One Direction & 5 Seconds Of Summer Concert Experience

I’ve always had a thing for boy bands. It started when I was 7 with the Backstreet Boys, reignited in high school with the Jonas Brothers and three years ago I came to love these four Brits and one Irish lad. I’ve had some pretty awesome concert experiences with these boys at the Molson Amphitheatre and Air Canada Centre thanks to VIP tickets, but this year with just a regular ol’ ticket (VIP offered nothing special anyways unless you’re into One Direction watches) I had just as good a time.

On their first stadium tour performing to over 50, 000 fans, it’s pretty awesome that Toronto is the first city in North America to see the Where We Are Tour. If only fans knew Where They Were hiding out. Seriously, every time they come to Toronto it’s an intense game of hide and seek and the fans never win. Anyways, instead of sitting here wondering what to do with my life, which is one of symptoms of post-concert depression, I figured I might as well write about my concert experience while it’s fresh in my mind and give you guys some pictures.

I plan on putting together a video of the experience and hosting a One Direction related giveaway, so stay tuned for that! Also for those wondering what it’s like to have VIP this year, my sister experienced that last night and will be sharing her story and pics soon as well!

The Seats: A7, Row 15
In my opinion, these seats were almost perfect. You’re probably thinking that the only spot to place your butt that could be perfect is first row. But when they’ve got a humungous stage and a catwalk leading to a secondary stage at the back, this first row is not the greatest. From where I was sitting, I had a perfect centre view of the entire stage, I was located right next to the catwalk and at the exact spot where they all seemingly decided to stop and pause to sing during their walk from big ass stage 1 to mini stage at the back. And here’s the thing, I got these seats THE DAY BEFORE THE CONCERT. You think you have to stick with your nosebleeds that you bought a year ago, but you don’t! When they set up the seating, most venues find that they have room for more seats and they usually put them up for sale that day. So I highly recommend checking ticketmaster a day or two before and the day of for more seats. You can call to exchange your old ones for just a $7 (and totally worth it) fee!

The Camera: 
Also, not to brag or anything but you’ll notice these pictures are pretty damn awesome. I wish I could take the credit and say it’s all me but all the glory goes to the best digital point and shoot camera to ever exist: the Canon Powershot SX240 HS. Sure being 10 seats away from the catwalk helped, but you do not understand the power of this zoom. It’s my go-t0 for concerts… and life. Whoever says the end of digital cameras is coming thanks to smart phone have not tried this beaut. And Canon isn’t even paying me or bribing me to say this, I truly honestly from the heart recommend it.

The Opener: 5 Seconds of Summer (who are totally ready to headline their own show by now) 
They looked so perfect standing there (sorry, just had to use that line)!

Picture taken WITH NO ZOOM. Not bad, am I right?

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Luke doing his thang, because that’s what lead singers do. Their thang.

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A perfect “Caption This” photo.  Clearly so many things were going on in Michael’s head, he’s overwhelmed, or he’s trying to use his telepathy powers or something.

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DAT ASS(ES).

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Look at those pink cheeks!

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The Main Event: One Direction
While the band’s professional photographer Cal was on stage, I could arguably take his job. Here are a few of the masterpieces I captured on camera.
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My Ed Sheeran filled day: photo shoot and concert

It’s my last day as a teenager, and what better way to spend it than with one of the most popular, most talented singer-songwriter’s of our generation?

Thanks to Faze Magazine and my sister’s strong will to get concert tickets, I was able to do just that.

My day started off with a trip to the Eaton Centre with my sister, before Faze’s cover shoot with Ed, which we were fortunate enough to attend! While wasting time, aimlessly walking around and window shopping like the broke college students we both are, I decided to go on a search for the perfect present for Ed. After entering many stores, leaving empty handed and having a long debate with myself over whether to buy him that glass from Urban Outfitters that says Canada with a weed plant on it or not…I finally walked into Bluenotes and layed eyes on the perfect gift: a red graphic t-shirt with the words “The Eh Team” printed on it along with a maple leaf. Couldn’t have gotten better than that. So of course I bought the shirt and another Canada tee, went to Indigo to find a card (ended up buying one with a cat in hipster glasses), and was off to the photo shoot!

The shoot was held inside Stylexchange, there was photographer who set up, and the Faze team ready and waiting. Soon Ed came in (late, but better than never) with his posse. Though our stylist had some great outfits picked out, Ed preferred to keep his shoes and pants on, choosing to only wear the selected tops (a plaid button up shirt, and a black jacket). He rocked them both well for the camera. He was so shy, and you could see how laid back he is! After the photo shoot, he sat down to do an interview for Faze TV. He answered some questions like what he was like in Grade 8, Why he named his album + (“Well I wouldn’t have wanted to name it album or greatest hits”), what his next album may be called (“how about – “), and what his tattoos meant (“I got a maple leaf because I love Canada). He was actually the funniest and most sarcastic guy!

Then we gave Ed his parting gifts (after grabbing pictures with him and getting autographs of course) Faze gave him the plaid shirt he wore during some of the shoot, which he loved so much he didn’t take it off and sported it during his interview on MuchMusic’s New.Music.Live later that evening. Stylexchange gave him the black jacket, and my sister gave him a stuffed TY beanie baby penguin. Which he absolutely adored. As soon as he got it, the biggest smile came on his face, and he immediately showed it to his whole management team, he then cuddled it and gave my sister the biggest hug. It was my turn to give him my two shirts. As soon as he took out the “Eh Team” shirt, he laughed. I said, “You don’t have it already do you? I feel like a fan would’ve already given it to you!”. He smiled and said, “No, I’m going to wear it tonight!” in that awesome British accent. Him and his team then proceeded to exit the store and mall through the secretive and hidden back exits. (So there was no way any fans would have been able to spot him in the mall :( Sorry!)


(Note: pictures of Ed from the photo shoot will be posted here, after the issue is published!)

After filling our groaning stomachs with a delish poutine from New York Fries, and sitting in the food court waiting for “itis” to disappear we finally headed out to our next Ed-destination: Echo Beach at the Molson Flats. We arrived at the venue for approx. 5pm to be greeted by a huge (and when I say huge, I mean hundreds and hundreds of fans) line. Luckily, my friend’s sister had been there since 11 a.m. so we joined her. (Now before you start snapping on how it’s unfair to bud the line, keep in mind that so many other girls were doing the same thing, and that eventually we left the line anyways). Doors opened at 7PM and it was like a mob of crazy shoppers waiting outside of Walmart on Black Friday/Boxing Day! Crazy! Eventually we got inside, and while my sister braved the mosh pit that is the General Admission area, I went straight to VIP (a higher leveled unobstructed view).

Passenger opened up the show with his sweet melodic tunes and that unique voice of his.

The moment Ed walked on stage, I couldn’t help but scream, not just because of my excitement for the concert to start but because he was wearing the shirt I gave him! He kept to his word!

He told the audience that this was his largest show in North America to date, which of course resulted in deafening screams. And the thing I love about Ed, is that he doesn’t like those screams. Many times throughout the concert he would tell the audience to “shush” and “be quiet” for some of his songs, which allowed you to concentrate and hear just his sweet sweet voice. Instead, he encouraged the audience to be his gospel choir (either repeating lyrics after him, or taking control and singing a chorus while he smiled and listened). It was an extremely interactive concert, which made the experience that much better.

Someone in the audience who was lucky enough to be in the front screamed that it was their birthday, so Ed sang “Happy Birthday” to the crowd and then proceeded to wish anyone else who was celebrating a birthday a happy one too. It was two hours until my official birthday, so I definitely included myself. Um, best birthday present ever?

Then just as Ed’s buddies Snow Patrol brought him back on stage earlier this year when Ed was opening for them, he did the same for his own opening act and brought back Passenger to sing a lovely duet together.

After an 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours of a set, all good things came to an end as Ed closed the show and said goodbye–for now. Because apparently he’ll back early next year!


Of course I couldn’t leave without getting merch so I braved the crowd in front of the merchandise tents and managed to get a tour shirt ($35) and rubber wristband ($10). When I left the venue there were random people selling their own shirts, so I bought the cute black paw print one for $10 as well. The more Ed Sheeran swag, the better!

I’ll leave you off with this video of Ed singing live during the concert:

– @Naomi_ML