One Direction leaves their mark on the Rose Bowl

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Photo taken by Lauren Alparaz

A panorama of 60,000 fans at the Rose Bowl during the first 1D show

The atmosphere at the Rose Bowl stadium on Sept. 11 was buzzing with a complete enthusiasm that I haven’t seen for at any other concert (and I doubt I will ever again). The up and coming respective acts, 5 Seconds of Summer and Jamie Scott opened for One Direction on their Where We Are stadium tour. The powerhouse British boy band started performing at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal Studios in 2012, to four nights in the Staples Center last year, and now three shows in a row at the Rose Bowl.

Jamie Scott performed first and introduced himself as a songwriter working with One Direction. His acoustic set was like training wheels compared to the chaos that was barely contained in every fangirl waiting for the boys to be on stage.

5 Seconds of Summer followed with an hour long set and the crowd’s screams weren’t a surprise, since One Direction is closely associated. The band opened with “18” and kept up the crowd’s fast energy with a cover of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” Phones across the stadium lit up during their newest single, “Amnesia,” off their self-titled album that went number one in America.

After 5 Seconds of Summer closed with their chart-topper, “She Looks So Perfect,” the stadium vibrated with screams for One Direction. Once the boys came out on stage and onto their attached catwalk, the crowd screamed to a decibel you could hear for days after the concert. They performed songs off all three of their albums, and even a snippet of their lead single “Fireproof” off of their upcoming album, Four.

Their stage presence was exuberant, with crowd interactions and completely unrehearsed choreography. For about two hours, they had everyone in the stadium (except maybe the accompanying parents) dancing during mega-hits like “Kiss You” and “Story of My Life,” and singing along and waving their telephones in the air for slower ones.

Fireworks went off throughout the show, and visual effects on screen went from snippets of the boys’ personal life to video game characters of them running around. The catwalk attachment on the stage made fan interaction easy, prompting One Direction to sing happy birthday to a few fans.

Although attending a boy band concert may be somewhat of a cliche for a teenage girl like me, the energy was contagious and not being completely excited for the performances was almost impossible. One Direction’s playfulness on stage and unforgettable hits made being exhausted on Friday morning completely worth it.