English boy band One Direction in concert at Adelaide Entertainment Centre — Harry Styles from One Direction on stage Source: News Limited
THERE’S a spectrum of One Direction fandom that we all sit on.
Between the crying fans on one end, and the uninterested dads who are begrudgingly dragged to concerts, I’ve always been something of a 1D tourist: I could recognise at least one song on the radio and maybe name two or three of the chaps in a line-up. But that’s it.
So it was with interest that I approached the new One Direction documentary at the movies last night. Its release coincides with a sold-out months-long tour of huge stadiums across our country, so expect their grinning British faces to be everywhere you look between now and Christmas.
There’s no way I’m forking out for a concert ticket (not even the ones being hilariously flogged on eBay). But I’ll happily pay the $19 to see them on the big screen for a breezy 90 minutes.
And you know what? It wasn’t bad.
By no means warts-and-all, it’s a pretty rosy portrayal of a lifestyle that would surely involve more partying and girlfriends than we see on screen (zero).
But there are some touchingly candid interviews with the boys’ stricken parents, who are — on the one hand — proud of the band’s success, but also grieving for the teenage sons they lost to X Factor.
We can all learn something from these young men, and it’s not just how to woo a girl with harmless pop songs about how pretty she is, how perfectly imperfect she is, kissing, dancing all night, something something.
Charm offensive: the band recruits new Aussie fans as young as possible. Source: Supplied
Their varying abilities as singers aside, the One Direction lads have to work very hard. After performing to screaming fans all night, we see Zayn woken up on the tour bus to quickly record a bridge for a new song. Later on we see him buying a new house for his mum and sisters. It’s touching.
We also get to see them return to their hometowns during a rare break in touring. It’s astonishing how easily they can slip back into everyday life as young, fun-loving scamps. Harry returns to the bakery he was working at when X Factor turned him into a superstar and charms the old ladies as though he’d never left.
Hopefully the transition back to earth is as smooth when their careers as certified heartbreakers have dried up.
The flick features a lot of footage of young, female fans crying and screaming during the concerts — scenes that will be repeated at a stadium near you in the coming weeks.
And while that’s a little disturbing, it’s all just part of the same boy band pandemonium that gen X and gen Y and Baby Boomers experienced yesteryear.
And isn’t it better that teen girls are listening to innocuous songs about first dates than unstoppable drug binges?
So go out and find your place on the 1D fan spectrum. The hardest part is figuring out your favourite.
