Sunday, August 23, 2015, 8:48 pm; Soldier Field’s lights are on, the stage is set. 8:50 pm; the lights shut off, tens of thousands of Directioners scream, the intro video comes on the screen. On The Road Again Chicago has officially begun.

As soon as the lights went off, I felt a rush of excitement running through me. All I could think was “oh my gosh, this is actually happening!” I was so happy to be in the presence of my favorite band, as well as thousands of other fans. When the intro video ended, One Direction (Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Harry Styles) came on stage and fireworks were set off.

The first few songs added more energy to the mix. When the boys spoke, everyone screamed with excitement. They were so enthusiastic about being in Chicago and coming back to Soldier Field almost a year after their last performance here. Styles, however, is a Packers fan, so he was sarcastically unpleased with the turnout of bears fans. “Do we have any Bears fans? If you’d like to quietly make your way to the nearest exit,” Styles said.

Then they played a few more songs, such as ‘Fireproof”, their first single from the most recent album “FOUR”. Then Payne began talking about how much he loves Chicago and what he’s done while they’ve been staying in the city. Payne then mentioned that the band recently finished recording their fifth album; the crowd became overjoyed knowing there’s more to from the boys. They then sang “Don’t Forget Where You Belong”, followed by “Little Things”, a song explaining that you have multiple characteristics, including some tiny flaws, that make you unique and you’re loved for who you are. One Direction followed this love song with “Night Changes”, which had a Twitter based fan project specifically for Chicago’s show. The song explains that time goes by fast, and you need to make the moment count. “Night Changes” was then followed by “18″, a very popular song from “FOUR”.

After the song ended, Tomlinson spoke about the next song “No Control” and how impressed he was with the #NoControlProject created by the fans; the goal of the project was to make “No Control” the next and final single from “FOUR”. Tomlinson then introduced “No Control” as the next song, and the crowd became even more excited. Shortly after, One Direction introduced and sang “Drag Me Down”, their newly released single from their upcoming  album. Everyone was ecstatic.
Later on during the concert, the boys performed their first ever single “What Makes You Beautiful”, which was incredibly nostalgic. The nostalgia continued with other songs from their past albums such as “Through The Dark”. One Direction ended the main portion of their concert with “Story of My Life”. The band took a short break following “SOML”.

Then came the encore. It was incredible, especially when One Direction sang “You & I”. Payne took over Zayn Malik’s solos after Malik left the band. Payne sang the high note beautifully. “Act My Age” came next. It was the most enjoyable and energetic song performed live out of the whole concert. It had an Irish theme, so it fit perfectly for Horan (The stage lights matched Ireland’s flag). He was so adorable on stage, doing his Irish step dancing and singing his solos. Payne and Styles joined in on the fun as well, attempting to dance like Horan. All four boys seemed to have a blast performing the energetic song. Their final song of the night was “Best Song Ever”, their most well known single from the album “Midnight Memories”. One Direction extended the length of the song to incorporate more audience involvement, such as singing along and clapping to the beat. Right before “BSE” ended, the boys thanked the audience for having them. The show concluded with fireworks.

A few hours after the show ended, One Direction (as individuals) took to Twitter and thanked the audience for having them. “Chicago that was amazing thank you so much loads of fun,” Payne tweeted. “Loved Chicago last night.. top quality crowd. Soldier Field is a great stadium too.. Thanks for having us,” Horan said. “Thank you to everyone at the show in Chicago last night. You were very nice. Thanks for having us. All the love,” Styles said (Styles ends all his tweets with ‘All the love’).

Overall, On The Road Again Tour Chicago was an amazing, energetic concert. It was the best way to end Summer.

Photo by Samantha McNelis