One Direction, Brisbane

I'm either mad, indulgent or just best mamma this week. I can't quite decide myself...

In my last post I wrote about taking my girl away for the weekend and going to see the One Direction concert in Auckland. We had a blast, an absolute blast! Stuff that I hope will stay in the memory bank for ever.

A few days after we returned, I had one of those 'right place, right time' moments....and some Brisbane tickets!

My brain flickered between - "How fantastic, she'll be thrilled" to "I really shouldn't as I don't want to over indulge..."

I mentioned it to Neil, fully expecting him to do the sensible father speech, but uncharacteristically he just said "go for it!"

...So we did!

ear plugs at the ready!

I thought the Auckland fans were loud - but the Brisbane crowd was something else. Boy, those girls can scream!

They jumped, danced and sang their hearts outs. They hung on every word that their idols spoke. (Well, those words that they could actually hear over the screams!)

I spent some time people watching.

*There were a few bored parents. One mother in the row behind me sat all night with her arms crossed, she didn't see a thing apart from the back of the girl in front of her!
*There were groups of girls clutching each other who just uttered "Oh my God" over and over again.
*There were so many people watching the concert through the screen of their phones or iPods trying to capture any images they could. What a waste! Come on girls, enjoy the moment.
*There were some tiny tots trying to sleep...
*There were many many parents loitering outside just waiting. I saw lots of novel reading mums and dads and even a few knitters. Brisbane Entertainment Centre is a little bit in the middle of no-where so I guess it was just easier to hang around.
*There were some 1D mums living their youth again through their children - matching their t-shirts and various band merchandise with their daughters. Some cute, others not so...
*There were tears, happy tears.

Overwhelmingly though there were smiles. Lots and lots of happy people having a great time.
That was a joy to see.

Here's a few of my shots of the Sunday night performance.

One Direction Brisbane Oct 2013

Almost anyone can sound good blasting from the CD in the car, but to their credit these boys can really sing. Yes there were a few forgivable hoarse notes - they had been belting out those songs through 125 shows by the time they got to Brisbane. They didn't give you slick choreography but they made sure that they covered every part of that stage.  Add some fancy laser lighting, crowd interaction, lots of colourful graphics and a few video clips to give the boys a few minutes to change. Well all apart from Harry who appeared to have the same clothes on throughout. On the subject of clothes...what was it with the ultra tight trousers Mr Styles?! 

They looked a lot edgier and a bit more rock and roll than I expected. I'm sure the images on the water bottle/pencil case/backpack etc etc  at home has them looking quite different!

The show was safely predictable with songs about summer romance, unrequited love, fancying the person you can't have, secret love, jealousy...all the stuff that the teenage population of the audience lapped up.

Everyone under the age of about 25 seem to know every word to every song and happily shared this knowledge. It created an interesting sound....

I was warned asked by my 11 year old not to dance or sing....which I duly obliged, but I did find myself toe tapping and the odd line from an often heard track would sometimes escape my lips. (I don't think she noticed.) I have to say that I can't get the "I can't compete with your boyfriend - he's got 27 tattoos" line out of my head. 

I actually think that a couple of them have taken that one to heart and would give any boyfriend with 27 tattoos a good challenge!

One Direction Brisbane Oct 2013

Although mostly rehearsed and scripted (yes I can say say that, having heard it twice), the banter between the band members and the crowd was fun. They seemed to enjoy themselves, and they made many female swoon with the occasional wave or thumbs up or a special blow kiss....cue extra loud screams - one right in my left ear!

They were gracious in their thanks to each and every person in the venue and acknowledged that without their loyal fans they would not be enjoying this phenomenal success. There was quite a bit of charm going on here with praise to the parents for bringing their kids and "thanks for deciding to spend your money evening with us" speeches.

Before you knew it we were into the encore and every parent was beginning to think about the inevitable queue out of the car park....well everyone apart from the cross armed mother behind me who had made an early hasty exit with her daughter.

Shame, because she missed the chest booming loud "Best song ever" and the chance to sing along to "That's what makes you beautiful"....

Well...and....truly living those moments!