Memories

C9: Soundcheck

Before actually going home, Paul, their tour manager gave me a piece of paper. It was like one-fourth only of a legal sized paper. He just handed it to me casually and was like, “you need this on the show.”

Wait. What show? Which show, the one on Thursday? I was clueless. I had a few questions but someone pulled Paul away so I was like, okay.

When I got home, I read the piece of paper. I found out it was a backstage pass for their concert on Thursday! I was invited by THE Paul Higgins. I’m sure Liam wouldn’t mind taking me but the fact that it was Paul who invited me; it was cool. I showed Liam the paper. He told me it was just like a way to get in backstage in case you don’t have that Backstage Pass. He also said that during concerts, it’s really hard to get it, even just to get that backstage pass because even the perimeters of the venue get filled by people.

I was so excited for Thursday to come. The scenario of the concert was stuck in my head. I hardly slept because of excitement.

xxx THURSDAY xxx

I woke up at about 8 am. It was really excited. Liam was still sleeping. I picked my clothes for today’s event. It took me like 2 hours to choose.

Anyway, time flies so fast. The next thing I knew, it was already 10:30 am. Liam was getting ready because we had to be at the venue at 12 pm. I could be there a little bit later but Liam wanted me to experience the whole thing. He’s amazing, right?

We were like four blocks away from the venue but you could already see the fans. It was crazy. The closer we got, the crazier things got. We passed by a secret gate which had a really tight security system. Liam parked his car. When we got down, I immediately noticed the fans behind the other gate. It was a super duper locked gate. No one could pass through there. There were like 10 huge guards just for that gate. It was the only access the fans had to the backstage. I wore a grey sweatshirt, black skinny jeans, a cream-colored beanie, which covered half of my braided hair, and black sunglasses. Liam told me to do my best to cover myself when I’m next to him because when fans start to know that I know him personally even just a teeny tiny bit, my normal life is over. Liam doesn’t want that for me nor for Allie that’s why he won’t let her know about all this.

When the fans saw Liam, who wasn’t disguised, just wearing a plain white shirt, black jeans and sunglasses plus a red cap, they grew louder, wilder and crazier. Wow. This One Direction fever is definitely out of control.

We entered the door which led to the hallway relating to the dressing rooms. One room was for the boys, one was for the band and one huge room for everyone else. As we entered the dressing room of the boys, we caught Harry being blow dried by Lou, their hair and make-up artist. She, herself, was really gorgeous. She was effortlessly gorgeous. Liam introduced me to Lou.

“Nice to meet you,” she said. She was really nice and sweet.

Harry turned to me then grinned mischievously. He does that a lot to many people.

Anyway, I told them that I would hang for a while, have a look at the venue. Liam reminded me to not come out of the venue because it’s not safe. Harry grinned again then said, “mhm.”

I shrugged then headed to the door. I walked through the hallway then checking out the different rooms. Everyone was busy and most of them had headphones on. You know, the director-kind one. I passed by the band’s room, they were all there but they were all napping. I walked further, approaching the stage then passed by the huge room for everybody. Most of the crew I knew were there. They called me then invited me in. There was a long table of different snacks. I was there for just like 15 seconds then told them I would check the venue out first. I checked the stage out. It was fine to be out there because only the crew were inside. I stood there blankly for like 1 minute just appreciating and feeling the moment. Wow. This is just amazing. I couldn’t imagine myself perform in one of these. I might faint or something. It was really awesome, though.