cujoy | Feb. 16th, 2017

Feb. 16th, 2017

Setting The Stage

I have decided that I want to do a new series about the trials and tribulations of One Direction's On The Road Again Tour. Because I love doing big Multi-part Series. This one is a giant Pic Spam/Recap of OTRA. I'm calling this new Series Road Kill: A Love Story, for obvious reasons, because this tour left a lot of wreckage in it's wake.

Please note, no stuffed bears will be considered for this recap.

This first entry covers the important events that happened in the months prior to the tour's beginning in Sydney Australia on February 7, and which set the stage for most of the primary shocks to come.

Important Pre-Tour Events:

Oct. 5, 2014 - Miami - Concluding concert of the WWA Tour. Zayn does not fully participate in the traditional group hug at the conclusion of the WWA Tour. Those arms are looking rather stiff and awkward, and not engaged in hugging anyone back... It was food for thought.

Nov. 17, 2014 - Zayn Today Show No-Show (The Shape of things to come) This was the biggest clue of all as to what Zayn's relationship with 1D had become. It was quite shocking at the time,, because this concert in Orlando was the ALBUM LAUNCH, and to miss such a major event is a big deal. But at the same time, wasn't surprising at all. The last time Zayn had appeared particularly enthusiastic about 1D events was 2013.

Dec. 25, 2014 – Zayn spends the Holiday with record producer Shahid Kahn, known as Naughty Boy. Zayn had actually started working with Naughty Boy at least six months before. But it is during the Holiday break in particular that this relationship moved to the forefront. They started posting a barrage of selfies together.

Jan 12, 2015 – Zayn also spends his birthday with Naughty Boy. And please note that his finace, Perrie Edwards was not visible during either the Christmas or Birthday events held for Zayn by Naughty Boy. People begin to refer to the duo as "Zaughty".

Jan 21, 2015 – Elounor & Sophiam fly to Los Angeles on a writing trip. (Larries freak out about an escalator). Seriously, they were making theories about the two of them going the Up The Down escalator. It was mind numbing.

Jan 28, 2015 – Eleanor is back in the UK (But Sophia stays in L.A.)

Feb 1 - Harry’s 21st birthday party in L.A. – Liam and Louis attend the party. There are no pictures of Louis at the party, which of course is fodder for Larry conspiracy theories. A few photos of Liam did leak. It is a star studded affair.

Feb 5, 2015 – “Lairport” (AKA Larries have an unnecessary freak out about two bandmates on a plane.) Really, there's nothing more to say about it. They were very excited by this picture of Harry and Louis walking through the baggage claim area in Sydney, while not paying any attention to one another.

***

This concludes Part 1. The Next part will cover the events of Australia, including "Nelly", and a very "unfortunate" quote from Louis.

Road Kill: A Love Story - Part 1

This part of my OTRA Recap series covers Australia. But I'm going to preface this by briefly addressing the Sun article which was published last night. Basically, the infamous Dan Wooten published an article trashing 1D. He said that the boys all hate each other, and that they've been barely keeping it together since 2012. The article also specifically refutes Larry. So needless to say, there is massive drama and meltdown over it. I think there is truth to some of it, but that that it is also highly exaggerated for drama. Niall tweeted last night saying it was false. Whatever is the case, I think it was a dirty deal to publish that article the night before the final show. WHICH IS TONIGHT AHHHHHHHHH.

Moving on to the matter at hand, which is the tour recap...

The tour kicked off in Australia on Feb. 7

Let's start with the arrivals:

I already showed Harry and Louis at the baggage claim, so I won't readdress "Lairport".

Jan/Feb 2015 - Niall actually arrived weeks before the tour start, and had attended the Australian open tennis tournament and been papped many times. This would lead to the first drama of the tour, "NELLY". Oh, how innocent we were...

Feb 5, 2015 Liam arrived from Los Angeles where he and Louis had been on a song writing trip, and for Harry's 21st birthday party:

Feb 6, 2015 Zayn arrives from the UK after 22 hours of flying. He was looking fine.

Feb 6 – The Soundcheck for the first concert took place on Feb 6. The first official drama was that Niall was papped outside the venue with a mystery girl **Fandom Freakout** Even the Narry shippers lost their chill. (It didn't turn out to be much of anything. The girl's name is Melissa Whitelaw, and the ship name was "Nelly")

Feb 7 - Tour finally opens in Sydney – Fans express unhappiness about the setlist which is largely the same as WWA. The Boys did not tour Australia during the WWA in 2014, so apparently they thought that they wouldn't have to debut very many of the new songs from Four for the initial leg. They may have thought that Australian fans would still want to hear the older songs. (Perhaps also, the fact that there had been no tour rehearsal, as the boys were on different continents for much of the Winter break also played a part.) This issue would slowly resolve over the course of the tour as the boys very slowly added the Four songs to the setlist. If only this had been the biggest controversy of the tour.

On the bright side, Harry did, impress with his sparkly golden YSL boots.

And Liam danced with a Giant Spoon.

Feb 9 – Sydney Yacht Tour for Sophia’s 21st birthday. The photo added to the ongoing "Nelly" drama, as Melissa was one of the people pictured on the boat.

Feb 13 – Louis and Eleanor are photographed at Bondi Beach. These are their last photographs together, although we wouldn't learn that for over a month. There was lots of weird commentary at the time related to apparent bruises on Eleanor's legs and body shaming regarding how thin she appeared.

Feb 14 – Melbourne - A very drunk Louis and Liam return from partying at a casino in Melbourne. Louis was filmed saying “Same day, it’s pretty unfortunate, isn’t it.” to a fan who had mentioned that he shares a Christmas Eve birthday. The Larries “mishear” Louis' words, and take the opportunity to freak out about it. They claimed that he had actually said, "I'm gay, it's pretty unfortunate, isn't it." What else is new.

Feb 14 - Also Niall is seen partying with Harry. But more importantly, he is photographed making out with "mystery girl" at the back of the casino.

Feb 18 thru 20 – Zouis go to a holiday on Hamilton Island during the interval between the Adelaide and Perth shows. They almost don’t make it to Perth for the concert due to hurricane near the island which nearly prevented their flight. This was one of several occasions that one or both took last minute flights to reach a concert with minimal time to spare. (Note the photo below is from 2013, and is inserted for nostalgia purposes...)

Feb 20 – Perth: Zayn misses encore for the Perth concert. The others cover for him and say he is ill. But Louis and Zayn leave immediately after the concert to fly to Los Angeles, instead of Osaka Japan which is the next stop on the tour. This was the second time that OT4 performed without Zayn, even though it was just for an encore. I remember at the time thinking this was odd indeed. And indeed I think it was indicative of something big that was yet to come.

The next segment will cover Japan.

Here is the next portion of my series covering the drama and trauma of One Direction's OTRA Tour. A tour which left the band down one member and three girlfriends. Part One covered important pre-tour events. Part Two covered the first leg in Australia. This one will cover the two stop, six concert tour of Japan.

The Japan trip covered two nights in Osaka, Feb 24 & 25, and four straight nights in the sold out Tokyo Dome Feb 27 thru March 2. These were relatively uninventful and peaceful shows because Japanese fan culture (In least insofar as this band is concerned...) is very different from every other country. The audience is very quiet and respectful in comparisoin to the usual 1D audience which is very, very loud. This allowed for some cool moments, as you will see below. This was also the last full leg in which Zayn was a member of the group. But the seams were unraveling, and it was plain to see. And that was the other major theme of Japan.

As I mentioned in the last post, Harry, Liam and Niall flew directly to Osaka from Perth on Feb 20, meaning that they had three days to hang out in Osaka before the first concert. They were greeted at the Osaka airport by a huge line of quiet, respectful fans.

The three boys spent the days before the first concert finding ways to entertain themselves in and about Osaka. Liam went to a Universal Studios, and showed us his Geek side.

Harry and Niall were both seen about town:

Meanwhile the fandom heard stories and rumors of Zayn and Louis' visit to Los Angeles. Some didn't believe they were really in Los Angeles, because there were no photographs, and because it seemed like such a very long trip for such a limited number of days. One interesting story that circulated was a report that Louis and Zayn had attended a party, and both were spotted leaving with "blond sorority girls". This was somewhat sensational, as both of them were thought to be in relationships at the time.

Eventually one unsourced photo of Zayn at an L.A. Beach surfaced. (With a guy who is considered "sketchy" in regards to his role as a 1D hanger-on...) In any case, the reason for that trip was never revealed, leaving the fandom to theorizing about what exactly was going on.

As was about to become a pattern, Zouis took the last possible flight out of LAX which would get them to Osaka in time for the concert on the 24th.

Feb 24 – Osaka – Louis and Zayn arrive on their international flight from Los Angeles just hours before the first Osaka concert. Below are pictures taken of them by patiently waiting fans who were there to greet them.

Feb 24 - Osaka, first show. Zouis paid a price for their late arrival. The band decided to debut the song Stockholm Syndrome, a crowd favorite, at that concert, in part to alleviate the obvious complaints that arose in Australia regarding the Set List lacking new material. It was very evident that Zayn and Louis did not know their parts. That mumbling you hear in the video below are NOT the lyrics to the song. I strongly recommend you watch it, just to see what a cluster is was. (Let's just say that the other three did their parts just fine...)

Watch on YouTube

March 2 - Tokyo - As I mentioned above, Japanese fan culture is very respectful, and the audience is extremely quiet. So quiet, in fact, that the boys can hear each other without using their microphones. You can tell how fascinated they are by this, and how much fun they are having.

Watch on YouTube

<-- Zouis having a nice moment in Japan

March 2 - After the last show in Japan, Liam posted a Thank You picture on Twitter. The picture is of Niall, Harry and Louis. Zayn is not in view in the picture. More foreshadowing?

This concludes my timeline of the Japan leg of the OTRA Tour. Although it was a peaceful leg, there was a sense of foreboding and general discontent. After the conclusion of the four shows in Tokyo, the band had scheduled an eight day break before beginning the third leg which would cover other parts of East Asia including Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila and Jakarta. It would prove to be the most eventful trip in the history of One Direction. But before we get there, the next post will cover the essential events of the eight day tour break. Strange things were clearly happening, especially with Louis... and Eleanor.

The Deep Breath Before The Fall

This is part four of Road Kill - A Recap of One Direction's tumultuous On The Road Again tour. This part will cover the March 3-10 tour break which saw all the boys return to London for a brief rest. Lots of things were in motion. Lots of balls were in the air. And all of it consequential to what would happen next when they returned to the road.

To recap the recap...
Part One Covered Important Pre-tour events which set the stage for what happened on this tour.
Part Two Covered the first leg in Australia Feb. 7 thru 20.
Part Three Covered Japan, Feb 24 thru March 2.

***

I guess we'll start at the very beginning of this break. The arrival back in London:

Heathrow Airport on March 3. All the boys were Papped.

<-- Harry and Niall took the first flight.

Liam, Louis and Zayn followed on another one.

<-- But it was Zayn over whom the Tabloids went bonkers. Many of the articles about this arrival focused on him exclusively, as though the others weren't even there, such was the impression Zayn made. Fifteen days later, he left One Direction.

<-- What is now the saddest part is that Zayn and Louis left the airport together.

<-- They left in the same car to return to their homes which are (or were) a few blocks apart in North London.

<-- And then there were these hilarious Ziam pics in which Liam appears to be oogling Zayn. This photo perfectly encapsulated the general attitude the tabloids took with the heavy Zayn praise from these pictures.

***

Naughty High Perrie Low

Following this, The next thing to discuss about this break is the continuing situation with Zayn, Naughty Boy, and Perrie.

Zayn made no more public appearances after wowing the British tabloids at Heathrow, including personal appearances or social media during this break. He tweeted a few times about random things such as video games, but was rumored to be hanging out with Naughty Boy. There isn't any documentation of this, but it is widely assumed that was the case.

Meanwhile his fiance Perrie Edwards was seen several times, with headlines that she didn't appear to be wearing her engagement ring.

<-- She was papped outside their house on March 7 with headlines about her missing ring.

<-- And she posted this on Instagram, this time appearing to purposely hide her hand.

This was all a continuation of whatever had been going on with this couple over the holidays and for Zayn's birthday. No public sightings, no pictures, just Perrie... and the ring.

****

Where is Eleanor?

Meanwhile, something weird seemed to be going on with another couple as well. So, the next thing to address is the whereabouts of Eleanor, and the activities of Louis during this week.

Prior to this break, Louis tended to make himself scarce during breaks, presumably to be with Eleanor. As far as the fandom knew, everything was fine with Elounor. She had been in Australia, and they had been photographed less than a month before. The other thing to remember is that for the previous two years, Eleanor had been mostly silent on social media.

Not this break. Something was obviously very, very different.

First, right around the time that the boys returned to London, Eleanor suddenly became very active on Instagram. She started posting every day. Every picture she posted made it very clear that she was in Los Angeles, not London, having an extended Girls Vacation with her best friends.

And at the same time Louis began his "Party Boy" phase - Frequently clubbing and openly being seen doing so. From this point on Louis would be papped in clubs drinking and partying with his "Lad Crew" and girls girls girls.

The fandom had no idea what was going on, but there was certainly a sense that something had changed.

***

In Other News

Of less consequence then the above items, but still really cute:

Harry spent the break with his family in Cheshire.

<-- Harry with his mother

And Liam went to a Jamie Oliver party, and another Harry Potter Exhibit. That kid really loves Harry Potter. Sophia was with him at both activities.

This 1D couple at least, seemed untroubled.

***

The Boys left London, on separate flights on March 10, in order to get to Singapore for their show on March 11 when the tour was to re-start.

Guess who took the last flight possible to get there in time to make the show? (Hint, it wasn't Louis...)

Put on your seatbelts. The next installment is going to be rough.

The Phoenix On Fire

This is Part Five of Road Kill: A Love Story, a recap of One Direction's OTRA Tour. This part covers the tour dates from March 11 to March 18, which were the first three date of their unforgettable trip to East Asia. Needless to say, after this trip, the band was changed forever, and the fandom rocked to its core. The locations we will visit in this segment are Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket and Hong Kong.

To recap the recap...

Part One Covered Important Pre-tour events which set the stage for what happened on this tour.
Part Two Covered the first leg in Australia Feb. 7 thru 20.
Part Three Covered Japan, Feb 24 thru March 2.
Part Four Covered the First Tour Break Mar 3 thru 10

***

March 11 - Zayn Arrives In Singapore

So let's begin. And it begins with Zayn arriving on the last possible flight from London which would get him to Singapore in time to make the first gig. He was kind enough, however, to stop on the way to the venue to take photos with some fans he saw along the road.

March 11 - Zayn Stops For Photos with Fans on his way to the Singapore Venue

Once Zayn finally arrived he looked FANTASTIC on stage that night. Including this now iconic pose.

Let's take a moment to enjoy Zayn on stage in Singapore.

And an OT5 Pic, for good measure

The boys did not stay the night of the 11th in Singapore. They left after the concert to fly directly to Bangkok, although their performance was not until the 14th, which meant they would have two nights to explore the legendary nightlife.

And so they did.

****
March 12 thru 14 - One Night In Bangkok (Sorry, I couldn't resist that subtitle... I apologize. :)

So I mentioned in a previous post that CLUBBING was a major theme of this tour. That was never more evident than in Bangkok. And the most visible duo doing the Clubbing was ZOUIS. The Zouis clubbing in Thailand was epic, and rife with monumental consequences for both of them.

Clubbing Nights in Bankok

Zouis were partying so hard, there was a story going around the Twitter UA's that on the second night, they invited 20 girls to go back to the hotel with them for a pool party. Whether that is true or not, there are photos of both of them in the pool the next day.

Harry and Liam were also out at the clubs those nights, but they were much lower key, and went to different clubs than Zouis. Harry was accompanied by his sister, Gemma, and Liam by Sophia. (Niall was out there too, but he was even lower key than Lirry, I could find no photos.)

March 14 - Bangkok Show

Some OT5 to enjoy...

After the Bangkok show, Zayn, Louis, Niall and Liam left Bangkok and flew to Phuket to spend the four days before the next show. Harry apparently stayed behind in Bangkok, but there were no sightings, so his exact whereabout are fuzzy.

March 14 thru 18 - Phuket

As you might suppose, a whole lot more clubbing was about to go down. But since those pictures don't look terribly different from the Bangkok clubbing photos, I'll get back to those in a minute. Because Niall and Liam took Elephant Rides. :) Now how cute is that?

But about that clubbing...

The Night of March 17, 2015

There is only one night of clubbing in Phuket that really must be addressed, the night of March 17th. Because an event that took place that night was the catalyst for Zayn's decision to leave. That is the night that the photo below was taken.

This photo, which appears to show Zayn outside one of the clubs holding the hand of a girl who wasn't Perrie Edwards, changed the course of One Direction history. First the picture hit the net, and thus the fandom. From there, it made it's way to the Tabloids, which were running wild with "Zayn Cheating Again" stories by the next morning.

By the time the four boys in Phuket left for Hong Kong the story was mainstream, at least in the UK. .

March 18 - Hong Kong (The Last OT5 Show)

So, this was the final concert in which Zayn Appeared as a member of One Direction. Of course, at the time, nobody, except possibly Zayn, knew that. He appeared to be in tears at times during this concert. He was clearly upset, though the others just went on with the show around him.

Liam even gave the Ziams one last moment by taking an onstage selfie with Zayn.

But the bottom line was that these were the last OT5 photos.

And here is the video of the last song of the concert - Best Song Ever...

Watch on YouTube

March 19 - Hong Kong, The Wee Hours - Zayn Tweets:

Obviously upset at the end of the Hong Kong show, and with articles about his apparent cheating continuing to multiply, Zayn tweeted the below at some point that night. This was beyond surprising given the amount of speculation regarding the health of Zayn and Perrie's relationship that had been going on since before the Holidays.

Within hours after that, 1DHQ put out the following message via Twitter:

“Zayn has been signed off with stress and is flying back to the UK to recuperate. The band wish him well and will continue with their performances in Manila and Jakarta.”

***

And that was it.

The band and the fandom then entered a state of suspended animation, waiting for news of Zayn's hoped for return. And that will be covered in the next segment. The next segment will cover the the trips to Manila and Jakarta, as well as follow Zayn's doings once he arrived in back in London. And the truth about the situation with Louis and Eleanor will also come to a head. The bumpy ride will continue.

The Phoenix In Ashes

The Story so far:

Part One Setting the Stage
Part Two Australia when all we worried about was the Set List and "Nelly"
Part Three Japan which was cool, and quiet and polite but the signs of trouble were there
Part Four The Last Deep Breath Before the Fall
Part Five The Phoenix on Fire

***

This is the sixth part of my OTRA Tour Recap. The last part covered the harrowing doings in East Asia leading to Zayn's signing off the tour citing stress. And by harrowing, I mean hard partying.

This part will cover the last three gigs of the East Asia Tour, encompassing the two in Manila and the one in Jakarta. Those gigs were the first with OT4, as they would come to be known. Only, at this point, there was still an expectation that Zayn would be back. In fact, initially, 1DHQ suggested that these would be the only concerts Zayn would miss, and that he'd be back for South Africa and Dubai. So this part, then, is the story of how those expectations came crashing down. And that wasn't even all. There was another shocking surprise as well.

***

March 18/19 - The Fandom

Let's start with the fandom in the wake of Zayn's sign off. As you can imagine - the freakout and anxiety were real. Zayn's name trended constantly for at least 3 days in one form or another. At this point, the fandom sympathy was entirely on his side. People were worried and concerned for his well being, and that was the main reaction at this point.

Comforting fanart began to circulate, as the fandom awaited the news of Zayn's hoped for return for Africa and Dubai.

And so the fandom held it's collective breath and waited...

March 19 - Hong Kong - OT4

Meanwhile, the rest of the group remained in Hong Kong the night of the 18th into the 19th while Zayn was flying back to the UK. The band was scheduled to film an ad for Coca-Cola On the 19th.

Their only acknowledgement that something was wrong was an Instagram post from Liam captioned "This should lighten the mood": It was a funny video of Niall in costume as an old man speaking Gaelic.

Later we learned that this costume was part of the Coke commercial. And funnily enough, Niall became very attached to that hat. He wore it regularly all Spring. There are websites devoted to it...

So, This Coke commercial became the the first item to feature the New One Direction, i.e. OT4. Harry, Liam, Niall and Louis.

<-- We saw this picture later, and there is Niall in the costume from Liam's instagram. Ironically, the theme of the ad was "True Friendship".

At some point after the commercial, most of the boys returned to Phuket, where they would spend the next two days pending the trip to Manila. They would be in and out of Phuket between concerts for the rest of the Asian Tour.

March 20 - London - Zayn's Arrival

Zayn arrived back in London in the wee hours of the 20th, looking a little bedraggled and indeed stressed after the 12 hour flight.

And of course, given Zayn's tweet, there was immediate interest in, and drama surrounding the the Zerrie situation. Perrie was seen leaving their home early in the day, several hours after he arrived. She wasn't seen again for over 24 hours. It was duly noted by the press that she was still wearing the engagement ring, even though she also seemed to be carrying an overnight bag. So the situation remained ambiguous for several days.

***

March 21 - Manila Day One- OT4 Concert

Back in East Asia, all eyes were now glued to Manila, the next stop On The Road Again. Of concern was an edict by the Philippine government that Louis and Zayn would have to post a bond or take a drug test gauranteeing that they would not be using drugs before entering the country as a consequence of the Weed Video. Some speculation existed at the time that the ulterior motive for Zayn's exit was to avoid this test, which he might not be able to pass. (Whether Louis had to take a drug test or not has never been disclosed.)

One Direction Had a Tradition prior to Zayn's exit, that they would never call themselves "One Direction" on stage unless all five members were present. Accordingly, they introduced themselves in Manila and Jakarta as "Harry, Liam, Niall and Louis".

This Iconic OT4 GIF is from the first Manila show

<-- Singing Little Things

During those first few shows after the departure, much was made of the What Makes You Beautiful Formation.

Here for reference is the Classic OT5 WMYB Formation, a pyramid with Harry in front, Liam & Zayn behind him Louis and Niall behind them.

<-- God, look at those children circa early 2013.

In these first days, they attempted to keep Zayn's spot in the formation open in the belief he would return.

March 22 - London - Elounor Breaks

In the midst of all this Zayn drama, a second story also rocked the fandom on the 22nd. As I described in an earlier post, Both Louis and Eleanor were behaving differently during the tour break. Eleanor had opened up on social media, and made it clearly obvious that she was in L.A. on a girls's vactaion. Louis also made sure that he was seen partying in London with his Lad Crew. To sum up, they had not spent that time together, and made sure the world knew it.

On top of that Louis, along with Zayn, had been seen extravagantly partying it up and enjoying the night life in Bangkok and Phuket.

On the 22nd, this picture and story was published in the Sun, apparently taken in Bangkok during the epic Zouis party spree. Remember that rumor about 20 girls being invited to their pool party one night after clubbing in Bankok?

Along with the photo came the confirmation from 1DHQ that Elounor was broken up their four year relationship, reportedly two weeks before. To the fandom, this news alone would have been enough to cause drama for a months. (The Larries were annoying about it for months anyway... Blah...) But in the midst of Zayn's departure, it felt like an after thought to most fans.

But it was interesting enough that for the next several days, Eleanor was solo papped near her home.

March 22 - Manila Day Two

March 23 opened with a sweet picture that Liam posted of Sophia (who had apparently headed home after Hong Kong.) Of course Ziams interpreted this as a secret coded message about who he "really" missed...

<-- That is apparently taken at the sweeeeet luxury villa where they stayed in Phuket.

But later that day, Liam got into a bit of trouble with the fandom over this photo op of the boys receiving an award for album sales. He smiled and covered up Zayn's face with his hand for the picture.

The Fandom wasn't ready yet for Liam having a bit of humor over the missing Zayn.

During the concert, all eyes were on Louis, given the news of the breakup. He seemed fine. Even happy on the stage. The biggest story about him was that someone threw a cheeseburger on stage. So he ate it.

<-- Eating the burger.

<-- Other pictures from Manila night two

The Larries made much of the fact that the group briefly ad-libed the song, "I will survive", which may or may not have been an response to the news of the breakup.

March 22 - London - Zayn Sighting

<-- Zayn papped leaving his home before the bomb dropped

While OT4 was on the stage, keeping Zayn's spot open, and calling themselves "Harry, Liam, Louis and Niall" rather thatn "One Direction", the tone of the press regarding Zayn's return was slowly changing. By the 22nd, the quotes in the media regarding his return no longer spoke of his impending return for South Africa. Words such as "if" and "may" began to appear in referencing Zayn's return.

quotes such as this one began to appear in the media:

"The pop hunk has instructed his lawyers to see if “get-out” clauses will allow him to quit the band. Zayn’s representatives are to examine his music and commercial contracts to see where he stands."

So, the tide was going out on OT5 even if the fandom was in denial of that fact...

March 25 - Jakarta and the Bomb Drops

The final show of the Asian leg was in Jakarta. As in Manila, the boys introduced themselves as "Harry, Liam, Louis and Niall" rather than One Direction. And they also continued to use the same video at the beginning of the show with all five members.

But there was something different and more emotional in the tone.

Liam seemed to be crying at one point.

So did Harry

But there was also a very shippy Niam moment...

And everything really seemed normal, if perhaps a bit more emotional than normal in retrospect.

Immediately after the concert, IDHQ published the following message on Facebook:

"My life with One Direction has been more than I could ever have imagined. But, after five years, I feel like it is now the right time for me to leave the band. I'd like to apologize to the fans if I've let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right in my heart. I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight. I know I have four friends for life in Louis, Liam, Harry and Niall. I know they will continue to be the best band in the world."

And there it was.

The Fandom

The outpouring of grief in the fandom was very intense during these first few days. I'll let some of the fan art speak for itself.

And here is where I will leave the East Asia tour behind. Because OT4 left shortly after the Jakarta show to fly to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Where the Story continued.

OT4 Rising

Welcome to Part 7 of Road Kill. This part will cover the four gigs of the South Africa/Dubai leg of the tour which followed directly after the East Asia leg concluded with no break. The locations are Johannesburg, Cape Town and Dubai. The dates are March 26 thru April 4. These four gigs were the last before the boys would enter an extended two month gap in the tour covering most of April and all of May. By now, that long break was obviously needed.

And there were only four of them. They didn't know if the fanbase wouldn't support the new foursome. All of us, fandom and band were all entering new territory.

So the question was, would One Direction be accepted in this new form?

Meanwhile, we will have to continue following Zayn, now back in London, because his shadow over the tour was not going to go away.

***

Recapping the Recap:

Part One Setting the Stage
Part Two Australia the Set List, Partying and "Nelly"
Part Three Japan Cool, Quiet, Polite Foreboding
Part Four Tour Break On The Edge
Part Five East Asia On Fire
Part Six East Asia in Ashes

***

March 26 - Johannesburg, South Africa

Let's begin with the airport arrival. Fans were there to greet the boys, and they were photographed walking through the airport. They looked serious. Note, Louis apparently stayed behind for an extra day in Bangkok, and he arrived in Johannesburg on the 27th.

Meanwhile the fandom was in desperate need of reassurance, and the boys had been fairly quiet on Social media.

Liam changed that on the night of the 26th with this message on Twitter. This is very much in keeping with the tradition of Liam being the voice of calm and comfort during times of trouble. He is still Daddy Direction when the band hits rough waters.

<-- ~~still the punctuation is sketch~~y

The boys were unusually quiet during their entire stay in South Africa. They arrived on the 26th, but were not much seen outside their hotel. even though the first Johannesburg concert wasn't until the 28th. Most likely, during these days, they were immersed in paperwork related to losing a member. Lets not forget there were many legal matters which had to be dealt with, and decisions which had to be made.

The same can not be said of their former member...

March 26 and 27 - London - The Normal 22 Year Old

Two things of note happened on the 26th back in London. The first related to the disposition of Zerrie. Perrie was seen again, and this time, she looked radiant. Engagement ring flashing.

Later in the day,and for several days to come, Zayn turned up at Naughty Boy's Studio. And the Paps were all over it.

On the 27th, Zayn gave an exclusive interview with The Sun. Dan Wooton, or course. In the interview, he gave obligatory apologies to fans he had let down, but also said:

"I did try to do something that I wasn’t happy doing for a while, for the sake of maybe other people’s happiness – and that was mainly the fans. And I only ever tried to do it for the fans, and it was only ever for them. And, basically, I’m only upset I feel like I may have let them down in some sort of way. That’s the main thing that I don’t want to happen. It’s not that I’ve turned my back on them or anything, it’s just that I just can’t do that anymore because it’s not real to me.”

He used the phrase "it's not real to me" several times in the interview.

Regardless of Zayn's intent, the pap photos in the studio with Naughty Boy, along with the interview were the first items that began catalyzing the fan base's support behind OT4. Many fans were unhappy with the implication that Zayn was going immediately into working solo material, literally the day after his departure was announced. This was very much at odds with the statement on Facebook that Zayn wanted to be a "normal 22 year old".

The phrase "Normal 22 year old" continues to haunt Zayn to this day.

March 28 - Johannesburg - First Official OT4 Gig

The first Gig in JoBurg was before a packed house of 95,000 people. This audience got to witness the birth of the new 1D. The first change to note is that the Tour Screens were now edited, and all shots of Zayn had been removed. (No doubt a video editor back in London had to burn some midnight oil for that...) The second was that they introduced themselves as "One Direction" for the first time since Zayn left.

Harry emphatically did the honors. (See the below at 1:01 - "WE ARE ONE DIRECTION")

Watch on YouTube

Throughout the concert, the band expressed their gratitude to the fans many, many times. I know they always are grateful, but they seemed particularly humble this night. Maybe even a bit too humble. At one point, Harry told the fans they could throw things at them if they wanted to. And this happened:

Watch on YouTube

Not one of Harry's best ideas... ;) Don't do that again!

Although Zayn wasn't mentioned, it was emotional. Reportedly Liam left the stage in tears during Through the Dark, though I've seen no footage of this. But he was clearly emotional. Liam and Louis co-wrote this song, and many have interpreted Through The Dark to be an OT5 Love song.

Another change was the What Makes You Beautiful formation. Whereas in Manila and Jakarta, they left Zayn's spot open, now they began experimenting with new formations. This is what they settled on for this gig.

Don't worry, they would keep experimenting...

March 29 - Johannesburg night 2

The second night in JoBurg was a fun one.

Before the concert, the boys posed for their first official photo as a Foursome. The photo was later published in the Sun with their first post Zayn interview. The interview was very generic, and didn't really say much. But the photo was nice.

They also posed for this on-stage photo during the show.

Perhaps the greatest moment was when someone threw Angel Wings onstage, and Harry played Victoria's Secret model to the joy and delight of all.

Both nights in Johannesburg were before packed houses, and were among the largest gigs that 1D has ever done. I think the enthusiasm and love of these audiences did wonders for the fandom, and for the boys themselves.

March 30-31 - South Africa

Between Johannesburg and Capetown, Liam and Niall were able to fit in going on a Safari. However, they did not post photos. The information came via the Instagram of friends who travelled with them. I'm very glad they got to do this, because Niall described this as a "bucket list" item.

March 30 - Song Leaks and Twitter War 1

While OT4 was learning to fly in Africa, Zayn continued to spend his time in Naughty Boy's studio. Naughty Boy can be quite contentious on social media, and this was causing a lot of tension in the fandom. In fact, much of the "Zaughty" drama unfolded because Naughty actively promoted his relationship with Zayn on Twitter. The Twitter fandom had a huge backlash against him and this resulted in some epic Twitter Wars which would embroil the fanbase on several occasions over the following months.

Before discussing this, I'm going to point out that Naughty Boy is a grown-up 30 year old man with a career. So one does wonder why he decided to take on the 1D fanbase in this way. On the other hand, the 1D Fanbase (young and female) was quite cruel to him in regards to his appearance, and often could be described as horribly racist in terms of how they treated him.

Naughty Boy took it upon himself, as a result of this Twitter War to leak one of Zayn's Demos called I Don't Mind. The song was deleted soon after, but it's brief appearance made headlines in Billboard and Rolling Stone. This will not be the last time that Naughty Boy would leak a song...

<--Some of Louis' Tweets from this particular Twitter Skirmish

In general the fandom praised Louis for supporting them and defending them against Naughty Boy's swipes in this particular skirmish. Louis was the hailed as the fandom's Hero in all of this nonsense,

And the fanbase rallied all the more to OT4...

April 1 - Cape Town, South Africa

Back to Cape Town, Louis posted the crowd singing Little Things on his Instagram. The response of the crowd was absolutly beautiful and I'm glad Louis filmed this.

Watch on YouTube

April 2 - Cannes, France - Zerrie Take a Vacation

In the midst of all this, Zayn with Perrie and some of his family members decided to have a vacation in Cannes. They were papped at the private airport, and posted many Intagrams of the trip. When they left for this trip, some hoped that perhaps he was going to join the band for the Dubai concert, but alas, such was not to be.

April 4 - Dubai

And yet, even still, there was one huge concert left on this leg of the tour. And it was a highly anticipated event as it was 1D's first ever concert in that part of the world. Dubai.

The fans in Dubai were extremely enthusiastic. So much so, that their were problems with people trying to crowd int towards the front, to the point that the concert was stopped for ten minutes in the middle in order to get fans to step back so as not to crush people in the front.

The pictures from this concert are quite nice.

April 4 - Home

So concluded the Asia/Africa leg of the tour. They returned home a in a completely different situation than they left, a mere 24 days before. But they had survived.

Immediately after the concert, Harry flew to Los Angeles, and Liam and Niall returned to London. Louis followed a few days later after vacationing with his family for several days in Dubai.

And through it all, somehow, the Fandom had survived too, and though, of course, Zayn Girls would start dropping off to follow their idol on his new adventure, most of the fans rallied to the cause of Harry, Liam, Louis and Niall - ONE DIRECTION.

<-- Fanart like this became the new normal.

****

OT4 now entered an extended break which would last two full months. But don't worry, this was a working break, and there was constant activity that will be covered in the next two recaps. The next Recap will cover April. April saw the boys participate in some gorgeous charity events, and lots and lots of song writing. Party Boy Louis re-emerged, and the phrases "Oh No Niall" and "Clean Living" entered the Lexicon.

And this one has gone on long enough.

Welcome to the next portion of the Road Kill saga, which will cover the month of April. We left the boys, now a foursome, returning to London after finally completing the Asia/Africa leg of the tour. Before them was two full months of relatively free time. And after what they had just been through, they deserved a breather. But of course, because of all the recent publicity, they were still very much in the public eye. So this particular portion of the Tour Re-cap will focus on pretty boys, charity events and song writing. It'll just get a little bit edgy towards the end... ;)

Recapping the Recap:

Part One The BeFour
Part Two Australia
Part Three Japan
Part Four Taking A Breather
Part Five East Asia I
Part Six East Asia II
Part Seven Africa and Dubai

***

So, here we go!

April 5-8 Niall at the Masters: Oh No Niall

While most of the boys were fairly scarce during the first week of April. Niall was at the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, GA. He was invited to Caddy for his friend and fellow Irishman, Rory McIlroy, during a pre-tournament Par 3 event.

Damn, it was cute.

From this event was born a phrase that will haunt Niall for the rest of his life. "Oh No Niall" :bwahahahahaha:

It came about because of this famous on camera fall on live television. He slipped on the pine needles, and splattered dramatically all over the ground. The female announcer said the phrase, and it has been used in all kinds of situations ever since.

<-- Oh No, Niall!

April 16 thru 22 - Charity

The middle of the month was dominated by three lovely, adorable and wonderful charity events held by one or another of the boys. There were beautiful pictures from all of them.

April 16 - The Great Gatsby Ball for Trekstock

Trekstock is a charity that benefits young adult cancer survivors. Harry and Liam had a history with this charity in 2013 and 14, and together raised over a million pounds for it. Earlier in the year, Liam apparently became involved with them on his own. Likewise, around the same time pictures of his girlfriend Sophia came out indicating that she too was involved in this charity.

On April 16, the reason for this came to light. They were host and hostess for a Great Gatsby Themed charity ball. And Niall and Louis came too. Whoo Hoo! 1920's themed Tuxedos!!!

<-- Everybody loved Sophiam It was "Goals". They were "Mom and Dad"...

But, one person was clearly missing. Harry had not returned to London, but rather to Los Angeles. So he was not in town for this event. This was unnerving to be sure, having just gone from five to four, to see only three in these pictures. Following this "OT3" event, and for the rest of the month, the tabloids and general media were filled with stories of Harry's imminant departure.

<-- Sophia was not an adequate replacement for Harry... (More on Harry's doings below.)

April 19 - Louis's Football Match for Bluebell Woods

On April 19, Louis took part in a charity football match with his favorite team, The Doncaster Rovers. This was to benefit a charity for sick children called Bluebell Woods. (Liam was there as his guest, so there are pictures of him too. :) Lilo's friendship would be an ongoing theme for the rest of the year.

The one thing is though, there were actual articles in tabloids a few days later covering Louis bouncing private parts. Sheesh

April 22 - Liam in A Hard Hat is Not AT ALL My Least Favorite Thing Ever...

On the 22nd, Liam participated in the topping off ceremony for a youth center in his home town, Wolverhampton. I'm not going to lie, this was my favorite one.

Hard Hat Liam is Maybe my second favorite behind Austraila Surfing Liam. Just saying...

Before moving on, we kind of need to go and see what Zayn was up to. Because he was still making headlines where ever he went....

April 17 - Zayn at the Asian Awards

Zayn was quite the sensation at this awards show. The tabloids went gaga once again. Because he's soooo pretty.

Interesting points to note. Perrie wasn't his date. His mother was.

He hung out with Naughty Boy while he was there, and called him his best friend in his acceptance speech.

And he thanked the boys in that speech saying:

I’d also like to take this moment to thank four of the best guys I ever met while being in the band and doing all the amazing things that I did. Some of the things that we did will stay with me for the rest of my life, and I thank you for that. Here’s to the future!

This did nothing to disabuse the sneaking suspicion that Zayn was going solo. (As if there was any doubt left)

This will lead to the next major theme of the month - Song Writing

April 13 - Write!

Starting on the 13th, with Liam and Louis' tweets about beginning the writing for their next album, Liam, Louis and Niall began tweeting, talking about, and being photographed in the studio working on new songs. The pictures were great!

<-- Liam and Loius had a writing excustion at Liam's Surrey house.

However, this wholesome activity was sharply contrasted by something else that was ongoing... Louis and the post Elounor breakup party spree.

April (and Ongoing) Party-All-The-Time Louis

That party spree was visible throughout all of the month of Apri. Through all the charity events and the songwriting Louis continued, night after night, being papped leaving clubs, usually with a "mystery girl".

Enjoy a sampler of Louis' April party spree. There was much more to come. Just wait until May. LOL.

April 23 - Weed Scandal #2 - Blink and you Missed It...

On April 23, Louis' partying hit a bump in the road. One of his party guests, (and the story was that he took home five girls that night. Ahaha) put a picture on SnapChat featuring Louis, and what looked like a container of with a controlled substance.. ::shocker::

This seemed to blow over fairly quickly without creating too much of an issue. But there was one more hilarious by-product.

April 24-25 - The Clean Living Boys...

The tabs decided to contrast Louis "bad boy" antics with pap photos coming out around the same time of Niall and Liam entering and leaving the studio. They describe this pair as "Clean Living", which I found hysterical at the time, and still do.

<-- Entering the Studio in the morning...

<-- And Leaving it at night. And OH LOOK NIALL'S HAT. I told you we'd be seeing it around. Ahahaha.

So, Where Was Harry?

So during all of this, Harry's absence seems quite glaring. And the press continued to talk about Harry being the next to bolt for the whole damn month. To be honest, the fandom was kind of scared about it.

Harry was in Los Angeles hanging out with Chelsea Handler, apparently and keeping a relatively low profile.

<-- Chelsea posted this. LOL

On the 16th He was papped leaving an L.A. Restaraunt:

And on the last day of the month, someone caught him driving a convertible around Beverly Hills. Nice Car.

But don't worry, the separation would end soon, and May would be a different story.

***

We'll leave April with one of my favorite quotes of all time from Stephen Hawking, who was asked about Zayn's leaving in a video appearance on the 26th. His answer showed not only his intelligence, but also his wisdom and kindness, because rather than laughing it off, he turned it into an opportunity to encourage young girls to study science.

“Finally, a question about something important,” he said. “My advice to any heartbroken young girl is to pay close attention to the study of theoretical physics. Because one day there may well be proof of multiple universes.”

***

So ended April. That was kind of fun, and was a nice respite.

May will be another story, and will be covered in the next segment. There will be award show and talk show appearances, more song writing, a major Twitter War, and We'll see Louis partying even harder - including with a girl named Briana. And we all know where that went.

don't know how to describe it otherwise. This was the second half of their two month Long Break, and while April was relatively gentle and full of cute charity events, Niall's golfing appearances and songwriting, the through line going into May was Louis' constant partying. In May, that partying would... um... bear fruit, so to speak. (And just wait until we hit July when the bomb actually goes public. Oy.)

In addition, there was a very unpleasant Twitter War, by far the worst one ever.

But there was also more songwriting, more golf, an award show, their first talk show appearance since Zayn's departure, and Snoop Dog.

****

Recapping The Recap:

Part One The BeFour
Part Two Australia
Part Three Japan
Part Four Taking A Breather
Part Five East Asia I
Part Six East Asia II
Part Seven Africa and Dubai
Part Eight - April Clean Living

***

So, here we go with the May Timeline.

May 3 - Liam, Louis and Niall fly to L.A.

On May 3 "OT3" flew to Los Angeles, thus rejoining with Harry, who had been there on his own the entire month of April. But the theme of "separation" would continue even so. They made it clear that this was a working trip, and they also continued to make sure that everyone knew they were writing songs.

Let's get the big things out of the way first...

May 5 - Louis Parties With A Mystery Girl

And that's usually no big deal, as Louis had been seen with numerous "Mystery Girls" since the break with Eleanor. Except that this was not the last we'd see of this particular young lady. We would see her again...

And again.

By the third date, her name was known - Briana Jungwirth. There was speculation in the media that Briana was Louis' new girlfriend. She was not.

They were seen together May 5, 9 and 10. They appeared to be having a blast. After the date on the 10th, Louis continued partying, but Briana would not be seen again until early June, and we'll get to that then.

May 6 - Twitter War 2... The Final Fall of Zouis?

The Twitter War of May 6 was by far the worst, and was frankly one of the biggest shocks of the year for the fandom to take, because it represented the apparent end of one of the staple friendships going back to the X-Factor. Louis and Zayn had been fast friends, and partners in crime going all the way back to 2010. But apparently staple, doesn't mean stable.

It actually started on May 5, when Liam made a joke on Instagram calling a really bad singer "the new 5th member" of the band.

Naughty Boy, (30 year old professional that he is) decided he couldn't let that joke just be. He Tweeted an indirect response photo of himself and Zayn, saying "replace this".

Total nastiness ensued between Louis and Naughty boy, including NB taking a jab at Louis' voice, and Louis implying that NB was just riding Zayn's coat tails. But Zayn got personally involved too. For exactly one tweet. But it was a Tweet that shredded Zouis.

So... Sad. For the most part the OT4 fandom hailed Louis as their hero who had defended Liam, and the fandom from the evil evil Naughty Boy. And they were likewise crushed that Zayn had definitively sided against Louis and with NB.

Moving on...

May 9 - Car Prank, Oh No Niall

To lighten the mood perhaps, a few days later Liam instagrammed a prank that he and Louis played on Niall. They TP'd his car. (Liam captioned the pictures "Oh No Niall". Those little Juvenile delinquents. As I said, this is a phrase that is going to haunt Niall for a long time.)

Of course more concern errupted over the fact, that once again, it was a prank involving Liam, Louis and Niall... but not Harry.

Where was Harry?

May 10 - Liam & Louis party w/ Snoop Dog

On the 10th, Liam, Louis and their entourages went to Snoop Dog's launch party for his album. So cool.

And, yes, Briana was there. This was one of her appearances with Louis.

May 11 - Project No Control starts

On another positive note, there was Project No Control. This project was born in part over the frustration that, due to Zayn's exit, 1D was unable to release any more singles from their album Four. (They couldn't release a single, since Zayn's voice would be on whatever song they chose, causing legal issues.) This was very disappointing because there are many other great songs on that album which would have made for great singles. No Control, which is a raunchy song about morning wood, was a particular favorite of many fans. It is catchy as hell, quite naughty, and generally rocks out. A group of fans, therefore, created the project to "self-release" No Control as a single.

For this dicussion, I'm pretending that I'm not slightly annoyed that this project at it's heart was about Larries thinking this song was about Larry. And also that I'm not even more annoyed about how they often tend to erase Liam as one of the writers of the song to facilitate their fantasy that it was all about Louis and Harry's sex life. Unfortunately, that's what Tinhats do. I'm ignoring this lame motivation, and rudeness towards Liam because the project had beneficial effects for the boys. The song got a little bit of airplay, and everyone did have fun with it. And also because the boys have made their appreciation well known.

May 13 - Zerrie Selfie

Other then the awful Twitter War, Zayn was kind of low profile in May. There were occasional cute selfies with Perrie.

May 14 - Cordon Interview

On May 14th, OT4 was finally seen together again for their first full fledged talk show interview since Zayn left. Harry was back. The boys had all known James Cordon for years, so it was a natural choice to appear on his show.

The boys handled the questions about Zayn well, admitting that they had felt anger over the flounce, while still remaining professional about the whole thing. And really, not giving up very much at all. Of course the recent Twitter War was one of the topics that Louis had to address as well. He said everything was fine. Of course.

Cordon did a cute skit in which the boys were members of a Dodgeball Team.

And they also took a cute selfie...

May 17 - BBMA's (And Nouis clubbing w Ed Sheeran & Taylor Swift) Also, Wiz Kahlifa.

OT4 made their second major apearance that week at the Billboard Music Awards. They did not perform, but they did appear as presenters.

They won two awards, of course. Both of them having to do with the success of their world tours. The Four, specifically Liam, made sure to thank Zayn in the acceptance speech. Liam called Zayn, their "brother". Based on facial expressions, I'm not sure they were all in agreement about that.

Afterwards, they partied with the likes of Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran & Wiz Kalifah.

May 19 - Separating Again

On May 19, Niall and Liam arrived back in London. Harry remained in LA, and Louis went to NYC.

<-- I am very fond of this Airport papping... And Liam's HAT would be seen again. I love the hat too.

May 20 - Niall Goes Golfing Again

Niall's return to the UK was so that he could participate in a celebrity golf tournament with his friend Rory McIlroy. More cute Niall Golfing photo's ensued!

<-- I'm convinced that Niall's superpower is that he's always smiling.

The headlines weren't as generous. "Niall Horan 'Nearly Killed' A Fan"... Oh no! (The headlines were an exaggeration, as usual.)

May 22 - Liam at the Grand Prix of Monoco

As for Liam, he was photographed that weekend at the Gran Prix of Monoco with Sophia by his side. The two of them were papped and photographed at events throughout the weekend associated with the Red Bull Racing Team.

May 25 - Louis Tomlinson Parties in NYC ::Shocker::

Before returning to London, Louis decided to stop in New York for some more clubbing. He was photographed with a mystery blond who was not Briana.

May 27 - Then He Partied in Barcelona

This was basically a World Wide Clubbing Tour...

May 31 - And Then Niall Joined Him to Party with Fifth Harmony

To top out the month, Niall and Louis partied with Fifth Harmony in London.

Louis was actually papped going home with Lauren. Though, they later offered up an innocent explanation for it. (Which was that she needed a ride...) OK. Moving on.

So that was it for May. As with April, questions remained about Harry's commitment to the band, since the other three seemed to be spending loads more time together, and without him. (Though it later became clear that Harry had been extremely involved with the writing process the entire month, and especially while the boys were all in Los Angeles.)

What was Harry up to during the weeks he wasn't with his bandmates? He was actually being very low profile. At one point people thought they saw him on a bus in L.A.

But it wasn't him.

***

And so, as May was ending, the tour was scheduled to begin again in early June. The much needed two month break was about to come to an end.

In June, the short European leg of the tour was scheduled to begin. It would prove to be a Summertime Ball.

This is post number 10 (!) of my Road Kill OTRA Tour recap. With the long spring break coming to an end on June 5, it was finally time to hit the road again.

The tour resumed for the short European leg which consisted of only eight stops. Those stops included two nights in Cardiff, Wales, followed by stops in Vienna, Brussels, Denmark, Oslo, Gothenburg and Helsinki. Even though this leg was short, this was my favorite part of the tour. (Except of course for the three shows of the North American leg that I attended! Of course!) In Europe, everything seemed relaxed and free of a lot of the tension that had haunted the early legs of the tour. The Four were much more confident than they had been before, and it showed. This leg brought us Water fights and wheelbarrow races and hamburger hats. They were having a blast, and the fans were having a blast, and it was a Summertime Ball.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the relaxed feeling is that instead of staying in each city they played, they would fly in to the city the day of the gig, and then fly back to London immediately afterwards. This means that the boys got to stay in their own homes for the bulk of the month. That must have been very nice for them.

That doesn't mean that the month of June was free from a certain foreshadowing of the drama to come. But for the most part it was light and fun.

Plus, this leg included the Hamburger Hat and the Banana Suit, so you know how I feel about it ;)

***

Recapping The Recap:

Part One Setting the Stage
Part Two Australia
Part Three Japan
Part Four The Last Breath Before The Fall
Part Five The Phoenix On Fire
Part Six The Phoenix In Ashes
Part Seven OT4 Take Flight
Part Eight Clean Living
Part Nine Dirty Secrets

****

Sigh. All that being said, the month began with some of the foreshadowing that I mentioned.

June 2 - Louis mysteriously flies back to L.A.

With just three days before the boys were supposed to perform in Cardiff, Louis suddenly up and flew to Los Angeles. It was a big WTF at the time, and made the fandom a bit nervous as to why Louis would want to make such a long trip on the eve of resuming the tour. This brought flashbacks to Louis' mysterious flight to L.A. in February between the the Australia and Japan legs... the one he took with Zayn.

We would find out why sooner rather than later. But we'll save that for July.

June 4 - Louis photographed with Eli the chimp

On June 4, Louis Instagrammed a photo of himself with Eli, the chimpanzee who appeared with him in the Steal My Girl video. Like many in the fandom, I found this extremely odd. He flew 8000 miles for two days to visit a chimp?

But then, a few days later, we learned some thing else about this little trip...

Briana Jungwirth, Louis' three time Mystery Girl from the month before, had been there too. So Louis went back to visit Briana again? Trippy. The Larries were all upset and calling her names and being rude and awful as usual. But they ain't seen nothing yet.

June 5th - The Tour is BACK! 1st Stop Cardiff, Wales

Finally, on June 5, the tour started back for real. It was fabulous. The boys all looked tan, rested and ready. There was still a little talk about Harry being separate from the others, but that talk would slowly die down as the tour progressed.

If there was any "drama" the first night back, it was caused, oddly enough by Ziam Tinhats who were nattering on about a ring that Liam wore during the show. The Ziams had been in a low place because they had staked their ship to the idea that Zayn leaving was a publicity stunt. They were sure that he would be back by the time that Cardiff rolled around. And of course, that didn't happen. But Tinhats have a way of always finding a new thing to cling too. They convinced themselves that Liam was wearing his wedding ring. Yup. BTW, Liam only wore the thing twice, so who knows if it really meant anything at all. But it was funny at the time.

The last thing to talk about Cardiff Night One is OT4's ongoing efforts to come up with a new formation for WMYB.

Harry clearly didn't quite know where to stand yet. But they were still working on it... LOL

June 6 - Double Dose of 1D

Afternoon: The boys did the annual Capital One Summertime Ball

Marvelous as the first Cardiff gig was, the next day the boys actually made two separate appearances. The first in London at The Summertime Ball, sponsered by one of the big London radio stations. It was gorgeous

There was more fun with the WMYB formation! If Harry wouldn't go to the boys, the boys would go to Harry.

Evening: They flew back to Wales and played Cardiff for a second night.

And they finally got the WMYB formation down...

Watch on YouTube

June 9 - Louis parties in Ibizia

Between Concerts, Louis managed to expand his World Party Tour - This time in Ibizia.

June Tour Highlights. Honestly There were so many great moments, I thought I'd montage them.

There are really too many to cover it properly. And those were just random pics.... :0

And I would be remiss to not cover the fact that the June part of the tour was the beginning of the Epic Lilo Water Fights. Lilo antics were becoming a highlight of every concert

<-- Just the start of an ongoing battle royale ;)

*****

Of course, there was other business going on during June as well.

June 24 - Fragrance Launch

This came as a complete surprise, as 1D already has three fragrances, and for all the others there had been lots of pre-launch build up and promotion.. For this one, there was NONE. Just one day, they held a press party to announce Fragrance #4 right out of the blue. There were many theories, as to why, but I think it is obvious that this exists because it was an OT4 fragrance, i.e. presumably, none of the revenues from it go to Zayn.

June 24 - Paris Fashion Week

Speaking of whom... Zayn hit up Paris Fashion Week and was all the rage. He got front row seats right next to Kanye.

June 26 - Nouis at Glastonbury

Late in the month, Niall and Louis attended multiple days at the annual Glastonbury music festival. Looks like they had fun. Nouis is real... ;)

On the last day, Louis was papped with a friend, looking quite cosy. (In retrospect, this was a kind of statement, as most people believe that Louis' odd trip to L.A. at the beginning of the month to see Briana, had been about him finding out about her pregnancy. So he's on record as being spotted in the same month with a different girl. He's made it abundantly clear that he and Briana are not together.

***

And that covers June. It was a nice month. As June came to a close, looming before the band was the massive three month tour of North America which would begin July 9 in San Diego. But before that, there was another 10 day tour break which I'll discuss in the next post. It will be short, which is a good thing because these posts have been getting so long. I WILL find a way to keep the NA tour to two entries though...

Welcome to part 11 of the Road Kill saga. In this recap we are covering June 28 to July 8 which was the short, but... interesting Tour Break between the European and North American legs of the tour. In a way, it was the calm before another storm. But fandom wise the wank was flying fast and furiously!

So here's what happened.

****

Recapping the Recap:

Part One - Setting the Stage
Part Two - Australia
Part Three - Japan
Part Four - The Last Breath Before The Fall
Part Five The Phoenix On Fire
Part Six - The Phoenix In Ashes
Part Seven - OT4 Take Flight
Part Eight - Clean Living
Part Nine - Dirty Secrets
Part Ten - A Summertime Ball

****

We'll start with Niall. He hung out in London for awhile, and attended Modest Managements annual summer party on July 2.

<-- The Larries mocked this, and claimed that Niall was the sacrificial lamb. (In 2014, Harry and Liam attended this party, but shhhhh. Don't tell them. ;)

****

Liam spent almost the entire break having a full family vacation in Orlando, FL. His parents, his two sisters, their boyfriends and Sophia were all there. The family was spotted at one or another of the Universal or Disney parks every day for an entire week, and there were tons of pictures that came out from fans who saw them there.

Liam Instagrammed some cute pictures.

<-- He captioned this one "I guess it's OK if Mickey doesn't find out", referring to Sophia's Mini Mouse ears and his Goofey Hat. But the Ziam Tinhats were energized with letting us all know who Mickey "really" was...

<-- Liam also made if very clear that he LUUUVED Jurassic World, the big movie out at that time.

****
Speaking of Zayn, on July 5, he and Naughty Boy announced that they were creating their own brand name - and officially trademarked the word "Zaughty". LOL.

On July 7 - "ZaynCancelYour Engagement" trended worldwide on Twitter for no particular reason. Things like that don't need a reason to trend, this is the 1D fandom that we're talking about.

The same day, he posted a broody instagram. Ho Hum.

****

Harry had an interesting break. He left London immediately at the beginning of the break for Los Angeles, which is, afterall, his second home. As usual, he was papped at LAX.

All the fandom could talk about was the really tight white jeans he was wearing, and where his missing "friend" was. It was a little gross.

On July 4, Harry attended a party in Malibu. He was accompanied at the party by a... get this... MYSTERY GUY.

<--- The fandom was veeeeery curious about who this dude was.

He was photographed with the same man the next day, and for several days in a row. The fandom CSI's took over and eventually found out his name, Xander Ritz. And a new ship was born! Xarry! (Like we needed another one that sounded just like Zarry and Zerrie... LOL.) But there it was, and still is. XARRY!

The Larries felt threatened... Clearly Management was Bearding Harry with um, a guy????? Yeah, I don't get it either.

Xander is actually just a member of Harry's LA social circle, whom he chose to spend time with that particular week. But Xander ended up tagging along on tour for awhile as a member of Harry's entourage.

****

Louis flew immediately to Los Angeles as well. But he was apparently on an entirely different kind of mission.

He arrived at LAX with only a Skate Board, leaving people to wonder where his luggage was. (I'm thinking he had someone take care of that, but that's just me...) The reason this whole thing was wanky is because Larrie's Truly Believe that Louis shares Harry's L.A. house, and therefore didn't need to bring clothes with him...

He wasn't seen a lot. But an Instagram Photo emerged of Louis with some kids.

It turns out that the boy in the photo is Briana Jungwirth's little brother...

ANYWAY - On July 4, Louis' mother, Jay, instagrammed that she was at Malibu Beach... This THRILLED the Larries, since Harry was publically attending a party in the same area at the same time. You know what conclusion they drew. LOL.

We would find out soon enough what Louis and his family were doing over that U.S. Holiday weekend. (But fun fact, Louis' mother is a Midwife by profession.)

***
See what I mean. A short, but interesting break. The Wank was flying fast and furious. But not as fast and furious as it was about to as the Tour was about to start up again in San Diego on July 9!

The next segment will finally start the North American leg of the tour. I'm going to try to keep it to just two posts, That's the plan anyway. Some highlights of the next section alone include, Liam shirtless on stage, epic Gatorade fights and silly string. Also, Harry will take on Sea World, Zayn will do a bunch of stupid shit, the Larries will face their greatest challenge ever, and I ATTEND MY FIRST SHOW!!

It's going to be great!

Sorry for the delay on this on! EEK, so much to do for the Holiday Season. And all the December birthdays in my family!

This is Part 12 of my Road Kill: OTRA Tour Recap. And in this part, I'm going to attempt to pack the entire eventful first half of the North American leg of the Tour into just one post. The North American Tour was structured into two halves, with a ten day tour break in early August. This portion will cover July 9 (San Diego) through August 8 (Baltimore).

I'm editing the locations down to focus on San Diego, Seattle, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and New York.

I gotta say though, there are storylines in this half of the tour which are pretty huge. And there was a lot of things happening. And not just with the concerts. There is a lot of drama. The Briana story went public, and Zayn officially began his "Zolo" career by dumping Perrie, and announcing that he wants to make #Real Music...

***

Recapping The Recap

Part One - Setting the Stage
Part Two - Australia
Part Three - Japan
Part Four - The Last Breath Before The Fall
Part Five The Phoenix On Fire
Part Six - The Phoenix In Ashes
Part Seven - OT4 Take Flight
Part Eight - Clean Living
Part Nine - Dirty Secrets
Part Ten - A Summertime Ball
Part Eleven - Fourth of July

***

July 9 - San Diego (Harry Kills Sea World)

The North American tour started up in San Diego on July 9th. Two epic things happened this first concert back.

To start with, Harry has become involved with an organization called The Dolphin Project. This group has been successfully advocating against Sea World' practices of caring for marine animals for several years, and are responsible for the documentary Blackfish (which you should all check out on Amazon if you haven't seen it...

<-- Harry in the Dolphin Project T-shirt, 2014.

San Diego, remember, is the home of Sea World, which is perhaps it's biggest tourist attraction. During the concert Harry said, "Anyone her love dolphins?" (The crowd cheers), "Don't go to Sea World."

And Seaworld has been dealing with massive fallout ever since. Think for a moment about the astounding power Harry exhibited here. He put an institution, Sea World, on the defensive and caused such an uproar that they will probably have to change their practices if they want to stay in business.

In other news, Harry had his BEST FALL ever! It was epic.

<-- SPLAT!

Anyway - Don't Mess With Harry Styles!

July 13 - The Fall of Zaughty

On July 13, the tide went out on Zaughty, (the recently trademarked...) Zayn again went on Twitter and caused another rucus. This time, he broke up with Naughty Boy. The origins of this may have been in June, when NB was apparently responsible for another song leaking, but whatever the case Zaughty was over and the fandom rejoiced.

‏@zaynmalik

@NaughtyBoyMusic you fat joke stop pretending we're friends no one knows you .

RETWEETS602,347

LIKES621,353

7:24 AM - 13 Jul 2015

Bye bye Zaughty. Easy come. Easy go.

July 14 - Briana: The You-Know-What Hits The Fandom

Oh boy, here we go. July 14 was the day that the second biggest bomb in 1D history fell. I, and many others in the fandom had found it extremely odd when Louis made that quick trip to Los Angeles in the beginning of June to see his May fling, Briana Jungwirth. On July 14, People Magazine broke the news that Briana was expecting a baby, and that Louis was to be a dad.

Oops.

As you can imagine, the fandom imploded. The Larries are still waiting for "Babygate" as they call it, to "end". (Oh, yes, it will end...)

<-- Briana papped on Aug 5 at a Passport Office in Calabasas, CA. Imagine the fandom "debate" about her baby bump, as she wasn't even four months along at that point. All the Larries suddenly became "pregnancy experts". I can not tell you how embarrassing they are.

July 15 - Seattle

The concert in Seattle on July 15 was Louis and the Boys first appearance since the baby news broke. The fandom watched anxiously for a confirmation, but there wasn't one.

You could feel the tension though, even through the Internet...

<-- Great picture of Harry. Aren't they all?

Some enterprising Seattle fans were very quick on their feet and came up with the idea of bringing a Toy Collection box for charity. God Bless this fandom...

The bottom line is that it is obviously an awkward situation, and really, what's needed here is to respect Briana's privacy. Even though she may sometimes get papped. Eventually, both Simon and Liam confirmed the baby was real during interviews. And eventually, Louis himself did as well.

July 26 - Minneapolis

Meanwhile, the tour rolled on. One thing I'd like to note is that through the first ten days of the tour, the boys had used Los Angeles as their "Home Base". After the shows in San Diego, and San Francisco, they returned to Los Angeles. They made a bried stop-over in Vancouver, but after the Winnepeg show, the moved their home base to CHICAGO, where the remained for all the Midwest shows.

The stop on July 26 was Minneapolis. Let's just say that this show was very kind to us Liam Girls, ;) What is better than shirtless Liam? Shirtless Singing Liam.

Was it indulgent of me to post these because I'm a Liam Girl? Yes. Yes it was.

July 28 - Kansas City

The stop in Kansas City had another favorite moment, the Epic Lilo Gatorade Fight of 2015

I can think of few things better than two hot guys showering each other with Gatorade.

Other fun things to know about the KC show... The Boys apparently didn't realize that they weren't in Kansas until they actually arrived there. LOL

On a less positive note, there was an unfortunate incident of Naughty Boy hangover that saw several of the boys kicking and stomping on NB's image on a pinata which someone threw on to the stage. It probably would have been better just to leave it be.

July 29 - The Zolo Career Begins

On July 29, Zayn finally announced offically what everyone already knew. He was going "Zolo", and had signed with RCA records, which is another subsidiary of Sony.

He inaugurated his new career by announcing that he was finally going to make #RealMusic. Lots of people reactive negatively to that implication. He tried to back track and say he meant #RealMe, but damage done.

July 31 - Drag Me Down & Indianapolis

In the wee hours of July 31, One Direction dropped their first single as OT4. I woke up that morning at my folks house which isn't too far from Indy, and turned on the computer to discover that the entire fandom was buzzing about this new song. I was especially excited because that night I was going to the show! And maybe, they would play it. And they did!!! I'm still buzzing that I got to see this song performed for the first time. It was FANTASTIC.

Watch on YouTube

<-- Liam wore a Batman Costume

Aug 4 - GMA

On August 4, the band performed Drag Me Down on GMA. They were cute!

During the interview portion of the appearance, Louis was congratulated over becoming a dad. He said he was excited and "buzzing". I cannot stress enough how much the Larries don't believe him.

Aug 4 - Zerrie Falls

Later that day, the announcement went out that Zayn had called off his engagement to Perrie. She happened to be in Los Angeles, and she did a bikini pose on Instagram that day, I guess to show him what he was missing.

I was personally very saddened by this. The timing of it, falling immediately after he had signed with new management and a new label made the entire relationship look very shallow. Just my opinion.

I'm happy that Little Mix is doing so well right now.

Aug 5 - East Rutherford

We began with Harry, and with the NYC show, we'll end this section with Harry again.

Rolling Stone Magazine gave rave reviews of this concert, especially for Harry. It would be nice if they would have put 1D on the Cover... :(

***

There was one more concert on the leg, Baltimore on Aug. 8. After that there was another tour break from August 9-17. That was an uneventful break, and so I won't be covering it... Yay!

The next installment will cover the second half of the NA tour, on which nothing much happened.... HA! Two birthdays, a mysterious broken foot, and a gay men's magazine cover. Plus, an epic ode to Poutine. And

And the tour rolled on...

Here we are - Part Thirteen of this series which... Is a lot of parts. But the end is getting close. This part covers the second half of the North American tour. Then there is the UK/Ireland tour and one last follow up post after that.

Whew.

I'm keeping this one short. (Or at least that's what I told myself. Hahahahaha.) It will focus primarily on Columbus, Chicago (my second show), Milwaukee, Detroit (my third show), Montreal and Boston, which was the last show on this leg of the tour.

By this point in the tour, I think the exhaustion was starting to show. And yet it rolled on.

***

Recapping The Recap

Part One - Setting the Stage
Part Two - Australia
Part Three - Japan
Part Four - The Last Breath Before The Fall
Part Five The Phoenix On Fire
Part Six - The Phoenix In Ashes
Part Seven - OT4 Take Flight
Part Eight - Clean Living
Part Nine - Dirty Secrets
Part Ten - A Summertime Ball
Part Eleven - Fourth of July
Part Twelve - #Real Music

****

London August 9 - Believe In Magic

I guess to start out, I lied. There was one interesting thing that happened during the Mid August break.

Louis was the sponser of a charity ball for children called Believe in Magic. It was so precious.

<-- Liam joined him, and donated many thousands as well.

And this happened...

***

And also, before we begin, there were a TON of glorious highlights on the North American tour that involved the ongoing Lilo Water/Gatorade/Silly String battles. Here are just a few. Because what good is a recap of the North American tour without them? It often involved one or both being soaking wet. Which means AWESOME!!!

So there you go.

***

August 18 - Columbus

The beginning of the second half of the NA tour kind of pissed me off. It was in Columbus, OH, and the controversey was that Liam introduced Girl Almighty by saying, that only other guys would understand what it meant to be looking for the "right girl". I would never have thought another thing of it, personally. But SJW's on Twitter attacked him for not being inclusive of girls who may like girls. They were calling him Homophobic and all kinds of nasty things, and Liam got defensive, as he sometimes does.

As an aside, I think Internet SJW's have essentailly become just another form of internet bully, and I'm pretty much done with that whole thing. It's not real activisim. It's lazy, and a lot of it is more mean-spirited then whatever they are attacking over. So now I've said my piece on that.

August 23 - Chicago - The Hiatus Rumors

Chicago was my second show! Whoo Hoo!

But there was another importance to this show as well. For weeks, the rumors had been circulating (Starting with an article by Dan Wooton in the Sun, back in May, of course...) that the boys would be going on Hiatus. On the 22nd, the boys confirmed it. But while Dan Wooton had essentially implied that the "hiatus" would be permanent, all four of the boys (Including Harry, who said it on stage at all three shows I attended...) insisted, and to this day continue to insist it is "just a break" because they are exhausted after touring for five years straight.

Some pretty pictures!

August 25 - Milwaukee

The Milwaukee show was very Harry. He was in Green Bay Packer Heaven. And said so frequently.

And he was waving flags all over the place.

These flag waving pictures are so striking. The rainbow flags had become a Larrie thing at concerts, bolstered by a group of Big Larries who have organized a group called "Rainbow Direction" which nominally exists to support LGBT+ Directioners. They say they have a "no shipping policy" which is laughable. The majority of the rainbow flags, signs and other gear to 1D concerts was there to promote LARRY, no matter how much they always answer those accusations by trying to hide behind the unenforced "no shipping policy". LOL. Anyway, these lovely images were thouroughly co-opted by Larries to promote "larry is real"

August 29 - Detroit - Liam's 22nd Birthday

This was a lovely show. Liam signs were everywhere. I was so glad that I was there.

<-- Liam celebrated by getting an ugly hand tattoo ::ducking::

<-- And there was a spectacular group hug after the singing of Happy Birthday.

Watch on YouTube

What a thrill! I was in fangirl heaven.

Sept 5 - Montreal - About the Broken Leg...

The day before the Montreal concert Niall suddenly had a broken foot. He claimed he'd awakend that morning with a stress fracture. That is certainly an odd explanation, but whatever is the case, poor Niall limped around in that boot for the rest of the tour.

Sept 10 - Liam and The Attitude Article

Earlier in the year, a British Gay Men's magazine called Attitude had voted Liam the sexiest man in the world. So they decided to make him the cover boy for their Oct. edition. This was a huge deal because it was the first time that a member of One Direction did a solo photoshoot for a magazine.

The pictures were delish.

The article was very odd. Liam doesn't mind being candid, and since among other things, he used the platform of a Gay Magazine to debunk Larry, the Larries were furious and hateful about it. He answered a question about whether a ten year old should be allowed to read smut with a big "no", and that was taken as an attack on fan works. He was attacked left and right by the fandom over the article. But only in the fandom. Guess you can't please everyone... Eh.

Sept 12 - Boston - Happy 22nd Birthday Niall!

And so the North American tour came to an end on the day before Niall's birthday. So Boston was another party!

And another group hug.

Niall got lots of funny hats to wear.

***

Thus ended the North American Leg of the Tour... It was a long haul, and by the end of it, you could tell that there was a sense that the end was near. The last leg of what could be the last tour, that remains to be seen, would start up again in London on Sept. 24.

But before we got to the end, there was room for three more shocking twists. Stay tuned, we're almost home!

Here we have arrived at last to the final leg of the mammoth year long On The Road Again Tour. The theme of this Recap is Exhaustion.

Since this was the home stretch in the boys own countries, you would think that it would be a Victory Tour of sorts. But NOPE. This leg culminated in the first ever cancelled One Direction Concert, and that was the final shock of a tour that had already seen Zayn flounce, the end of Elounor and Zerrie, and a pregnant girl named Briana. And that it was Liam who faltered at the end was all the more un-nerving because he has been unwavering for five long years. There was a reason he was dubbed Daddy Direction way back at the beginning, because he was seen as the strong one. But perhaps in a way, his failure at the end was a poetic way to rap up a long, long road.

And on top of all that - the Hiatus was looming over everything. And nobody really knows what the future is going to bring. For with this tour over, there may never be another.

The time period covered here is Sept. 24 thru Halloween. There were 25 shows. Instead of doing one night stands in giant stadiums, they played multiple nights at smaller venues, making it hard for them to go back to their homes between shows.
By the end, it wasn't just the boys who were exhausted. So was the fandom. And me. Me too.

The focus for this recap will be London, Belfast, and the final show in Sheffield which was the emotional, and sentimental conclusion.

***

Recapping The Recap

Part One - Setting the Stage
Part Two - Australia
Part Three - Japan
Part Four - The Last Breath Before The Fall
Part Five The Phoenix On Fire
Part Six - The Phoenix In Ashes
Part Seven - OT4 Take Flight
Part Eight - Clean Living
Part Nine - Dirty Secrets
Part Ten - A Summertime Ball
Part Eleven - Fourth of July
Part Twelve - #Real Music
Part Thirteen - Birthdays and Broken Legs

****
So, here we go...

Sept 24 thru 30 - London - The Bump

The last leg began at home in London for a six night stint at the O2 Arena. Lots of people think that the main thing that happened was that there were some stuffed animals at the concert. LOL. But remember, I promised early on that this recap was stuffed animal free, because in my opinion... not that important.

The most interesting thing that happened during the six night stint was the presence of Briana Jungwirth.

So let's do a recap within the recap of Briana's life, since the news broke that she was having Louis' baby. Prior to her appearance in London, she had only been papped twice in her home town of Calabasas..

<--First she was papped at a gas station, around the time the pregnancy was leaked in July.

<--On August 5th, she was papped at a Passport office. I guess that passport came in handy. At the time, she was about three months along.

And that's the extent of it.

For the fandom, the analysis of these pictures was intense, most of it centering on "the bump", because there is a large segment of the fandom - you know which one - who is dead set upon proving that Briana's pregnancy is fake. So there was much ridiculous fandom speculation, and fake pregnancy expertise going around with the aim of disproving this whole thing... Anyway...

Briana was at all six London shows, where she hung out with Louis' family.

My thoughts about this at the time was that this seemed like a lovely and supportive gesture. Both for Briana to be there in the face of all the fandom hate that she gets, and on the part of the Tomlinson's to look after her while she was there.

But after the last night in London, Louis pretty much turned that impression on it's head. Louis, along with Liam and Niall, went to a London club called Circ du Soir. Sophia was there with Liam, but Briana most definetly was not there with Louis.

Sept 30 - London - Louis papped leaving Night Club with a van full of girls...

-- Louis is not with Briana! Message received.

Also, to provide some context for later in the month, Liam and Sophia still seemed like they were a very strong couple that night at the Circ du Soir.

<-- Yup, still cute.

As for Briana, she returned to California after these six shows, where she has been papped only once since...

<--Nov 3 - Briana was papped out and about in Calabasas. She was about seven months pregnant by then.

Oct 5 - Manchester - Fight! (No Not Really...)

Leaving the drama aside for a moment, there was some hilarity mid tour revolving around Lilo's play fighting on stage. Their play fighting has been the highlight of many a gig going back to the European leg of the tour.

This particular exchange was caught on film:

The hilarity was that this led to a situation where actual tabloids were posting actual articles about Lilo's body language which suggested that Liam may have been slightly annoyed with Louis after being grabbed in the crotch.

Imagine the headlines. Boybander slightly annoyed over attempted crotch grab. Actual tabloids printed actual articles about this. LOL.

<--Lilo's adorable response on Instagram.

So ends the humerous aside... :(

*****

Oct. 18 - Dublin - Something's Not Right

As I showed above, Sophiam seemed to still be going strong in London. Sophia had been a presense on this tour through the entire Summer, and even back in the Spring when all the Zayn drama was going on. So, on the surface, everthing seemed fine.

But I guess appearances can be deceiving. Below are the last pap pictures taken of the couple together. Liam looks so beaten down and bent over in these pics. I thought at the time that something looked wrong.

I guess I was right.

They played three nights in Dublin before moving to Belfast, with a one day break between. I guess it wasn't a pleasant break for Liam. But the fandom was unprepared for what happened next.

Oct 20 - Belfast - The Crash

Oct. 20 was supposed to be the first night of a three night stand in Belfast. And it started out just fine. The opening videos played. The opening act played. And all the build up to the boy's entrance was played as well...

But the boys did not come out.

Instead, an announcer came out on stage, like a sacrificial lamb to announce that Liam had taken ill, and that One Direction would not come out on stage.

Having been to three shows, I can't tell you how keyed up and hyped you are waiting for the boys to hit the stage. Especially after the opening act has finished. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be in that atmosphere, and right at the last moment, it all goes up in smoke. It must have been devastating.

Harry, Niall and Louis all tweeted appropriate apolegetic tweets that night. But all night long, and into the next day the fandom was going nuts worrying about Liam. #GetWellSoonLiam trended on Twitter for hours. There were rumors that he had been taken to hospital. And of course so much worry about whether the show scheduled for the 21st would happen or not because nobody knew how serious Liam's illness was.

The next day, Harry, Niall and Louis did an interview, but left it very vague in regards to what exactly happened. And the nature of the illness was not specifically explained. It was attributed to "stomach problems".

On the afternoon of the 21st, 1DHQ announced that Liam was better, and that the cancelled show was rescheduled for Oct 23, and that all tickets would be honored. (They actually kicked a hockey game out of that arena to accomodate the rescheduled show.) So, now all of a sudden, everything was OK again. Liam hadn't been hospitalized, and was apparently on his feet again and just fine.

Before the concert on the 21st, he broke his silence, with a massive apology on Twitter.

"I'm so sorry to everybody I disappointed last night. I'm feeling better now. I really hope everyone can make the rescheduled date on Friday. Thank you so much for all the trends and lovely messages you guys did for me it really shows how amazing u(sic) guys actually are. As I said I'm feeling much better now and I really can't wait to perform and make it up to everyone later".

And so the show went on.

<-- He may have been a little flustered

<-- But was generally OK on the 21st.

This left the fandom to speculate as to what exactly about "stomach problems" had kept Liam from performing the night before. The man had been on stage with a broken arm and a sprained ankle, and through all kinds of colds and flu-like symptoms. Liam loves being on that stage. So what was so serious that it cancelled a show, but left him fine to perform the next day? These were the questions that were raising suspicions amongst the fans...

And of course the Tabloids had their say too. The headline on The Sun on the 21st was "Fame Made Liam Payne Ill". According to the Sun's "insiders", Liam essentailly had a "complete meltdown" backstage just before concert time.

We know that these boys were under pressure. We know that they were exhausted and stressed and had been for many months.
But we will never know what actually happened on the night of the 20th. I personally think that a panic attack of some kind is plausible. Especially in light the news that was about to surface...

Oct 25 - The Last Ship

On Oct. 25, the announcement was made that Liam and Sophia had broken up. It seemed very abrupt, and Liam seemed to be genuinely heartbroken.

He even said so at the first Newcastle concert.

And thus for the first time ever, all five members of One Direction were publicly single. The tour began with three long term relationships, and by the end, they were all over.

(Though, at the moment Niall seems to be dating Selena Gomez, Zayn seems to be dating Gigi Hadid, and Louis is hanging out in Chicago, one suburb to my East, with the actress who plays Davina on The Originals, while Briana is due to deliver his child in a few weeks. So, LOL, the fandom had that dream of five single boys for a couple of months anyway... )

Oct 31 - The Last Show

And so, we finally come to the last show of the tour, in Sheffield, England, on Halloween. To think that the tour had begun all the way back on Feb 7. It was a rough road indeed. The band was down a member, and three girlfriends, and had suffered their first and only cancelled show.

And the future was uncertain. The Hiatus was looming.

In that light, all of the boy's families came to Sheffield to support them for this final show of the tour (or ever, because we don't at this point know what the future is going to bring,or if 1D will ever tour again, even though all of them have promised.)

The Sheffield concert may, or may not have been the end of One Direction, but is certainly was the end of an era.

At the end, all the boys hugging one another, and that is how I will end this recap.

< -- Narry hugged.

<-- Lirry hugged.

<-- Niam hugged.

<-- Nouis hugged

<-- Lilo hugged.

<-- And yes, after all this time, even Larry hugged. Awwww.

***

and thus it was done. And so am I. Like the boys, I NEED A BREAK!!!! I need some time to relax with family, and maybe work on some side projects. But not to worry, it's just going to be a temporary hiatus! Don't take this to mean I'm going solo.

And, I have one more part to write, sort of an aftermath. I just may not do it until after the New Year. And then it will be on to new things!

This is the final Follow-up Post to the Road Kill - And New Year's Day seems the appropriate day to post it. Welcome to 2016 everyone! I think it's going to be just as full of change and drama as 2015 was! LOL.

***

Here is the Recap of the Entire Recap from Hell for your convenience.

Part One - Setting the Stage
Part Two - Australia
Part Three - Japan
Part Four - The Last Breath Before The Fall
Part Five The Phoenix On Fire
Part Six - The Phoenix In Ashes
Part Seven - OT4 Take Flight
Part Eight - Clean Living
Part Nine - Dirty Secrets
Part Ten - A Summertime Ball
Part Eleven - Fourth of July
Part Twelve - #Real Music
Part Thirteen - Birthdays and Broken Legs
Part Fourteen - Drag Me Down

***

After OTRA finally ended, One Direction had one final round of duties before finally going on break. These duties were to promote their album, Made In the ~~Aftermath~~ AM.

This was the album that they were so busy making in London and Los Angeles during their long break during April and May, and for much of the Summer as well, as they toured. So it was a part of the OTRA all along. There are many theories out there regarding the release of this album, and the timing. On the face of it, it doesn't make a lot of sense to release an album knowing that they aren't going to tour for it. I'll discuss why I think they released it below.
.

***

There were, of course, many cute appearances to promote the album during Nov. and Dec.

Here are a few of the highlights of those.

<-- Harry's pink shirt at the I-Tunes concert at the Roundhouse

<--Liam's monster face sweater at the London Session.

Yup, so that was kind of shallow.

My favorite performance was at the Live Lounge

Especially this cover of FourFiveSeconds. (Liam is sooooo good in it.)

Watch on YouTube

The James Cordon appearance in general was quite simply the best thing ever. In addition to that wonderful rendition of History, they played a game called Tattoo Roulette. I don't know how much of this was staged, but Niall's anxiety as it wittled down to him and Harry looked very genuine, making for some great TV right there. And then Harry got a live tattoo!

Watch on YouTube

That was truly A+ Television.

****

As I write this, the new year has dawned. The boys have been on break since Dec. 13, and 2016 has arrived today. The media is already describing 1D as "broken up".

But here is the truth. It does seem that the boys are still under contract, and I think there is at least one more video coming out soon, for their new single, History which will probably be dropped soon. After that video drops, I don't think there is anything else. I doubt that the boys will go to either the Brits or the Grammys. It has been rumored since virtually the beginning of the "Hiatus" rumors that the contract expires in March. If that is it the case, at that point, the boys will be Free Agents.

As I see it, the important points are:

* If the boys were going to easily re-sign with Syco, they would have done so in 2015. So, clearly, if they do re-sign with their current label, they will be using their free agency as a bargaining chip to increase the price. As I mentioned above, it is extremely odd to have released that album, knowing there would be no tour. The elephant in the room is that the current contract called for five albums, but only four tours. They could have waited a year for the album, which would have given them their break, and allowed them to negotiate a new tour for 2017. Releasing the album the way they did feels very much like a rush to complete the contract. Or, at least that's the way it reads to me. I think this begs a LOT more questions.

* If they sign with someone else, that will make huge press. It will mean that they are abandoning their mentor, Simon.

* I'm particularly interested to see how long it takes after the contract expires to announce new deal/deals. Will it happen in March? June? - Hmmmmmmm.

* That goes not just for group projects, but for individual projects as well.

* Anyone who thinks the negotiations will be only about Solo Harry, are wrong. All four of these boys are going to be in high demand, and able to command a high price.

* And of course, most interesting of all will be if they all sign to the same label. Because if they don't 1D is effectively over. So the new contract(s), whenever and whatever they turn out to be are going to be the most critical thing.

* Will it be a free for all, or do these boys have something up their sleeves?

* Meanwhile, Zayn's album will probably drop early this year, and I've no doubt it will be a huge success.

***

I guess we all just have to stay tuned. Stay woke!

***

As for Made in the AM? I love it. My fav songs are What A Feeling, History and Oliva, but the whole thing is wonderful. Buy it on I Tunes.

***

Lastly, anyone thinking the boys are going to disappear from the gossip magazines during the break, are dreaming. It isn't in their interests to truly disappear. Just yesterday, Harry was out on a Yacht in St. Bart's celebrating NYE with old flame Kendall Jenner, complete with hot yacht smooching for the paps... And Danielle Peazer (Liam's original flame) tagged him in a New Year's post leading to rampant speculation of the rekindling of that romance too. (Nah, I don't think so, I'm looking forward to Liam joining the celebrity dating game, hopefully this Summer... ;)

And not forgetting that something is going on between Niall and either Selena Gomez or Ellie Goulding. Who knows. And God only knows what the hell is going on with Louis Tomlinson. YIKES, what a mess.

***

I'm done!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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June 2018

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Page Summary

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 1 - Setting The Stage
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 2 - Australia
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 3 - Japan
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 4 - The Deep Breath Before the Fall
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 5 - The Phoenix On Fire
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 6 - The Phoenix In Ashes
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 7 - OT4 Rising
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 8 - Clean Living
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 9 - Dirty Secrets
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 10 - A Summertime Ball
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 11 - Fourth of July
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 12 #Real Music
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 13 - Birthdays and Broken Legs
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 14 - Drag Me Down
Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 15 - Aftermath

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Style: Fruit Salad for Leftovers by sforzinda

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Pop Media Cult Part Deux

Home of Still More Wacky Things

Feb. 16th, 2017

Feb. 16th, 2017

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 1 - Setting The Stage

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 2 - Australia

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 3 - Japan

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 4 - The Deep Breath Before the Fall

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 5 - The Phoenix On Fire

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 6 - The Phoenix In Ashes

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 7 - OT4 Rising

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 8 - Clean Living

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 9 - Dirty Secrets

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 10 - A Summertime Ball

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 11 - Fourth of July

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 12 #Real Music

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 13 - Birthdays and Broken Legs

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 14 - Drag Me Down

Road Kill: A Love Story - OTRA Tour Recap Part 15 - Aftermath

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June 2018

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