On Saturday, I was blessed with the opportunity of attending One Direction's On the Road Again Tour in Santa Clara and I must say that I am still processing what just happened this past weekend! Although I essentially went to the concert by myself, I met so many people along the way! Not only was seeing One Direction so mind blowing, the journey that took me to get there was just as amazing!
After some complications of how I was going to get to the Stadium. I knew I wanted to drive down to San Jose early because I didn't want to deal with the traffic: both the cars and the amount of people that were going to be there. So I left my house at 1:00p.m. and started the hour drive it took to get to San Jose. I also used my Google Maps so that I wouldn't get lost, but I had no end point because I didn't want to pay for Stadium parking and I had no idea where I was going to park my car. I then decided to get Quickly's which was about 5 minutes from the Great Mall and 18 minutes away from the Stadium. After putting in the end location the adventure began!
An hour that consisted of moderate traffic and 14 One Direction songs later, I finally made it to Quickly's! After buying my drink, I had to debrief myself about what I was going to do, so I took to Twitter. I found a couple people who were also going to the Stadium and were willing to carpool, but someone mentioned the Light Rail. So using my handy-dandy Google Maps, I found directions to Levi Stadium from the Great Mall and the directions were perfect!
It was 3:00pm and I knew that I wanted to eat before heading to the concert, so I went to the Great Mall and ate McD's and used the bathroom. Since my cousins live about two blocks away from the Great Mall, I decided to park my car in front of their house and walk to the light rail. Due to the fact that it was my first time ever using public transportation in San Jose, I was not against trying to make friends who might be also going to the stadium. When I got to the main platform, I made friends with a girl, Sarah, and her mom, Melissa. They were both so nice and very willing to team up to get to the concert because we were all not from are. Within a couple of minutes, more One Direction fans came to the platform and as a team, we all made our way to Levi Stadium! During this train ride, I got to meet so many more One Direction fans and everyone was so nice, but I felt that Sarah and her mom were the ones that took me under their wing! During this voyage, Sarah and I were talking about 1D and throughout the conversation we laughed so much! It was beautiful!
When we got to the Stadium at around 4:30ish, there were so many people! As we walked to get in line, some of the workers said that I had to check in my bag because it was too big. Since the Bag Check line was so long, I told Sarah and her mom that I would meet them in the stadium. They both agreed and said that they'd see my later :) The line for the bag check wasn't so bad until girls started screaming! My initial reaction was fear! I quickly tried to figure out what the commotion was about so that I could run away from what they were screaming at (if I had to) and everyone was pointing up at the stadium. I looked and there were several silhouettes, standing by the ledge and many of the girls assumed they were some of the One Direction band members. Now, during this momentary distraction, some of the girls behind me thought it was a good idea to cut me because there was a significant gap in front of me. *Shakes head out of frustration* I wanted to say something "smart" like, "Thank you for cutting me in line," or "That's very nice of you!" But instead, I shortened the gap, waited for about 10 seconds to see if they'd let me through, but NONE of them looked at me. Now this experience did not at all make me think less of Directioners, so in order to get my spot back in line, I merely said, "Excuse me, just trying to get my spot back," with a smile. Since I was standing in line for about 10 minutes already, I knew who I was standing behind and I succeeded in getting the spot back! :D
An hour that consisted of moderate traffic and 14 One Direction songs later, I finally made it to Quickly's! After buying my drink, I had to debrief myself about what I was going to do, so I took to Twitter. I found a couple people who were also going to the Stadium and were willing to carpool, but someone mentioned the Light Rail. So using my handy-dandy Google Maps, I found directions to Levi Stadium from the Great Mall and the directions were perfect!
It was 3:00pm and I knew that I wanted to eat before heading to the concert, so I went to the Great Mall and ate McD's and used the bathroom. Since my cousins live about two blocks away from the Great Mall, I decided to park my car in front of their house and walk to the light rail. Due to the fact that it was my first time ever using public transportation in San Jose, I was not against trying to make friends who might be also going to the stadium. When I got to the main platform, I made friends with a girl, Sarah, and her mom, Melissa. They were both so nice and very willing to team up to get to the concert because we were all not from are. Within a couple of minutes, more One Direction fans came to the platform and as a team, we all made our way to Levi Stadium! During this train ride, I got to meet so many more One Direction fans and everyone was so nice, but I felt that Sarah and her mom were the ones that took me under their wing! During this voyage, Sarah and I were talking about 1D and throughout the conversation we laughed so much! It was beautiful!
When we got to the Stadium at around 4:30ish, there were so many people! As we walked to get in line, some of the workers said that I had to check in my bag because it was too big. Since the Bag Check line was so long, I told Sarah and her mom that I would meet them in the stadium. They both agreed and said that they'd see my later :) The line for the bag check wasn't so bad until girls started screaming! My initial reaction was fear! I quickly tried to figure out what the commotion was about so that I could run away from what they were screaming at (if I had to) and everyone was pointing up at the stadium. I looked and there were several silhouettes, standing by the ledge and many of the girls assumed they were some of the One Direction band members. Now, during this momentary distraction, some of the girls behind me thought it was a good idea to cut me because there was a significant gap in front of me. *Shakes head out of frustration* I wanted to say something "smart" like, "Thank you for cutting me in line," or "That's very nice of you!" But instead, I shortened the gap, waited for about 10 seconds to see if they'd let me through, but NONE of them looked at me. Now this experience did not at all make me think less of Directioners, so in order to get my spot back in line, I merely said, "Excuse me, just trying to get my spot back," with a smile. Since I was standing in line for about 10 minutes already, I knew who I was standing behind and I succeeded in getting the spot back! :D
The line continued to move and I got a text from Sarah, my new friend I met at the train station, and she said that after I got out of the bag check line, I could join them in line to get into the stadium, which was incredibly nice of them! I finally got out of line and went to find Sarah and her mom! It was such a blessing to get in line with them because the line was about a 3/4 of a mile long and they were about less than 1/4 of a mile in line! By this time it was about 5:50pm and they started to let people into the stadium!!
After we got through security and getting our tickets scanned, some of the workers were directing people to the proper "bridges" in order for people to get to their seats easier. Since, I had different seats than Sarah and her mom, our "bridges" were in opposite directions. We realized that we had to split up, so we decided to meet up after the concert so that I wouldn't have to go back to the Great Mall alone.
So, I made my way to my seat! Throughout the rest of the night, I made EVEN more friends and updating my Snap Chat story, and tried to make my phone battery last.
After we got through security and getting our tickets scanned, some of the workers were directing people to the proper "bridges" in order for people to get to their seats easier. Since, I had different seats than Sarah and her mom, our "bridges" were in opposite directions. We realized that we had to split up, so we decided to meet up after the concert so that I wouldn't have to go back to the Great Mall alone.
So, I made my way to my seat! Throughout the rest of the night, I made EVEN more friends and updating my Snap Chat story, and tried to make my phone battery last.
I have never been to a One Direction concert before and I had no idea what kind of fan I was going to be. By "what kind of fan" I mean, the reaction I'd have when they finally took the stage. I wondered if I'd cry, scream my head off, or be really chill and rock to their music. (HA! I have no idea why I thought I'd be "chill"-- AT A ONE DIRECTION CONCERT!) I did scream my head off and I DID rock to their music, but I wasn't at all chill about it and crying wasn't an initial reaction either.
Throughout the show, some of the boys would talk, joked around, and continually would thank the fans after performing several songs. Knowing how much they really cared for their fans made me realize just how aware they are of why they are able to do what they're doing now. This also makes me think of that moment (TANGENT: Just thought of that short film One Direction did to promote their perfume "Our Moment" in 2012) in their X Factor journey when they were told that they would not advance in the competition. I feel that that moment played such a great role in how much more precious and greater being able to travel the world and sing is! But we have to thank Simon for making One Direction. I think a lot of that moment when the five of them were called out by name and made into a group. I really believe that is one of the greatest events in music history (taking into account all that happened now). I re-watched the two hour video sometimes and my heart jumps when their names are called out from the group guys that weren't advancing!
Throughout the show, some of the boys would talk, joked around, and continually would thank the fans after performing several songs. Knowing how much they really cared for their fans made me realize just how aware they are of why they are able to do what they're doing now. This also makes me think of that moment (TANGENT: Just thought of that short film One Direction did to promote their perfume "Our Moment" in 2012) in their X Factor journey when they were told that they would not advance in the competition. I feel that that moment played such a great role in how much more precious and greater being able to travel the world and sing is! But we have to thank Simon for making One Direction. I think a lot of that moment when the five of them were called out by name and made into a group. I really believe that is one of the greatest events in music history (taking into account all that happened now). I re-watched the two hour video sometimes and my heart jumps when their names are called out from the group guys that weren't advancing!
With Zayn no longer in One Direction, the guys did such a great job filling in. I also noticed that Liam did a lot of Zayn's high notes and I have to say, Liam was AMAZING!! I legit got the chills when he did the high notes for the The Best Song Ever!
When the concert ended I went straight to the merch table and I also caught up with Andre, who also attends Simpson University with me! After a good 40 minutes of being sardines, I finally got a shirt and made my way to get my bag from bag-check. Since the light rail was out of service, two employees were
When the concert ended I went straight to the merch table and I also caught up with Andre, who also attends Simpson University with me! After a good 40 minutes of being sardines, I finally got a shirt and made my way to get my bag from bag-check. Since the light rail was out of service, two employees were
The night ended with meeting two girls, who were also taking the bus, Lauren and Kelly! They were BOTH so nice and genuine! We talked about the concert, the personalities of more or less each band member and information about ourselves. I really hope I bump into them again! :D
One Direction has THE BEST FANS!!
Overall, being at Levi Stadium was amazing! The vibe was so unifying that being with other "Directioners" was an experience I will never forget.
The whole experience was truly a blessing!
This was a long blog post! Thank you so much for reading!! Below are some videos
I took from the concert!
-Jacky
