Caitlin Trude | Editor-in-Chief

It’s not often that I would opt to spend most of my Friday night in the company of thousands of screaming Directioner adolescents (and their less than enthusiastic parents), but I had five good reasons to make an exception and their names are Harry, Louis, Niall, Liam and Zayne.

On Friday my sister and I went to the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena where One Direction was playing their second night in that venue for their “Where We Are” stadium tour. This will have been the band’s third concert tour since the beginning of their music career, but this was my first time seeing them live. In my attempt to salvage some of my “cool points,” I must admit that while I’m not a “hardcore” Directioner, I’m not ashamed to say that I do like One Direction and yes, I was one of those people who scrambled to buy her concert tickets on Ticketmaster almost a year in advance.

The concert kicked off with a fairly brief but pleasant acoustic set by Jamie Scott, one of the songwriters responsible for co-writing many of One Direction’s hit singles like “Story of My Life” and “You and I.”

Almost immediately following came 5 Seconds of Summer (or 5SOS), a four-member Australian pop punk/rock band. Though not totally familiar with most of 5SOS’s work, I did enjoy bobbing my head to the beat and pretending I knew all the words to “She Looks So Perfect” and “Don’t Stop.”

We waited nearly an hour for the tech crew to set up for One Direction before the band performed, but it was worth the wait. One Direction’s set began with “Midnight Memories,” complete with fireworks lighting up the Pasadena night sky. Other highlights for me included jamming out to “Kiss You,” “Better Than Words” as well as becoming a little sentimental to the slower ballads “Don’t Forget Where You Belong” and of course, “Little Things.”

I’m no rookie concert attendee, but even I was overwhelmed by the heavy youth-oriented atmosphere of a packed stadium concert. Two twenty-something-year-olds’ solution? Makeshift tissue earplugs. Once inserted, our concert experience exponentially improved as we could hear all the songs we loved while blocking out the incredibly loud group of fangirls sitting in the row behind us.

Although we left the concert about 30 minutes early during the boys’ performance of “What Makes You Beautiful,” it was completely worth it to avoid the merciless LA traffic.

Making some “Midnight Memories” at the Rose Bowl was rare treat and fun outing – not one I’m likely to repeat any time soon, but I’m happy that seeing a boy band I quite like in concert can now be a chapter in the “Story of My Life.”