One Direction, Where We Are Tour 2014, 14th of June, Solna

Before the concert. Whenever I go to a concert, I forget most of the show within an hour afterwards. Not because it's been boring, but because my brain doesn't memorize everything I see. However, I do remember a lot of feelings. This is the tale of my experience with the One Direction concert at Friends Arena on Saturday the 14th of June (and it's for my own sake that I write this down, so you can just ignore this blog post, because it's going to be hella long). As you might know, One Direction has quite a few younger fans, which I think is the reason for why they don't allow any alcohol. So we bought a bottle of vodka at the airport, and with me being a bartender, the ratio between alcohol and mixes (soda, energy drinks) weren't that huge. I got a few comments on the drinks being "strong". The whole kilo-gang was gathered in my belieber friend and I's hotel room, and we were listening to my belieber friend's One Direction playlist (or summat). Before this we had been at a MAC counter, because the girls were looking at make up. And the counter was playing One Direction songs in preparation for the concert, which was ace. It was very easy to differentiate the people who were fans (people who were singing along to the songs), and who were not. I had scrapped any wish to look good at their concert, and I went with a warm jumper and my Nike free runs. It's the best decision I've done in a while. After the drinks in our hotel room, we went to find a restaurant. I had some lovely noodles, which I've been craving since Sunday night. We got quite big servings, so when I was full, it still looked like I had just gotten a plate of noodles. We stopped by the hotel for a quick trip to the loo and whatnot, before we ventured on and tried to find our way to Friends Arena. We had an inkling of how we were going to get there, but not much more than that. The hardest thing about travelling to another country, is probably trying to understand their public transport. We ended up taking a sort of train, after my belieber friend and Sugar had been talking to some Swedish people. The great thing about One Direction concerts, is that their fans are so easy to pick out, so we just tried to follow the people who were fans. After walking for a few minutes after the train ride, we finally spotted the stadium, and it was huge. We went straight to the toilets, and then my belieber friend and I went to find our seats, whilst Kiwi and Sugar went to get us some drinks (which I ended up spilling at the end of the concert). My belieber friend and I were linked at our arms, and we stopped in front of the door that would open the way to our seats. I don't know why I remember this so distinctly, but maybe it was because I got ready mentally. I can't explain the levels of excitement I felt, once we opened that door and stepped outside to see the whole stadium. I was overwhelmed, anxious and just bewildered. It's honestly one of the most crazy sights I've ever seen. "I felt like the king on our national day," I said to my belieber friend sometime this weekend. I think this is one of the things I'll remember for a long long time. 

5SOS and the start of the concert. I was surprised to realise that out of all the songs during 5 Seconds of Summer's set, I had only listened to four of them. But once they did play the four of them, I couldn't help but sing along. They're really good, and they had quite a long set, so it felt like having an additional concert. And you would think they were the ones headlining, before the concert-- because almost all the music videos and commercials were about 5SOS. Anyway, they were all really good, and really fun too. It's my favourite thing I think-- seeing artists having fun on stage. After their set, there was another half an hour maybe with random music. One of the songs were of course Macarena, and the whole stadium started doing "the macarena". Kiwi, Sugar and my belieber friend were very enthusiastic. They sang the "heyyyy macarena" part in a very deep note, which made heads turn. It's one of the things I remember a lot, turning around to see my friends dancing like crazy, and looking like they were having a really awesome time. Before the concert, I didn't really have any expectations for the concert, and once the concert started, I was still quite "eh". But after the second song, when Kiss You started, I was sold. This song was actually one of my favourite performances at the last year's concert during the Take Me Home tour. Whenever I watch a video of One Direction, I watch it a lot of times in order to see what everyone's doing. However, when it's live, you have to choose what to focus on. So I spent almost the whole concert focused on Niall, because of obvious reasons. So it's almost like I was only watching a concert with Niall and not all of One Direction. I was watching videos from the concert yesterday, and I went like "oh, that's what he was wearing" about Harry, because I realised that I had almost not watched him at all.

Surprises and "crotch grab". The band played a bit of Mamma Mia by Abba, which the crowd loved. Because hello, what is more iconic (for Sweden) than Abba? It was really good because everyone were singing along, even after the boys (Liam, Niall and maybe Harry?) stopped singing along. It's one of my highlights actually. I loved watching them perform Right Now, because they're so on point with vocals on that song. And it's slowly becoming one of my favourite songs from the album. I especially love listening to the harmonies during the choruses. The only thing is that I think there was something wrong with Zayn's microphone, because I could barely hear his solo's during the whole concert. So when Niall did the backup singing at the first chorus of this song, you could almost only hear Niall. A wonderful surprise was when they performed Diana. It's not my favourite song, so I've never actually seen a video of them performing the song, so I was surprised to see how well they (Niall) performs the song. And I do remember myself screaming out the lyrics. It really is a catchy song. My belieber friend poked me in the ribs, and looked amused after Niall had done some hip thrusting in beat with the song. At least that's why I think she poked me. Niall is a delight to watch on stage, I think. And that might be biased, but I still think it's true. During Better Than Words, I don't think I ever looked away from him. I mean, of course I was going to watch him do his infamous "crotch grab" during his solo. I think maybe the screams went a lot louder then, but I didn't realise because: 1. I was in my own world. 2. My hearing was probably a bit damaged by then. People keep calling it a crotch grab, but I think it's more like pressing the heel of his hand against his crotch in a downwards motion. (I'm clearly invested in this, seeing as I have explained it in detail). It might be similar, but it's different. Like, it's more subtle? If he were to grab his crotch, to me; it would signalize indulging in pleasure. Whereas what he does signalises suppressing the pleasure? I don't know if this gives any meaning, but to me it does. My belieber friend pointed it out afterwards, saying something akin that it was hot. Whereas Kiwi had been looking at Harry's version of a "crotch grab". He does a similar motion, except upwards, and it's just a lot more different. Niall actually looks down during his "crotch grab", which amplifies the signal of suppressing pleasure, and like the motion is something private. Whereas Harry looks at the crowd while he does it, and he almost always drags his shirt/t-shirt/jumper up slightly-- he's such a tease. He'd be a good stripper, probably. Oh god, now I can't stop picturing Harry standing by a pole half naked with a tiny pair of pants (or boxers as Americans says), with one of his big hats, and his glitter boots.

The blonde one. Something I remember very clearly is watching Niall being very smile-y. Though I preferred looking at the boys instead of the screens, I'd sometimes look at the screen. One time it was Zayn's solo, and he looked so serious. And in the background, Niall walked past with a grin plastered on his face, probably smiling at something Louis had said or done. When I say Niall is a delight to watch, it's because of his enthusiasm and it's easy to see how much he genuinely enjoys being on stage. He's not afraid to make a fool out of himself, and he dances along to their songs. He jumps around, and he hangs with the guitarists when they do guitar solos. I love One Direction, but I don't think anyone loves One Direction more than Niall. If he'd have his way, they'd be doing this until they turn fifty. When they were in Glasgow, doing Radio 1's Big Weekend, they did a interview with Scott Mills which turned into a mini documentary thing. Liam was just talking about how Glasgow was important to them because it was where they did their first gig, when Niall comes to sit beside Liam. And Liam asks Niall what the venue of their first gig was named., which Niall of course remembers the name of. In addition he remembers in details how it looked like. My friends commented on how the crowd screams a lot for Niall. It's funny because they said the exact same thing last year too. I don't know exactly why, but I think it's a thing in the fandom. The fans used to be really worried about Niall feeling under appreciated (this is like back in 2011- early 2012?). So I think they felt a need to make him feel appreciated, and they did that by screaming whenever he sang his solos. I'm not sure if this is still a reason for it. It's a thing that has lingered, I think, and you can hear it whenever they sing some of their old songs like Moments. But there's also a lot of screaming for him during the new songs, so it might just be because he's a lot of people's favourite. Even the people who has other favourites also enjoys a bit of Niall. I'm glad I was sat at the side we were sat, because I think Niall was turned toward us quite a bit. Especially when they were on that little stage that seemingly grows up from the ground. I spent a lot of time grinning and waving when he was waving at the crowds on our side. Also, when they sing Little Things, he always end up singing the last bit of his solo straight at the camera. And so if you watch the screen, it looks a bit like he's looking at you. Gave me the shivers, I tell you. Also, yes please to Niall in skinny jeans showing off his tiny legs, and yes please to Niall with electric guitars. Apart from the fact that I think he looked attractive, I also think he sounded great. I think Niall is great. And I'm pretty sure I said that to my belieber friend when we were in bed. I'm pretty sure I've said that to everyone, actually. 

The aftermath. The line out of the stadium was ridiculous. As it should be with little organising and approximately 60k people trying to get home at the same time. Outside the stadium there were a lot of parents waiting for their kids to meet them. That's good, but they were all blocking most of the way to the train, so we had to try getting past them all. Once we finally got to the train station, we didn't bother with buying tickets, because the lines were never ending. The problem was that we needed tickets in order to get through these automatic doors. What happened, is that Sugar followed this girl through the automatic doors. And then Kiwi, my belieber friend and I was stood wondering what we were supposed to do. Kiwi took a hold of my belieber friend's hand, and she held mine, and then she followed another person through the automatic doors. Then once we got to the trains, there were loads of people milling about, and people trying to get on the train. I said it was twenty minutes until the next train would arrive, which prompted Sugar's need to get on the train currently at the platform. She waits enough for trains at home, so I think it was instinct for her to move quickly. My belieber friend and I started jogging towards the train, when the guards(?) said we had to hurry up and get further towards the front of the train. All of a sudden Sugar and Kiwi started running like maniacs. And we were all holding hands, which means we were all running like crazy through crowds of people. Once we got on a carriage, I said that it felt a bit like an apocalypse, or Titanic. It felt like Sugar and Kiwi were Rose, and I was Jack. Save yourself. It's one of those things I'll remember probably for a long time too. 

Afterthoughts. The whole show was actually a bit more organised than I thought, and I did actually see traces of choreography. It was smart for some of the lads to be on stage and talk whilst the others were getting changed, or going to the loo. Or when Niall was gearing up to play guitar. I'm not going to lie and say that I think this concert surpassed the experience of my first concert, but I think it would be really hard to surpass it due to a few reasons. It was my first concert with them, which means my excitement level was through the roof. Plus, I feel like last year was my biggest year of being a fan of them? However, I don't want to say that this concert was worse than the last years because I enjoyed this one in a completely different way. It's hard to explain, and I'm not sure if I can. But I have loved seeing One Direction the two times I have, and I would love to see them a hundred times more. They're always a delight to watch, and with a One Direction crowd, you are allowed to yell, shout, and be as crazy as you want. And acting that way is viewed as normal. We did get a few looks from people, but they were mostly parents, and one in particular was more amused than anything. Kiwi pointed out to me that they hadn't done any Instagram questions, and I hadn't even realised. I don't think they've done them since they were in Dublin, actually. It's sad that they've decided to cut that part out, because I love the banter between them whenever they're answering strange and random questions. But I guess it's also a good thing? Because that must mean that they want to focus more on their music. I'm not quite sure why they cut it out though. I regret not taking more than one video, but at the same time I think I would regret taking videos. Because then I would want to have videos that would capture the boys all the time, which means I'd have to look at the boys through my camera lens, and I wouldn't be able to sing along as loudly because I obviously don't want the audio of the video to be me. And all of this would just ruin a lot of the experience of being on a One Direction concert, which doesn't happen to me every day. The few downsides at the concert was the thing about Zayn's microphone, and that Harry wasn't on top with his vocals. The latter has been struggling for a week or so now, because he almost lost his voice last week, if I'm not wrong. But other than that, I had such an amazing time-- I don't think it could have been better actually. Now I just want to rewind and experience it all over again, because it was so much fun. (Sigh, I'm having a post-travel depression).