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One Direction Review – "Up All Night" Sydney

It doesn’t matter what city you’re in, there is no escaping the One Direction infection. Perfectly timing their tour and visit to Australia with the school holidays, the boys' performance matched the hype set by Aussie Directioners.

One Direction "Up All Night Tour"
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia - Friday 13th April 2012
Review by Brayden Crossley

Directioners are in a league of their own. The support they have for Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson is something I’ve never seen from any other fanbase. The love they have for the boys is incredible with One Direction the centre of the universe. Only being on the musical stage since September 2011, their rise to world domination has taken no time at all, and with their first gig in Australia, all eyes were on the boys to see if the hype would match the performance.

Arriving at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion, you could have mistaken the sounds from the venue for those from a carnival. With high-pitched blood curdling screams busting around the venue as if girls were strapped into rollercoasters, the fever was already set before hitting the turnstiles. Only 60 per cent of the people circling the venue actually had tickets in their possession; the other 40 per cent were trying to buy a pass from scalpers offering anything from $600 to $1,000 a seat. With the gig selling out in three minutes for all Australian shows, ticket holders were as privileged as Charlie was entering Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

With Justice Crew and Johnny Ruffo setting the crowd into hysterics, it was the dimming of the lights for One Direction that burst everyone’s eardrums. After a quick video package introducing each band member, which was about as needed as a user guide for a fork, the sound of “Stand Up” burst out and the boys were on stage.

Perfectly dressed, styled to a tee and modelling the latest range from TopShop, it’s easy to see how these boys have captured the hearts of girls across the nation. Harry was the first to talk to the crowd, which lifted the decibel of scream to a whole new level - the boys told the crowd that the Aussies were by far the loudest.

After "I Wish", Niall picked up the guitar and the boys grouped in a semicircle. It was time for each member to show off the power of their voice with covers from some of the classics that they had performed on The X Factor. Zayn got things underway with The Black Eyed Peas' “I Got A Feeling”, Niall jumped into “Stereo Hearts” by Gym Class Heroes, Louis had “Valerie” (Amy Winehouse & Mark Ronson) and then Liam and Harry shared “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia.

The power of these guys' voices is genuine - strong, clear and with serious vocal range. They’re the real deal! They command the audience and move around the stage like they’ve been doing it for years, but each have their own personality setting them apart from each other.

After a costume change and a video package setting up an autumn theme, they were back with another hit, “Gotta Be You”, before moving into a Q&A Twitter session. With more cheek and charm oozing into the crowd, the boys covered “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (just like they did when they visited NovaFM’s Smallzy Surgery). With time for another cover, it was “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon and it was incredible. For a song that has been thrashed within an inch of its life over the past few years, their rendition was perfect.

The boys took some time out to thank the Aussie Directioners for all their love and support for the band since their X Factor days. With their album Up All Night going quadruple platinum, the boys were more than grateful, with Niall turning to the crowd to thank NovaFM’s very own Smallzy for driving the Aussie support!

“Up All Night” busted out and the karaoke level was raised to a whole new high. Coving the change in costume again was DJ Malik with Zayn taking front and centre DJ’ing up a storm with a few of David Guetta’s hits, winding up the crowd even more (if that was even possible) before the boys returned to stage dressed in winter gear.

With unexpected fake snow falling from the sky, their two biggest hits went off like a charm. “One Thing” and “What Makes You Beautiful” had the girls go from screaming to singing at the top of their lungs. Despite the lyrics bouncing around the Pavilion by everyone, the boys still made it their own.

The boys live up to the hype that has shut down Australia. Each of them have a personality of their own that shines through the group. Harry with his hair, Niall just having fun with the crowd, Liam keeping things moving, Louis the prankster and Zayn loaded with uber coolness.

The boys are great and the gig was amazing. 10/10 without a doubt!

Prepare yourself Australia, now you know the havoc that occurs, because the boys are back in 2013.