My sister, McKenzie/Skim and I's FRONT ROW One Direction concert on August 13th, 2014 in Philly was literally the best night of my life! - And that says a lot...especially considering I've been to 148 concerts (and counting). It's so crazy because it's not even like I met them or something to make it the best night ever, it was just the over-all experience. If you like One Direction and have tried to buy tickets, or have bought tickets for any other insanely huge band, you know how tough it is to get tickets period...let alone good tickets, and we got FRONT FREAKING ROW!!!! It still amazes me to this day!! When we managed to get these tickets, it was December 7th, 2013...as in, we had to wait almost 8 months for the show! So, after looking forward to it for SO long, and thinking about it for that long, and having these expectations in our heads, we were so worried that it would disappoint, but it didn't...not even a little! EVERYTHING just worked out SO perfectly! It was incredible... such a blessing, and definitely meant to be!!! The only complaint I have is that Zayn, my fave, was the only 1 not to come over to our side of the stage. But we were still close, and the rest of them came over at least once...so if that's the only complaint I have, I'd say it was a pretty successful night! Now, to cover that day from start to finish... When I woke up that morning, it just didn't really feel real almost. I remember rolling over and seeing the countdown that I had going... And I was able to erase it, and put '0' days. That felt incredible and made it sink in a little! We left about 12:30 for the show, after taking some pictures of course...we took many throughout the day, because we wanted to document everything/not forget anything. We made sure to leave really early because we didn't want any chance of missing any part of it. Plus, traffic is always a mess going to Philly...especially on that darn Schuylkill Expressway...you pretty much ALWAYS sit on there forever in traffic, no matter what the time of day is. We also wanted to have time to check into our hotel before the show. We had booked a hotel as an attempt to try and extend what would hopefully be an amazing night...but, also as a precautionary measure: knowing that we would probably be on cloud 9 and not fit to drive 2.5 hours home! Haha. Getting that specific hotel turned out to be such an incredible blessing because it ended up taking us off the Schyulkill Expressway early, and then taking us into Philly from our hotel a totally different way, and there was absolutely NO traffic that way, and the exit lead pretty much RIGHT to the venue! Even just from the moment we parked, we could just feel the greatness awaiting us! We got a good parking spot, close to the venue, and it was cheaper than we expected. We got there about 4:40, which was a little early...gates opened at 5, so we had a little time to kill. So, we sat in the car for a little, took a few pictures, and got incredibly excited! Then we walked up to the main gate when it was time, and of course had to take pictures with things... like with this big archway type thing beside the venue that said, "Lincoln Financial Field." After that, we saw signs around and heard an employee say that if you were seated on the floor, you had to go in a different entrance, which was down the block, around the corner...felt kinda VIP. So, we headed to that entrance. It took a little while to get in, or at least it felt like it because we were so anxious! Haha. It was just a little hot while we were standing there with thousands of other people, and the sun beating on us...but it really wasn't bad, thankfully...especially compared to last year when we saw them! I would just like to take this moment to thank the good Lord for that! Last summer when we saw them, it was legit 2 of the hottest days of the summer, if not the hottest...and that is not an exaggeration! We saw them 2 days in a row, and BOTH days were over 100 degrees...and add that onto all the body heat from 35,000 people, yeah...it was miserable! I remember it was legit 113 degrees the 2nd night - AWFUL! We were pretty afraid that it would be like that again for our front row show, and we did not want that...we wanted to look pretty for seeing these hott, British men up close! Haha. Anyway, when we got up to the employee, he gave us awesome wristbands that say "One Direction concert August 13, 2014," then scanned our tickets, and I remember him looking at our tickets, and saying something like, "Oh, you got good seats, huh? Have fun!" Just thought that was cool... Once we got in, it took a little while to get to our seats. We needed to find the entrance that had floor access (not all of them did). And we of course, had to take a few more pictures with things. We got too anxious then, and just wanted to see our seats! We finally found the right entrance, which was in pretty much the very back of the venue...so we had to walk down a level, and then the whole way from the back of the floor, to the very front...it was a long walk, but at the same time it was AMAZING to be able to walk past all these people, and go to ROW 1!!!! That was SUCH an awesome feeling!! After getting to our seats and looking back, it really put into perspective just how incredibly blessed we were to be front row, and to see just how close we actually were! I just can't even put into words how amazing that felt/was! I mean, that venue was HUGE...beyond huge! It's where the Eagles play for crying out loud...it holds about 70,000 people! Just thinking about that for a minute! Anyway, after the shock wore off a little and we could actually move, we of course took lots more pictures. Our seats were incredible! We were in the furthest section to the left of the stage, so we had been a little worried that they would be kind of far away, but they weren't...at all! We were pleasantly surprised how close we were! It was just so surreal! And yes: we freaked out...screamed like little girls...and jumped up and down, and no: we are not ashamed. The show didn't start until 7, so we had a while to just anxiously sit there. 1 thing that killed time though: they played the macarena, and literally EVERYONE in that stadium was up off their chairs doing it. It was awesome/so cool to see! It had been a long time since I broke out that dance move! Haha! And I never thought I would be doing it with 70,000 other people...pretty epic! Thankfully there was only 1 opening band...and it was 5 Seconds Of Summer, so obviously that was terrible to sit thru! Haha. ;) I'm kidding of course...They were really good!! And hello...they're Australian! Anyone with a foreign accent immediately becomes hotter...and they already weren't bad to look at ;) I liked them A LOT, and probably would've liked them a lot more if it weren't for the fact that I was waiting for One Direction! Haha. They (1D) came on about 8:45. They played an opening video on all 5 screens... and it was literally not even 2 minutes long, but that was the longest 2 minutes of my life! Haha. I remember Skim and I were grasping each other, jumping up and down, screaming, sighing, dying...haha! But then they finally came out, playing 'Midnight Memories'! They ended with 'Best Song Ever,' playing 23 songs total and lasting about an hour and 45 minutes...but it still wasn't long enough! I did not want that night to end!!! It was an absolutely incredible setlist!! They did pretty much everything I wanted them to, and even some I didn't expect, and some of my all-time fave 1's of theirs! Every single song blew me away! They were incredibly amazing and epic...no words can even possibly describe! It was my 4th time seeing them, but it was just a whole different experience hearing them up close. Don't get me wrong, I've always thought they sounded incredible, but it was just on a whole different level being front row! I remember just looking around several times, smiling ear to ear, and just thinking to myself "This is the best night of my life!" It may sound incredibly lame and corny, but I've never been as happy as I was that night! I'm pretty sure I will never feel that happy again, actually! I just can't even explain it! I remember 5 specific events that stick out in my mind... #1: Pretty much as soon as 'Midnight Memories' started, Harry came DIRECTLY over to Skim and I... we immediately starting jumping up and down and screaming, and then...HE WAVED... RIGHT TO US!! Yes, you read that right...THE HARRY STYLES WAVED TO ME! We immediately geeked out! It was awesome! The perfect start to their set! We just knew the night was destined for greatness! He came over to our area several other times... And there was a VERY nice guy beside me who offered to take Skim and I's pic with Harry in the backaround at some point. I am forever indebted to that man! Thank you whoever you are, and God bless you! That brings me to event #2: I remember during 'Strong,' Harry was over in front of us for pretty much the whole song...singing to US!! That is 1 of my fave songs of theirs anway, so that was incredible...just added to the greatness of the song! Event #3: Liam blew me a kiss and waved TO ME...yeah! Let me just repeat that: LIAM PAYNE blew little old me a kiss...ME, and only me!!! I will never forget that moment! Ahhh, my heart melts even just thinking about that! Event #4: There randomly was a girl there wearing a wedding dress, and somehow Harry heard about it and proposed to her! Altho that was kind of entertaining, I officially hate that girl ;) And finally event #5: They sang the Fresh Prince of BelAire theme! It was really entertaining! When the show ended, a very severe depression set it...Skim and I looked at each other and we seriously wanted to cry! We took a couple more pictures, then slowly walked out. It was SO hard to leave! I don't know what made my feet move! Thankfully we at least had the hotel to go back to. Once we got back there, we couldn't go to sleep for a while. We stayed up late re-living everything and looking through all the pictures... Skim got some really good ones! That severe depression came back when we got home the next day, and lasted for weeks! It was seriously THE MOST DEPRESSING thing ever...NO LIE! Especially after anxiously awaiting the show for that long! - I felt like I was mourning the death of the show. Haha. I felt so lost...I didn't know what to do with myself. It was horrible, but also, obviously, incredibly worth it! I fell in love with them all over again. I love them so much more now...and I didn't even think that possible! They just make me feel so happy! You can tell they really enjoy what they do and they always make me laugh! I have so much respect for them, and I LOVE their music!! I will never forget that night! To quote 1 of their songs: "...Wanna go back there every night. Just can't lie: it was the best time of my life!..." - Couldn't have said it better myself!
Here's most of 'Strong,' when Harry was in front of us, or at least on our side of the stage for the whole song. I recorded it on my phone, so the picture isn't the best quality and it's not zoomed in, so it makes me look SO much farther away than I actually was, but you can still get an idea of how awesome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG80oSSiodM
And this vid isn't from the front row show, it's from my show 2 nights before...but it needed to be included! I looked up the setlist before-hand, and knew when Skim's fave song was coming, so I recorded her candid reaction. It was pretty great! She didn't even know they were doing it...just fast forward to the last 10-15 seconds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss8vMFUBZeE
And lastly, here's a lil collage I put together of some of the best moments from that night:
