The boys loved their mini-tour of New Zealand in 2012; they performed in Auckland’s Trusts Stadium and Wellington’s St James Theatre. In an interview with The Edge radio station about their first trip to New Zealand, Liam was asked what the difference would be between the current show they were putting on in Auckland compared to their up-and-coming World Tour show in 2013. He said, ‘So this weekend we’re doing our tour that we’ve been doing for a while now, called Up All Night, and then next year we’re doing a different tour with a new album, maybe some new things in the show as well, and maybe just in general a bigger show because we’re gonna be playing bigger arenas and stuff. There’s more seats to fill so we just want to put on the best show possible really.’
During their visit Harry went out with the American model in the ‘Gotta Be You’ video, Emma Ostilly, one night. The paparazzi managed to photograph them kissing outside the place Emma was staying in the early hours of the morning after Harry had dropped her off. Harry was questioned about their date the next day but he told reporters that he’d been in bed by 11pm and so they must have been misinformed. He also wouldn’t talk about Emma and just wanted to talk about their music and their shows in New Zealand. Harry might have maintained a dignified silence but Emma still received abuse from some fans on Twitter. In fact, she received so many horrible messages that she temporarily shut down her Twitter account.
When Liam was asked what he made of New Zealand in the short time they’d been there by TV3’s 3 News, he said, ‘Well, I’ve heard that it’s the place where they invented the bungee jump, so I wanna try out where they invented the bungee jump.’
Zayn wasn’t up for it though because he has a fear of heights. In the end it was Liam and Louis who did the jump at the legendary Sky Tower, which is the tallest manmade structure in New Zealand.
To win the Kiwi Go1Den ticket, fans had to listen to ZM radio every day so they could find the 1D phone booth and call a special number. Fans who managed this went into a draw and the name picked out was Olivia from Christchurch.
For the World Tour 2013, the boys planned three dates in New Zealand, performing at the CBS Canterbury Arena on 10 October and Auckland’s Vector Arena on 12 and 13 October.
Gina is 18 and from Whangarei in the North Island. She became a fan of the band right from the beginning, watching all the episodes of The X Factor online. She really wished she could have seen them live on TV but the episodes weren’t shown there. She hasn’t had a tweet from the boys but her friend Ellen received a tweet from Liam in 2010 telling her he was surprised to hear that they had fans in New Zealand.
‘It’s quite hard being a fan from New Zealand,’ Gina says, ‘because you read all the tweets about how the boys are in the UK or the USA, and they don’t seem to come to New Zealand very often. It’s really hard to get noticed by them on Twitter because Liam’s the only one who actually re-tweets people and does follow sprees and such.
‘I have met some amazing people over Twitter, who are also fans, and I don’t know if the boys know how much people unite over them, but we do. We make friends online who are sometimes nicer than the people we know in real life, and I think that’s an important part of being in a fandom. We’re all there for each other, even for things that are completely unrelated to One Direction. We’re like a family that’s worldwide. I’m in this fandom for the boys, but also for the friends I’ve made along the way. I’ve been there since the start. Every video diary. Every episode. Every tear. Every heartbreak. And I’ll always be there. They’re a part of my life now.’
Josie is 47 and she lives in Hawera in the North Island with her daughters Brenna, 15, and Lana, 19, who are huge One Direction fans. Their favourite member is Harry. When Josie and her girls found out that the boys would be performing Up All Night concerts in New Zealand, they knew they had to be there. They managed to get tickets to the first concert and Josie drove them all the way to Auckland. Josie says, ‘We took Brenna’s friend Miraya (15) with us and it took us seven hours to get there. We put a sign saying we were going to see One Direction in the back window of our car and had some interesting interactions with other drivers on the way; it was hilarious!
‘When we first arrived, I was able to park the car really close to the stadium. We got out and started getting organised … next thing, the boys’ black vehicle entered the car park and drove right by us to the entrance. There was no one else around, we were within a metre of the boys and could see them inside the vehicle! The girls ran after it and we got photos of the boys going in. It was a very exciting start!
‘One Direction had two concerts in one day at the same venue and we went to the first one, at 2pm. It was absolutely fantastic! Even though we were in the very back row we still felt very lucky to even be there when so many fans had missed out. During the concert Brenna and Miraya’s good friends Rebecca and Brigid, both 15, had their tweet read out by the boys on stage – we couldn’t believe it! (The tweet was ‘Chocolate or rainbow paddlepops?’ Zayn picked chocolate and Harry said, ‘I’ve never tried rainbow paddlepops but I’m going to vote for them anyway’.)
‘After the concert, we knew the boys were still in the stadium so we waited around hoping to get a glimpse of them … Zayn came out and Brenna and Miraya called out, “Zayn!” He turned to them and gave them a big wave; they were absolutely elated! We knew the evening concert was sold out so we were preparing to go home.’
However, the girls were really lucky as just then an official came out and told them that there were actually some tickets still available for the evening concert. They went to the ticket stand and couldn’t believe their luck – they could get four seats in a row, in the 11th row, centre stage!
Josie continues the story: ‘So thank goodness for my Visa card. I snapped up those tickets immediately and we all went to the evening concert as well. It was SO amazing, definitely one of the best days ever! Being so close to the stage in the second concert was incredible – we were close enough to see the boys very clearly and get covered in the white ‘snow’ that came out, and we nearly caught a ball! We felt very lucky to think we went from the very back of the stadium in the first concert to the 11th row in the second concert all in one day. WAHOO!!!
‘When we got home, concert dates for 2013 were announced and we straight away got tickets for the October 2013 concert to be held once again in Auckland, only this time we are going one step better …we have tickets for the Soundcheck Party, centre stage in row three!’
If you want to follow Josie on Twitter, her Twitter name is @NewZealand1D.