, One Direction is a far cry from the terrible musical acts we all remember from the ’90’s boy-band era. Don’t compare them to *NYSNC or the Backstreet Boys – One Direction represents a new era of collective music, all performing together. No different than a solo artist, but just add three more members. Additionally, there are no choreographed dance routines to every song. Instead, each member is, well, simply just themselves, often interacting with the crowd or possibly goofing off. This group of clean-cut British musicians is exactly what this genre needs.
I’ll admit that when One Direction first came to popularity, I was not a fan. A social media, viral phenom early on in their career, I was in denial about their talent. However, their last two albums, Midnight Memories and Four changed everything, now grown into a more mature group of musicians with real meaning who boast songs like “Story of my Life,” “You and I,” and “Night Changes.” Seeing them on the big stage really brought it all to life. Their incredible voices and their accents really made for an awesome night. The cure for not understanding boy bands, and specifically One Direction, might surprisingly be a front row ticket to One Direction. After their Honda Civic Tour in Seattle, it’s safe to say this once-hater, turned occasional listener, has turned into an official One Direction fan.
It may be a while before Seattle sees One Direction return, but after a show like the one at CenturyLink Field, no one will soon forget them.
Review by Allie Leaf
Photos by Logan Westom
One Direction
