Arianna Choy-Kifox / Writer
Eight years after his first gig in Peru as one of the members of One Direction, Louis Tomlinson came back for his world tour, promoting his solo debut album WALLS, to evoke euphoria to 15 000 Peruvians and play with our hearts and emotional stability until there was nothing left. If something describes us as Latinos, it is the passion we have for our favorite artists and on June 1st, that word fell short. For 4 hours and a half, the esplanade of our Arena Peru was under the control of a single man, who showed up at 9:20pm and only sang for 1 hour and a half. We were all at Louis’ mercy, even hours before he walked onstage.
“You’ll get in as a journalist, but we have to do something with that childish face of yours, cause even if you are 23 years old and it shows in your ID, is not credible with that baby face”, my dad joked on our way to the Arena Peru. Fortunately, I only showed my ID at the door to get in, and I had the mask on (cause here we keep using them, at least I do), so they didn’t notice my toddler face. When we arrived, I accompanied my dad to take photos of the people who were outside the venue waiting in line. The number of people was impressive and at the same time frightening. The line was so long, it reached blocks and blocks away and you could turn the corner of the street and it would keep going, it was endless. More than half of them had been camping for two days, on the outskirts of the place.
At 6:00pm the doors opened, and everybody started running as if the devil was chasing them. All the security personnel were going crazy, they couldn’t control the situation, nobody was listening to them when they shouted, “Stop running, you’re gonna get hurt!” “Walk slowly, you are gonna get in anyway”, shouted the security at the door. Sir, you have no idea what you are getting into. Do you know who is inside? Order and calm fell by the wayside when Louis stepped off the plane two nights ago and set foot in Lima. Things are gonna get wild and nobody is going to enter as if they were in a museum, although it is true that we are going to see a work of art”.
There were people from different ages in the audience. From kids to elders, parents taking care of their children, older brothers and sisters taking care of their younger siblings and boyfriends that probably felt obligated to go with their girlfriends. The show was sold out, so if some wanted to move from one place to another, they had to hold hands, like elementary school children, and pass like a little train, because otherwise the crowd would swallow you up and you would get lost. One of the advantages I had was that I was alone, and I only had to fend for myself. One of the disadvantages I had was that I was alone and had to fend for myself, if I died there no one was going to notice.
The Arena was divided into three zones: tribune, which was the last zone; field B, the middle zone and field A, which at the same time was divided into two groups, a small one, closer to the stage and a bigger one, with a separation in between, so security could take the people who couldn’t breathe out of the crowd if they needed to. To get into this mini zone closer to the stage, it wasn’t about paying money, it was a matter of luck and how fast you were to get a good place. I got lucky and got in the mini zone. Everything was cool and spacey at the beginning but 30 minutes later that mini zone got overcrowded. By 7pm there was no way to move anywhere. Once you got in, you couldn’t get out, once you got out, you couldn’t get back in. “I wanna pass, my friend is on the other side”, “Girl, why did you go out in the first place? Can’t you see we are all stuck in here barely breathing? If you push us more, my back is gonna crack against the bars behind me and I’m gonna get mad at you”.
Then a woman came in with a tray to sell her beer in glasses. “Excuse me” she said trying to get into the crowd. “Excuse me? Are you serious?” I started to fight with the lady because she was making her way to go to the other side to sell. “Can’t you see that I am here helplessly with my life because of that man, just like all the girls around me and you want us to make room for you so that you can sell your stupid and expensive glasses of beer? Since I was getting tired of people who didn’t understand that there was an overpopulation in the mini group they had held near the stage, I started arguing with the lady because it was her fault that they were pushing me more. “Madame, go away, nobody is going to buy from you, and I am seeing how you are going to wet us all with your beer that moves from one side to the other.” I made such a fuss that all the girls around me also started yelling at her and with one voice we kicked out the lady who was pushing us all. Because the people united will never be defeated. From where I was, I saw a lot of girls being taken out of the crowd by the security, because they had suffered decompensation. The mask was suffocating me, people were squeezing me, but from there I was not going to leave until I saw that man and there were still 2 hours to go.
At 8:00pm, Sun Room came onto the stage. A southern California rock band conformed by Luke Asgian (lead vocals & guitar), Ashton Minnich (guitar), Max Pinamonti (bass) and Gibby Anderson (drums) that joined Louis as his opening act for his world tour. They opened the show with their song “Summer’s Here” and instantly connected with the audience with their hyped and fun energy. Beside all the songs from their EPs SOL DEL SUR and SOMEWHERE TROPICAL, they also played their latest singles “Clementine” and “I Want You”. Everybody received them with excitement. They probably got to see the chaos that was going on under the stage, in the crowd, because at a certain moment they said they would take a few minutes before continuing playing, until knowing that everyone was okay down there. But there was one hour left before Louis would come to the stage, nothing was going to be okay.
Sun Room:
Luke Asgian – Lead Vocals/Guitar
Ashton Minnich – Guitar
Max Pinamonti – Bass
Gibby Anderson – Drums
Setlist:
1- Summer´s Here
2- Fun
3- Blitzkreig Bob (Ramones Cover)
4- Clementine
5- Just Yesterday
6- I Want You
7- Something Missing
8- Roof
9- Sol del Sur
10- Crash My Bike
I had deja vu while standing there. This was my first concert after two years of pandemic. The last time One Direction came was in 2014, I was 15 years old, now I’m 23. The adrenaline and euphoria at that time was the same as now, there was no point of comparison, and it was just one of the members not all 5. When I saw all the old and young girls running, dragging each other to get closer to the stage and find a better spot to watch him clearly, I thought of that time when I also got excited just like them and I thought that those teenage years where over for me, I am an adult now, I should behave like one. Everything was under control, I was fine, happy but chill until the lights went off, the band started to play, and Louis appeared on the stage singing “Because we made it… underestimated…”. 23 who? I’ve been following that man for more than 10 years now. My 11-year-old girl who fell in love with One Direction when she listened to them for the first time and my 15-year-old girl who saw them live in this country for the first time, they came together in one body and for an hour and I didn’t even know how old I was. Every girl around was screaming excitedly, others yelled “Te Amo” and then there was me, an adult shouting “Papasote, Churro” (which are Peruvian slangs for “hot”, but that English word doesn’t quite get the same feeling so let’s not translate it). In the middle of the commotion, I didn’t think all the heads in front would hear it and turn around looking at me with a surprise face, like I was saying something wrong or insulting him. “It… it wasn’t me; it was the security standing behind me, he got emotional, he’s crying” “Who the hell are you all looking at? You babies, respect the older. I’m closer to his age than all of you, he could date me, with you it would be illegal!”.
“A massive, massive thank you to every single person out here that bought the tickets to come and see me today, these incredible gigs wouldn’t happen without all of you so thank you, thank you, thank you”. “Incredible greeting outside my hotel, like the last time I came around”. “Let’s have a good fucking night, Lima”, were the first words Louis said, thanking the audience for the warm and excited welcome he had at the airport and at the entrance of the hotel he was staying in. The first time he came to Peru as part of One Direction, the reaction of all the Peruvians “Directioners” was the same. The street of their hotel was so crowded, the police had to close it and cut the car’s passage.
If people were already in heaven, when he played “Drag Me Down”, the first single of One Direction’s last album MADE IN THE A.M., we all got to infinity and beyond. The stage didn’t have a runaway, so the view was the same for everyone. Louis walked from the middle to the sides of the stage, singing, waving, and blessing us while showing his middle finger. The stage was painted with blue, red, and white lights, while the audience made an ocean of fireflies with the lanterns of their cellphones. Some people were waving LGTBIQ+ flags, others were holding the banners they had made. You could read messages like “If you need a new dog, I can bark”, “You are the only man that hasn’t disappointed me”, “I skipped my math test to come here”. There were other ones with a deeper meaning that said, “You saved my life” or “I’m living a life for my mom too”, referring to the song “Two of us” that Louis wrote as a tribute to his mother Johannah Deaking, who passed away in 2016 after a long battle with leukemia and that couldn’t be left out of the setlist that night. Louis sang all the songs of his solo album WALLS, the song “Beautiful War” (a cover of Kings of Leon) and “Little Black Dress” and “Through The Dark”, songs that he co-wrote while being part of One Direction. Everybody jumped, sang, and shouted to the point that if you lost concentration for just a mini second, you no longer knew what part of the song they were singing because the shouts monopolized everything.
For his last song “Kill My Mind”, the lights made it look like we were watching the music video live. In the middle of the song, Louis did something that I knew he did before in other concerts, but I didn’t think he would also do it here. He jumped down the stage and greet all the first row. Everybody that was behind, couldn’t see anything, so we just waited for him to finish. He got up to the stage again to say the last goodbyes, thanked everyone again and promised that he would return to our country in the future. It’s been 4 days since that night, everybody is with post-concert depression, sharing pictures and videos of that night, wishing to go back to that moment. My body still hurts, I have bruises on my arms, my back, neck, and legs hurt, but every single second was completely worth it.
Louis Tomlinson Band:
Louis Tomlinson – Vocals
Michael Blackwell – Guitar
Steve Durham – Drums
Matt Dinnadge – Bass /Synths
Isaac Anderson – Guitar
Zak Craner – Keyboards
Setlist:
1- We Made It
2- Drag Me Down
3- Don´t Let It Break Your Heart
4- Two Of Us
5- Always You
6- Too Young
7- Changes
8- 7
9- Fearless
10- Only The Brave
11- Habit
12- Copy Of A Copy Of A Copy
13- Defenceless
14- Beautiful War
15- Little Black Dress
16- Walls
Encore
17- Through The Dark
18- Kill My Mind
Follow “Sun Room” Online:
Follow “Louis Tomlinson” Online:
I’m a photographer with extensive experience working for national and international media. I’m also a passionate photography educator with extensive experience working with students of different ages. I love Heavy Metal music and I began shooting concerts in 1992. Concert Photography is my passion. I’m based in Perú but willing to travel anywhere.
