Summer has come, 2016 nostalgia is still rampant and San Francisco\u2019s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is swarming with overgrown Directioners, ex-Larry conspiracists and the parents they dragged along.<\/p>\n
Louis Tomlinson may not be the cultural powerhouse that is former One Direction bandmate Harry Styles, but he is, nonetheless, one of the most memorable heartthrobs of the 2010s British Invasion, and his solo career has garnered acclaim from both critics and die-hard fans.<\/p>\n
The crowd, carrying overpriced drinks and bags reading \u201cHow did we get merch?\u201d \u2014 a play on the tour\u2019s namesake album, How Did I Get Here? \u2014 rolled in gradually over the course of the two openers\u2019 sets.<\/p>\n
Welsh indie group The Royston Club performed for a relatively sparse audience but made the most of their time with bold instrumentals and gut-wrenching vocals, reminiscent of Goo Goo Dolls or The 1975. They played their swoon-worthy hit, \u201cCariad,\u201d and were met with as much enthusiasm as a rather empty theater could muster.<\/p>\n
From Provo, Utah, alt-pop girl band The Aces was met with a warmer reception \u2014 the woman next to me screamed, \u201cLet\u2019s go, lesbians!\u201d as the group did mic checks. The bandmates succeeded in energizing the audience with call-and-response and an infectious stage presence. Between ballads such as \u201cWaiting for You\u201d and summery pop tracks such as \u201cDaydream,\u201d the lead singer took time to wish the audience a happy Pride and muse about going from Utah garages to Tomlinson\u2019s tour.<\/p>\n
Tomlinson himself made an explosive entrance with his new album\u2019s catchiest single, \u201cLemonade,\u201d as trippy yellow imagery flashed behind him. Yellow confetti burst and balloons were passed around, bringing the audience to life.<\/p>\n
Tomlinson\u2019s stage presence is hard to encapsulate \u2014 though he spent the majority of his time planted behind the microphone without obvious showmanship or much interaction with the audience, he still held a palpable command over the stage and crowd. It\u2019s the kind of ease and professionalism that comes with experience, the kind that he\u2019s been honing since his start with One Direction at 18 years old.<\/p>\n
After a few more upbeat tracks from How Did I Get Here?, Tomlinson began playing moodier tracks from his sophomore album, Faith in the Future. The fast-paced, angsty \u201cOut of My System\u201d may not be the best rock song ever written, but Tomlinson\u2019s performance was enhanced by fiery drums and the crowd\u2019s audible enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
In brief interactions with the audience, Tomlinson oozed effortless charisma. It\u2019s a blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-him kind of attitude \u2014 from briefly mentioning the World Cup to coolly introducing one of his biggest hits simply by saying, \u201cFeelin\u2019 good today! This is \u2018Walls,\u2019\u201d and even, at one point, nearly causing a riot just by smirking. He is a man of few words, which isn\u2019t so bad since his Doncaster accent is barely decipherable.<\/p>\n
Tomlinson slowed things down with emotional songs such as \u201cSaturdays,\u201d during which the audience voluntarily began swaying with their phone flashlights. His lyrics are hardly artful, but they\u2019re relatable and lovably sappy in a way that reminds you why he was the lead songwriter for 1D.<\/p>\n
Then, the lights went out. Tomlinson and his band congregated center stage. The stadium held its breath in suspense. A guitar lead soared. Tomlinson began singing \u201cNight Changes,\u201d and the audience had never been more thrilled. Every single person in the crowd knew every single lyric, and there was a beautiful unity.<\/p>\n
Tomlinson, no longer one of five teenage boys on stage, has aged gracefully with his audience. Like in the song, the proverbial night has changed, but the people have stayed the same \u2014 only older and wiser.<\/p>\n
After a standing ovation, Tomlinson went back to his solo work with \u201cLazy,\u201d \u201cSunflowers\u201d and \u201cThe Observer\u201d \u2014 the last of which was upbeat until he abruptly left the crowd with a \u201cGood night!\u201d and beelined offstage along with the band. The crowd was left confused and disappointed until he came back and finished off the show with \u201cPalaces,\u201d a fan favorite.<\/p>\n
Being in the best-selling band of the 2010s made Louis Tomlinson an icon, but going solo made him an artist. Tomlinson\u2019s performance proved that he continues to evolve thematically and musically with time. Sometimes, advancing your craft doesn\u2019t just mean moving up, but moving forward \u2014 for Louis Tomlinson, there\u2019s more than One Direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summer has come, 2016 nostalgia is still rampant and San Francisco\u2019s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is swarming with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[25579,83528,144712,144707,144705,144704,144698,144701,73425,144697,144709,139658,144695,144703,144696,144708,144711,76665,144699,101,103,102,222,104,106,105,98909,144702,144700,144710,4591,144706,55886],"class_list":["post-354783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-bill-graham-civic-auditorium","tag-british-invasion","tag-cariad","tag-daydream","tag-directioner","tag-doncaster","tag-faith-in-the-future","tag-goo-goo-dolls","tag-harry-styles","tag-how-did-i-get-here","tag-lazy","tag-lemonade","tag-louis-tomlinson","tag-night-changes","tag-one-direction","tag-out-of-my-system","tag-palaces","tag-provo","tag-royston-club","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-saturdays","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-sunflower","tag-the-1975","tag-the-aces","tag-the-observer","tag-utah","tag-waiting-for-you","tag-walls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}