by BRIANNA SICILIANO Staff Writer
The hottest boy-band in the world, One Direction, has announced that they will be playing a world-wide stadium tour in 2014, titled the “Where We Are Tour.”
The band contains four English men – Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, and one Irishman, Niall Horan.
In 2010, the five teenage singers auditioned for “The X-Factor” individually, but did not make it through bootcamp. Simon Cowell knew that these boys had talent and threw the idea on the table that the five strangers would form themselves into a group. They accepted, not knowing if they would be successful or not.
The singers instantly became best friends and their success on “The X-Factor” was unreal. The boys received third place in the 2010 audition, but that was not the end for them.
Cowell, the boys’ mentor on the show, signed the group under his record label, Syco Records. In January 2011, the band flew to Los Angeles to work on their debut album. From then on, the members of One Direction knew they would never live normal lives again.
Their first album, “Up All Night,” was released in Ireland and the United Kingdom in November 2011, then worldwide during 2012. The album topped the charts in 16 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide by December 2012. Their most well-known song, “What Makes You Beautiful,” included in their first album, sold over 5 million copies worldwide and is among the best-selling singles of all time.
“Up All Night” went straight to number one on the United States charts, selling 176,000 copies in its first week of release, and making One Direction the first British group in US chart history to achieve this accomplishment with their debut album. They made it into the Guinness World Records as a result.
Their successful album was complimented with a successful tour. The boys played in sold-out arenas from December 2011 until July 2012.
In November 2012, One Direction released their second album, “Take Me Home.” Tour dates sold out within minutes. The tour is still going on currently and will be coming to America during the second week of June.
On May 16, 2013, One Direction announced that their next tour will not just be an arena tour, but a stadium tour. Instead of preforming for 5,000 fans a night, One Direction will now perform for 50 to 80,000 fans a night, if not more.
“Directioners couldn’t be any more proud of the boys. Watching them grow from ‘Up All Night’ to ‘Take Me Home’ has been incredible to watch. They’ve grown in more ways than one. I can’t wait to see what the band has in store for us with the new music being released this year and a new tour on the way,” said sophomore Bhavna Kanapuram.
Within six minutes of the “Where We Are” tickets being released for dates in Latin America, United Kingdom, and Ireland, hundreds of thousands of tickets were sold out. An average of over 250 tickets were sold per second. That is insane!
“I’m excited to see what the boys have in store for us. A bigger venue means a better chance at getting tickets and seeing them perform,” said sophomore Aiman Khan.
American tour dates have not yet been released, but we can only keep our fingers crossed that they will be soon.
Will you be attending the “Where We Are” tour next summer?