On Wednesday night Sophie attended her first ever concert. While I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of going to a One Direction concert, it was a lot of fun watching her excitement levels hit fever pitch once we were inside the stadium!
Someone’s a bit excited! (hint…it’s not me)
And because people watching is one of my favourite hobbies, I really enjoyed taking in all the sights that were around us. The stadium was FULL, and I mean FULL, of screaming young girls who no doubt were all looking at the stage thinking their future husband was up there singing JUST to them.
There were also quite a few mums and dads in the audience, who no doubt like me, woke up yesterday with slightly perforated ear drums and a need for coffee to be fed to them via an IV drip. Honestly, what is with concerts being on so late?! Surely they could do some sort of matinee performance like they do at the ballet?! It would certainly make things a hell of a lot easier on tired old mums like me the next day!
Anyway, after spending a solid 3 hours of my life sitting through a screaming frenzy, here are my top tips for how to survive a One Direction concert:
1. Get there about an hour before the actual concert starts
This will give you plenty of time to blow your hard earned on crappy merchandise…think 50 bucks for a t-shirt (no, we didn’t get one) and $15 for a lanyard (yes, Sophie is wearing one around her neck), go to the toilet (the queue was surprisingly short), grab some food (a bottle of water and a bucket of salty hot chips. Not healthy but so so good) and get to your seat (highly recommend Gate A, Section 310, Row 25 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane….a fair way back but still a good view and not in the nose bleed section, which is a bonus!)
It also allows you a bit of time to watch the support act (McBusted) where your 10 year old will make an observation about the shirtless drummer that you really weren’t expecting:
Scott’s handling the tween years well!
2. Take your phone!
You’ll need it to either
A) tape the ENTIRE SHOW and lean back so hard that your hair touches my knees, just so you can get a good angle of your daughter dancing on at least 10 separate occassions (mum sitting in front of me)
B) tape yourself dancing during the show (mums x2 sitting to my right, whose daughter’s repeatedly asked them to sit down and stop taping themselves because “OMG MUM, you are being, like, so embarrassing!”
C) play Words With Friends throughout the show (mum two rows in front)
D) Text your husband to tell him the following points (this mum right here)
1. how concerned you are that Liam keeps whinging about how hot it is in Brisbane, while wearing jeans, a tshirt AND a flannelette shirt. Where did these boys think they were going to when they boarded their private jet in Heathrow? The Arctic Circle?!
2. that Zane looks about as bored as you are and you feel his pain.
3. Louis (Sophie’s future husband) looks like a lovely bloke but he really needs to do something about his eyeliner situation and don’t even get me started on his bird nest hair.
4. Harry looks remarkably like a young Michael Hutchence, which is basically the only thing holding your interest. Also it’s a bit weird because you’re old enough to be Harry’s mother.
5. Harry went missing for a good 5 minutes, but then returned to the stage with the most spectacular man bun you’ve seen in quite some time, so that was a relief.
6. For a moment there you actually thought the other band members were asking where Barry was and got a bit excited at the thought of Charmaine’s husband being a roady for 1D, but then you realised that your 41 year old ears had mistaken a H for a B and you were slightly disappointed.
7. Despite looking like they all need a quick shot of Red Bull to keep them awake, the boys can actually sing really well. It was also a nice touch when they thanked the Mums, Dads and Grandparents for coming along. Such polite young lads, who despite not realising that wearing a fleecy lined hoodie with jeans on stage when it’s the middle of Summer in Australia is less than ideal, seemed surprisingly grateful for the great wads of cash they’ve earnt in the last 4 years fans coming along to see them.
Great stage set up!
3. Evacuate early!
We stayed until the end, but left our seats just as the last song was about to finish (the 1D boys kindly informed us oldies ahead of time how many songs were remaining until the show was over). We watched the dying minutes of the show standing up at the back of the stadium, which was a great view and meant we could make a very quick exit.
All good things must come to an end
Scott and Bailey were waiting in a side street for us (not as creepy as it sounds) and we were out of there in under 10 minutes. Not a bad effort and it meant we missed all of the hideous post-concert traffic.
So there you go. My top 3 tips for how to survive a One Direction concert!
On a random side note, if you’re in the mood for reading a brilliant (and VERY funny) review of the Sydney concert, head on over to Hugzilla’s blog. It’s well worth a look!
Have you been to a One Direction concert? Got any survival tips to add? I’d love to read them!
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