One Direction hit the ground running on their On the Road Again tour
ONE Direction are back in Australia — a little older, a little more tattooed but with the same playful chemistry and a spectacular stadium show.
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THERE’S a moment in James Cameron’s 1986 epic ‘Aliens’ when the young character Newt lets out one of the most deafening and high pitched screams in cinematic history when confronted by a Xenomorph.
Times that moment by 30,000 and you’ll get some idea of what the One Direction stadium spectacular is like.
The On the Road Again tour has rolled around somewhat quickly in the media’s eyes but for the adoring fans it couldn’t have come quicker.
The fab five are back, a little older, a little more tattooed and even a little hairier — but one thing that hasn’t changed is the ambitious machine behind the world’s biggest boy band.
With a stage and giant screen almost as wide as Allianz Stadium it’s an overwhelming spectacle before a single chord is struck.
Complete with an ego ramp that extends into the middle of the stadium, the stage is a complex maze of rails and bars that looks more like a skate park or parkour playground than pop stage.
For more than 45 minutes pop songs from Katy Perry to Bruno Mars rang out milking the anticipation with each anthem as the screams became louder.
As the lights dimmed a sea of iPhones rose above the tiny heads of the largely female audience as Zayn, Harry, Niall, Louis and Liam took to the stage.
Fireworks filled the sky as Clouds and Steal My Girl kicked off the night.
There were early sound problems as the young voices struggled to cut through the thousands of screaming girls, but after just a few tweaks around Midnight Memories and Kiss You, it was much easier to hear the vocals.
The first show back for the band, the playful and boyish chemistry is still there.
The occasional bum slap, jokes between the band and a desire by all five members to pluck out one smiling fan from the crowd and make a young girl’s dream come true with a simple wave.
At first it seemed puzzling how the band would match the efforts of their previous tour which found them travelling over the crowd to the back of the arenas to give everyone a bird’s eye view.
But things escalated quickly — literally.
A giant LED stage rose from the end of the ego ramp in the middle of the oval to find the biggest band in the world towering over their fans — it was every bit the spectacle you would expect.
Harry Styles throughout the night was more energetic than I’ve ever seen him — sprinting his way around the arena alongside Niall, Liam and Louis while Zayn, much like last time, played it cool let his extraordinary vocal range do the talking — particularly on the fan favourite Little Things.
Don’t Forget Where you Belong reminded the audience how far these young boys have come as the screens flashed images from their initial formation — it seems a lifetime ago those fresh faced kids became the band people loved to hate and hated to love but that was just over four years ago.
As far as I'm aware, the doors are open. And we're On The Road Again.
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) February 7, 2015Streamers shot out into the sky landing on the screaming fans as dozens clambered and fought to grab their piece of memorabilia — it got a bit hairy at times but things again would only go up a notch when superhits One Thing and What Makes You Beautiful rang out early in the night.
No longer are the biggest hits the encores.
Through The Dark, Story of My Life followed before the encore of Little White Lies and a handful of others before closing with fan favourite Best Song Ever.
More fireworks ensued and despite the sheer scale and hysteria surrounding the performance — the boys are back certainly bigger and perhaps even marginally better than before.
Even for this 32 year-old reviewer the arms did come uncrossed quite often to applaud and grab a picture of when they ran past.
They are a monster, one that is not slowing down anytime soon.
You can bet that after this tour they’ll still be heading in the right direction — to the top of the charts (again) and the world.
Originally published as One Direction hit the ground running on their On the Road Again tour
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