Tonight’s the night. I woke up early and shrugged Zak off the couch so we could get breakfast at our favorite cafe before catching a car to the stadium to avoid traffic. While it was an exciting day to be had, we were both very much aware of the looming realization that Summer had come and we were going home. Our flight would leave two days after the kickoff of the UK leg of the Take Me Home Tour.
"Are you ready to fangirl our hearts out?" Zak asked enthusiastically, taking a big swig of his iced coffee and layering a judicious amount of cream cheese on his bagel. I was happy to see him happy, regardless of the latest turn of events.
Laughing into my frappe, I answered, “Yes! I’m so nervous though. They’re going to know how much we like their music now. It’ll be… different.”
"Not to mention we’re front freaking row. Still not over it." I was inclined to agree with my best friend on that one. My whole body tingled with anticipation. We were finally going to see our guys in their natural habitat, and to experience a front row concert.
Harry sent me a text halfway through our day out reading: “Can’t wait for you to see us up on the stage. Hope I don’t get stage fright! xx love you”
Liam and Niall face-timed Zak from backstage at the sound check just to say hi and pan the crowd of screaming girls. Shit was getting real. This whole other side of the boys was an amazing sight to see. I could understand why all of their fans loved them so much just from seeing this much of them. They were absolute sweethearts.
After what seemed like a million hours we were let through security and into our section. Haz had sent us our vip passes and tickets in advance but we had no real interest in the meet and greet packages when we could take pictures with the boys whenever we wanted to at home. I’d talked Zak out of visiting sound check as well so we could be surprised at the concert. I was getting nervous. Out of the corner of my eye Zak wiped his palms against the striped shorts he’d worn, cuing me in to the fact that I wasn’t the only anxious one here.
Although Wembley Stadium is air conditioned I knew we’d appreciate wearing shorts and tank tops by the end of the night so we suffered through the introductory videos advertising for perfume, back to school supplies and up and coming girl bands. The arena filled up fast- it seemed impossible to pack more people into the building but more just kept coming and coming from all directions.
“This is surreal!” I shouted to Zak over the crowd of screaming girls when Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” blared through the speakers. He grinned from ear to ear and danced along to the music. Each time a group of tech crew men came on stage to set up the equipment for the openers a new wave of screaming occurred. If this was how they reacted to these guys, how were they going to keep it together when 5sos came on? And then One Direction? My stomach twisted in knots as the realization sunk in that I’d be screaming right along with them. Concerts always wound me up. The stage was a mere couple of feet in front of us, blocked by some security men in navy outfits.
Zak and I’d talked earlier on the car ride over about how little we knew of the opening band but Louis had told us they were really good and got lucky the boys wanted to join them on the road this tour. Eventually a group of five teenaged boys took the stage and began singing a song I recognized from the advertisements before the show. They even played instruments, which was super cool in my opinion. I didn’t think any less of my boys because they sang in a band but instruments are most definitely a game changer. Everyone knew that.
To our enthusiasm the boys covered Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” so we could all sing along to one of their numbers. The whole arena faded to black save the light from our cell phones swinging back and forth to the beat. While we didn’t know their music we definitely still enjoyed their portion of the concert. I made a mental note to YouTube them once I got back home. Michael, I think his name is Michael, spewed out an awesome guitar solo and stuck his tongue out, staring straight at us in the middle front row. I reached an arm out towards him and he tried to high five me but we were just too far away. Squealing, I turned to Zak who was jumping up and down to the rock music beating all around us. By the time their set was done, we didn’t feel ready to say goodbye to 5sos, to be honest.
