A Few Of The Things That Happen When You Are One Of 3 Guys At A Free One Direction Concert

On November 17th Universal Studios Orlando hosted a free One Direction concert this is what I experienced that day....

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I headed to Universal Studios at around 12:30 AM....That's right 12:30 AM as in thirty minutes after midnight.

We drove to the parking Garage only to be denied entry because the garage was not opening until 3 AM. FML

Parking Risks

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After driving around in circles until about 2:30 we decided to take the risk of parking at a local Starbucks shopping plaza hoping not to be towed.

The freaks come out at night..and apparently so do the Crazies

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As we begin our journey by foot to Universal Studios we get a small dose of what to expect once we get to the concert.... "These girls are nuts" I say aloud as we pass a group of fangirls.

The trees have eyes

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We finally make it to the line and we realize just how serious this is going to be there are literally girls hiding in bushes and trees waiting for their chance to sneak to the stage.

CHAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGEEE!

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After waiting for approximately an hour someone makes a break for the stage and then madness ensues. after seeing one person run to the stairs which lead to Universal CityWalk where the concert is being held everyone else tries to make a run for it as well including yours truly.

Unfortunately for all us fans the police caught wind of what was happening and got barricades at the bottom of the stairwell blocking the only thing keeping us from our beloved One Direction.

After standing in an area so packed that other people were wearing my clothes with me, the barricades were opened and the scariest moments of my life started. Looking back at the situation now I see only flashes of things happening because it all happened so fast I didn't have time to think.

The first thing I remember is a guy climbing up the side of the stairs like spider-man, next thing is a woman in a wheelchair being trapped at the bottom of the stairs because everyone was shoving her to the side so they could get up the stairs. I look to my left to see a small girl about 7 years old screaming for help finding her mom who got separated and somehow got up the steps without realizing her daughter was not with her.

Is there a doctor in the house?

I look at the top of the stairs, my goal, and I see another young girl maybe about 11 or twelve years old crying but not crying like the rest of the girls here who are crying tears of joy, no, this girl had pain in her eyes as I look at her entirely Realize she is clutching her ankle which appears to be broken.

I finally make it to the top of the stairs with my friends and then I see that there are not as many people on this floor as down below and then i see that is time for us to make a break for the front row, which actually turned out to be front row of the next holding area....

Indiana Jones and the Journey to 1D

My friends and I are running full speed at this point. We are 3 of the 20 guys who are here and we are quite a bit faster than the underage fangirls who are here. While running we realize that we may actually have a chance to make it to the front row due to our speed. While we are running there are girls everywhere dropping like flies so we are dodging side to side and even jumping over a few of the tumbling fans who are sprinting down the hallway like entrance to CityWalk and with all the dodging we were doing, it reminded me of that once seen from Indiana Jones where he is running from the rolling boulder.

Once we get to the fifth row of our new holding area everything that just happened to me started to register in my head and then I realized that from the time I began running and dodging up until this point that I had forgotten to breathe..... I immediately began breathing as fast as I could to try and get oxygen to my brain but, it was already too late I started to feel dizzy and ever so casually I mentioned to my friend that I was about to faint... Yes faint as in pass out unconscious.... right before everything goes dark I collapse onto my best friends shoulder and then I hear a girl shout that she is a nurse and will help me if i am really passed out. Unfortunately there were so many people that no one would move to get me out of the crowd and eventually we were crowd surfed off to the side of the line.

The Awakening

This is how I felt when I was out cold / Via i2.cdnds.net

I awake to an older blonde woman who works at Universal Studios giving me "bedroom eyes" while my friends took off my shirt that was soaked with the water they used to wake me up. Once my shirt was fully off the woman complimented me on my tattoos, I'm assuming she was a fan of One Direction and only complimented me because Zayn and I both share the same middle eastern look and have tattoos...

After sitting on the sidelines for awhile Ii finally decided I was okay enough to continue with the craziness of the fan girls even though about 90% of them ran past my friends and I while I was unconscious.

The Argument

After putting on a new shirt and heading towards the 360 degree viewing area a second wave of girls were released and still feeling a little shaky I was not up for the madness of running and dodging girls again so I asked my friends to step to the side with me so I wouldn't get trampled like and older lady we saw prior to me passing out who had her head split open by the feet of the fan girls. After catching my breath my friends and I started walking towards the viewing area when my best friend, the same one who helped crowd surf me to sidelines, started complaining about all the people who passed us while Ii was passed out... I decided that I had enough and asked for his car keys so I could go home and pick them up when it was over and I got denied. So I said fine I will catch a taxi... I was bluffing and being my closest friend he knew that I lived over forty minutes away and a taxi would charge an outrageous fee so he said okay and continued to walk with my friends.... After thinking about it I knew it was a stupid idea and tried to catch up but, still out of breath from before I couldn't run so it took me a while to catch up.

Smooth Sailing

When I finally caught up to my friends they were already standing in the viewing area, if you could even call it that... Our spot was right in the middle of a small patch of grass with some decorative bushes planted there that ended up getting trampled so bad you would have never known they were there. At this time it is about 5:40 AM and on the lagoon that surrounded the stage on three sides there was a small light spotted which turned out to belong to the speed boat that was carrying four fifths of One Direction and I say four fifths because Zayn (my favorite and the only reason I went in the first place) "was sick and couldn't make it". The boat dropped the boys off on the dock that led to the stage where they did their last rehearsal before going back to their hotel suite to have breakfast and change out of their pajamas.

And so it begins

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The actual event was scheduled to start at 7 AM and after the guys left to change, us fans had to find something to do to keep ourselves entertained. A few people in our section decided to try and find a better view, not that where we were was bad but because some fans totally lost their minds when the boys came out and they busted our speaker. So right around 7 the speed boat came back out carrying its precious treasures and did laps around the lagoon so we all could get a good view.

The Concert

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The concert was amazing well from what i could hear from the broken speaker it was pretty great they sang their top tracks from their last album and some from the new album and all of their hits. However since Zayn was not present there was't anyone to hit the high notes... After a few songs 27 hours with no sleep and no real food since about 8pm the night before my friends and I grew pretty cranky/hangry with every growing minute. We came to the conclusion to leave after the next two songs and as we were leaving the band started to perform "Best Song Ever" which just happens to be the one song that my friends and I all love so we circled back around and found the only open area that kind of gave a a view of the boys and once the song was over we headed back past the exact spot where I fainted, back down the long hallway, down the stairs that everyone fought to get up and back to the parking lot where it all started. After all the craziness and excitement that happened that day I only have one thing to say to the boys of One Direction is thank you for a truly unforgettable experience that I will never forget to tell my grandchildren.

Stupid questions that girls asked my friends and I during the concert and our answers

1. Do you even like One Direction?

No we just went through this madness for no reason

2. How old are you?

Just side eyes lots and lots of side eye with like a side of side eye

3. Can we have your spot?

NO

4. Why are you GUYS even here?

We are guys and we like 1D

5. Hey you guys are men and we are girls can we get in front of you?

BYE, FELICIA

6. Who is your favorite?

Well we like all of them because they are all different and cool in their own way- oh well I just wanted to see if you knew their names.