After seeing One Direction in September for their Where We
Are tour, I figured that was the only time I would be seeing them this year.
Luckily, I was wrong. I had the opportunity to go down to Orlando, Florida to
see One Direction perform on the Today Show. My mother and I made the familiar
trip down to Orlando, one of my favorite places in the world. In the end, this
trip was one of my favorites and I’ll always remember it thanks to One
Direction.
Once I arrived in Universal, it was almost like a theme park
made up of girls. They were everywhere, along with signs announcing One
Direction’s arrival for the following morning. I felt terrible for the
Universal employees, seeing teenage girls bombard them with questions about the
band. To speed things up, I planned on not sleeping that Sunday night. I
wouldn’t have been able to anyways due to how nervous I was. I headed out of my
hotel, the Cabana Bay Beach Resort (which was on site for the occasion), at
2:20 in the morning. I didn’t get far in waiting but quickly made two new
friends, Sophia and Molly. We stuck together for the next seven hours as the
sun came up over CityWalk.
We were instructed to go along the grass in front of the
Hard Rock Hotel and the big river that cuts CityWalk and Universal in half
separated us from the stage. So, my view was dismal. Girls and their parents
camped out along the grass and railing, waiting for the boys. After dozing in
the grass, the boys finally made an appearance at 5:30 in a boat. They rode
around to say hello to fans and at the time, none of us realized Zayn wasn’t
there. It was so dark and the sound was so bad across the water, we all assumed
Zayn had come too. But due to poor health, Zayn wasn’t able to come but did appear
the next night at the VIP fan event.
Soundcheck came and went, with Louis, Niall, Harry, and Liam
singing verses from a lot of songs, not revealing which songs exactly they
would be singing on the actual show. Then they were gone again, leaving us to
relax (not really) in the grass again. The boat cruised back around about a quarter
to eight. It was obvious Zayn wasn’t going to show, no matter how much we all
hoped. The boys handled his absence in songs really well and I was very
impressed. They performed ‘Steal my Girl,’ ‘Best Song Ever,’ ‘Little Things,’
‘What Makes You Beautiful,’ ‘Night Changes,’ and ‘Story of My Life.’ While I do
enjoy these songs, I wish they hadn’t done the older songs. I was there because
of Four, the new album, not to hear
just the two singles. There was a lot of potential for this performance but it
doesn’t stick out to me now that I think about it. It was very unorganized, the
quality of sound and sight was poor, and being shuffled across the water to
watch was very disappointing. Being unable to see or hear was a let down
especially for those of us who traveled from other states, perhaps even other
countries, to be there. Universal Studios and One Direction need to work on
their planning skills before they have another free performance at the park.
Hopefully One Direction will announce southeast tour dates
for the US so I can hope to hear my favorite tracks off Four someday. Four is out
now and absolutely, 100 percent worth listening to. Keep an eye out for my
review soon, but until then, check out the real thing on iTunes or go buy it at
Target!
All photos taken and provided by my new lovely friend Molly. Thanks a bunch xx
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