Power
of Music
By
Gilbert Gallegos
Hiking
up the hill to the Sun Bowl stadium in El Paso, a woman in front of me had a
t-shirt with the phrase, “Power of Music,” on the back. Maybe not the most
profound message, but I kept thinking about it throughout the late summer
evening concert I attended with my family.
Like
them or not, or maybe you’ve never heard of them, the British boy band, One
Direction, put on a great performance at the Sun Bowl last weekend. And what I
quickly discovered, it doesn’t really matter what I, or anyone else, thinks
about their music. Tens of thousands of screaming pre-teens and teen-age girls
were basically out-of-their-minds in love with the band, their music and their
entertaining performance.
You
can’t fathom what the experience is like until you experience it. And I’m not
talking about the band; I’m talking about the girls’ reaction to it.
 |
| Bella, Carin and Yvette |
We
bought the tickets nearly a year ago as Christmas presents for our daughters. Carin
had a running countdown app on her phone. When the day finally arrived, the
girls were besides themselves with excitement. After an early dinner, we hit
I-10 for the quick drive to the stadium. The girls both thanked Yvette and me
ahead of time for taking them to the concert.
But
disaster was about to strike. Traffic was backed up for miles. It soon became
obvious that the city of El Paso was not prepared for the influx of some 40,000
– 50,000 concert-goers. We didn’t see a single attempt to control traffic until
we were right in front of the stadium. The girls were distraught. As the clock
ticked away, they kept getting updates from friends who were already in the
stadium. They were getting Instagram updates of the band members backstage.
Then, when the opening act, Five Seconds of Summer, started to perform, I knew
I was toast. The girls went from being grateful to blaming me for ruining what
should have been the best night of their lives. I was helpless.
We
eventually got close enough so I could drop them off with Yvette and they could
run in and catch the rest of the opening act, buy their concert t-shifts and
other souvenirs. I, on the other hand, needed another hour to find a parking
spot about two miles from the stadium. The bar across street from where I
parked was pretty attractive. But I soldiered on, and made my way in time for
the main performance.
 |
| Carin, Bella and me |
When
I got there, I was mesmerized by the packs of girls hunting for merchandise.
All of a sudden, someone would scream, and dozens of others would follow suit,
sprinting somewhere, or nowhere. I wasn’t sure what was going on.
When
I connected with my family, Carin and Bella were two totally different people
from the girls who accused me earlier of ruining their lives. The joy on their
faces was priceless. They were back to thanking Yvette and me, and they were
now convinced they were experiencing the best night of their young lives.
 |
| One Direction on Stage at the Sun Bowl, El Paso, TX |
One
Direction put on a great show. I thought the music was good, and they know how
to satisfy their young fans. In the end, I can’t really say whether it was the
power of music, the power of entertainment, the power of celebrity, or something
else entirely, that captivated so many young girls at the Sun Bowl. Whatever
the case, I know that my daughters were thoroughly happy, and that made their
parents feel pretty good.
Best
night of my life
By:
Isabella J
The day I got my tickets to go see One
Direction, I was so happy! I have never been to a concert before, but since I
love One Direction, I think this concert would be the best I have been to over
all the concerts I would go to. My favorite member of One Direction is Louis
Tomlinson. He is funny, cute, and a really good singer.
So when we arrived in El Paso, I was so
anxious and I could not wait till the concert. We got to El Paso around 12:00
or 1:00. First we went to the big outlet mall. I kept seeing girls with One
Direction shirts on and I would say to my parents “I bet those girls are going
to the One Direction concert too like us!” I said. So the first store I went to
was a store called Hot Topic. They sell T -shirts with logos on them. I thought
they would have One Direction shirts there so I asked and they had about 3 left
of One Direction shirts! So I had some money and I bought 2 shirts and a lot of
stores were sold out of One Direction shirts but I luckily got 2 for the
concert. I packed like 2 or 3 shirts for the concert that I never wore over
there because one of the shirts I bought had Midnight Memories (their album
name) and their faces on it.
Once
we got to the hotel, I thought it was a messy and gross hotel because I saw a
little bug in the beds and when I wanted to go swimming, I saw gross, and dead
bugs floating in the hot tub and the pool. The pool was also really cold.
When it was time for the concert, we
were on our way to the concert and there was a lot of traffic. I was upset
because I didn’t want to miss the concert and also my sister Carin said that it’s
already starting because she was looking on her phone and her friends were
texting her. When she kept saying that, I got more upset. I really didn’t want
to miss it. Finally, we got there like 10 minutes late, but right when we got
there, we were running. I even saw Liam and Niall backstage a little bit! I was
screaming a little because I couldn’t believe it! So we sat in our seats and we
saw 5 Seconds of Summer! I was screaming so much! My favorite member from 5
Seconds of Summer is Calum Hood. When 5 Seconds of Summer ended their part of
the show, they put music videos on the big screen while One Direction was
getting ready backstage. When they put on the videos for the intro for One
Direction, everyone got super crazy and screaming. Including me. Every time
Louis would come on and sing his parts of the songs, I would scream Louis so
loud! My dad said there was a lady by me and I was screaming so much, he said
that she was laughing at me when I was screaming. I gotta say, I think I was
pretty funny and crazy. When the concert “was over” everyone was chanting “one
more song!’’ and One Direction sang Story Of My Life, What makes you beautiful,
and You and I. They tricked us! I was screaming so much!
At the end of the concert, I said my
throat really hurt because I was screaming so much. So I got a warm apple cider
from starbucks to help my throat. We didn’t want to stay at our hotel because
it was gross. So right after the concert, we left to Albuquerque. I was asleep
the whole time and when I woke up, I said that felt so fast by sleeping while
driving home. It took around 4 hours to get home. When I got home I said “Can
you take me to the next concert next year for their new album?’’ I asked
happily to my parents. That was the best night of my life!
 |
| Carin is ready for One Direction |
My Dream Came
True!!!
By Carin
Gallegos
So
nearly a year ago I got the best Christmas gift I could ever imagine! ONE
DIRECTION CONCERT TICKETS! I could not believe it! I finally got to see my role
models in action! So since that day I got a countdown app and it told me how
many days till the concert. Then finally it was already down to just a couple
of days! During school and soccer practice that’s all I could think and talk
about! So the day has finally come! Friday September 19th, 2014, El
Paso. So we all were hungry so we went to eat dinner right before the concert
but after dinner disaster happened. TRAFFIC! My sister and I were so upset it
nearly took 2 hours to get to the stadium through the traffic. We were probably
5 minutes late to the opening act (2nd favorite band) 5 seconds of summer. I’m
madly in love with Luke Hemmings from the boy band and I could not wait to see
them too! Finally we were close enough for my dad to drop off my mom and my
sister and me. So we started to run as fast as we could and I could hear music
playing and lights going on, I was full of excitement! When we were running
through the stadium my sister and I even saw a Niall Horan (my favorite) and a
Liam Payne! I was screaming so much I was trying to catch a picture and what do
you know I caught the perfect one! Then we found our seats and we had amazing
seats! We could see them perfectly! So I got to see 5 Seconds of Summer preform
and they were AMAZING! So when it started getting dark One direction time! I
got the chills and a big grin on my face and jumping up and down! I could not
believe how big and loud and crazy the fans were! So then all these amazing
lights and fire works came shooting up and 3..2..1 One Direction popped right
out from the bottom of the stage and started singing! And I could not scream
any louder I couldn’t stop the whole time! When I saw Niall I scream as loud as
I could and started filming and I just fell in love with him even more! Niall
and the rest did amazing, also I have to say Niall was pretty hilarious the
whole time! I couldn’t be more proud of these 5 boys then I already am! So when
the concert was over I was sad cause it was over! But at least I had pictures
and videos and tour stuff to remember that amazing night. Right when it ended
my sister and I told my parents “We’re getting tickets to there next tour for
there newest album!” So I’ll have to check every day when the tickets go on
sale (I know what I want for Christmas! And I better start saving my money
again) so that was the best night of my entire life!
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