I’m not a new fan of Niall Horan’s; he’s been on my radar since late 2012. I’ve also been fortunate enough to see him three times over the past five years along with his bandmates in One Direction. Sadly, since their hiatus started in December of 2015, I hadn’t seen Niall since August 2015 when he played Soldier Field. So to say I missed him would be an understatement.
One Direction and its members have always meant the absolute world to me and whenever I get to see any of them live it makes me the happiest person alive. I saw Harry on his first solo tour this past September and that was absolutely incredible so I was super excited to see what solo Niall had in store for me.
I had seats up in the balcony but they were like dead center and I had the perfect view of my fave Irish artist. He played every song from his album and progressed from his more chill songs, into the sad songs, and then he livened it up at the end with his single “Slow Hands” and he ended it with “On My Own” which is a real banger. His tour is called the Flicker Sessions, named after his album title “Flicker”, which is also the name of his favorite song on the album. When he played “Flicker”, he had everyone be as quiet as they could and he had us put away our cellphones and lights. He just wanted to have an intimate experience with all of us and it honestly took my breath away. The amount of passion he has for his music is unbelievable. He also played a One Direction cover of “Fools Gold” where the rest of his band left the stage and it was just the audience and him. It was kind of nice to just have that little throwback moment with just us.
Niall is a true performer and I missed his stage presence so much. He had a guitar in his hand for every song except “Slow Hands” and he was just so excited to be there and interact with the crowd. I was overwhelmed with so much pride and I definitely ugly sobbed a few times because I couldn’t believe I was actually witnessing solo Niall with my own eyes. His voice is so unique and clear and he sounds the same in person as he does a record, he’s that talented. It was also nice to see him on a smaller stage, Solider Field and the Rosemont Theatre hold very different amounts of people and I just felt so much closer to him. It was also so cute that he remembered that the Rosemont Theatre was where One Direction played the first time they were in Chicago in 2012.
I honestly still can’t believe I saw Niall Horan, solo, live in concert, killing it up on that stage. I’ve watched him grow so much over the years as an artist and as a person; and somehow every time I see him, he gets even better. He has 3 more tour dates of his 2017 tour and then he starts back up in Dublin in March of next year. So if you can get tickets to see him, I promise you won’t be disappointed. Naturally, I’ve already snagged row 12 tickets to his 2018 tour that’s at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park next summer and I couldn’t be more excited. See yah in 252 days Niall, I miss you already.
