Never in a million years did I think I would get to go to the premiere at Leister Square. It just wasn’t on my radar at all! However, my best friend (and generally lovely soul) Stacy McWilliams entered an online competition and won two tickets! She generously decided to take me with her and I can never thank her enough for the experience. I had been to London before, even though Stacy hadn’t, and was so excited at the adventure that awaited us.
Our flights were rather early on Thursday morning and I’m generally a nervous flyer and have to take anxiety medication before boarding, but the excitement at seeing Louis was far greater than my fear of planes and I didn’t even notice my anxiety at all!
Once we landed in London and got through security and to the bus terminals, the fun and games began. Since I foolishly let Stacy – who has now been nicknamed Stacy No Direction – navigate us from Stanstead airport to our hotel at Euston, this was to turn out to be a mistake.
Me and Stacy trying to stay upbeat while lost in London!
We boarded our bus from the airport at 11.55 am, became impossibly lost, and five hours and four trains later, we finally managed to find our hotel. We gave ourselves five mins to collapse in relief and then we had to hustle, as there was already a line forming outside the IMAX cinema and we weren’t even dressed yet! Luckily we were both women on a mission and less than half an hour later, we were both outside waiting for our taxi to take us to Leister Square.
Me and Stacy outside our hotel waiting on a taxi!
When we first got there, we were a bit worried we’d left it too late as the queue was huge, spanning the edge of Leister Square. We took our places at the end of the line, and more people kept arriving after us. At one point, we saw the queue behind us had trailed off down one of the side streets! It was crazy how many people were there and we worried that we were too far away from the action on the red carpet to see anything. The tickets had said to arrive at 6.45 pm and we had gotten there at least half an hour before that, but fans who didn’t have tickets had camped out the night before around the red carpet to get a glimpse of Louis and his family. The ticket holders in the line were all a bit annoyed as we felt this could have been handled a bit better. As it was, the ticket holders couldn’t get near the red carpet to see who was arriving at all. Every now and then those near the red carpet would cheer and we were a bit annoyed that we couldn’t see what was happening.
The queue was all around the edge of Leister Square!
However, our annoyance quickly vanished when celebs actually started to walk past our section of the queue! First, Liam and his team walked past us, waving and even pausing to say hi to me and Stacy (who looked like she might actually faint). He looked so nervous but happy as he walked along the queue towards the red carpet. Of course, I quickly fired off a message to our gaffer at No Stunts so she could let our followers know Liam was there to support Louis.
After Liam, we saw Louis! We honestly thought we’d hit the jackpot with Liam so when Louis and his team walked past us, smiling and even waving directly at me and Stacy, I thought we were all going to explode from surprise and happiness! Again, I let the boss know so they could put it on Twitter. Oli was next, just casually strolling along happy as anything, trying not to draw attention to himself. We spotted him right away though and waved at him. He kept his head down though and didn’t interact with the crowd. After Oli, we saw Only The Poets arrive. They didn’t walk past us though but we couldn’t complain as we had already been rather lucky with seeing Liam and Louis so close by.
Finally, the queue started to move and we passed through security and got our wristbands to enter the theatre. We got to walk along the red carpet, which was very strange as all the fans who had camped out were staring at us and taking pictures of us all. I honestly don’t know how Louis handles that amount of attention all of the time as it just made me want to hide! We took a quick photo op at the top of the stairs on the red carpet and went into the theatre to choose our seats.
AOTV wristbands and posing on the red carpet!
We opted to sit on the left of the screen near the front, which meant we had a good view of the screen and would have a good view of the Q&A before the film. Louis, the big softie that he is, had gifted every attendee with popcorn and a bottle of water for them to enjoy the film with. As much as a glass of wine would have been more welcome, the water was highly appreciated!
Liam took his seat with other celebs at the top row of the theatre and waved to the fans as everyone stood and cheered for him. There was honestly so much Liam love, which made some of the negativity regarding his presence post-premiere all the more baffling. He even took pics of the screen with the All Of Those Voices advertisement on it, which we just know he put right into the group chat.
Liam waved at the fans in the theatre as they all cheered for him!
Once everyone was seated, the Q&A session began. The questions were well thought out and both Louis and Charlie had plenty of time to give proper answers. It didn’t feel scripted or rushed at all, and both Louis and Charlie seemed to be comfortable with it all.
Mostly, the Q&A was funny and informative, and everyone in the audience cheered like mad when it was all over.
After the film was over, the entire theatre erupted in cheers and applause. Everyone seemed so emotional and proud of Louis and the general atmosphere was buzzing. We left the theatre and met up with several other fans outside the venue, most of which didn’t want their picture to be used as they had been crying during the film and didn’t feel they looked very pleasing. One woman said she was sure she had cried her entire face of makeup off!
There were many fans still waiting outside even though they must have been freezing, waving posters and signs and hoping for another glimpse of Louis. When I spoke to some of them, they were happy to talk, stating they were gutted they didn’t get tickets but that Louis meant so much to them that they still had to come and support him in any way they could, even if that meant they had to stand for hours in the cold to do it.
Two fans proudly showed me their poster as I took their picture.
After I had spent some time talking with the other fans, I saw Only The Poets leaving the venue and called out to Tommy. As far as fangirl moments go, this was a big one for me. I really love Only The Poets and have seen them three times live so far. So of course I had to take the opportunity to go over and say hi to them. Honestly, as if I didn’t already think Louis was amazing, he also brought me Only The Poets!
My terrible camera skills when taking a selfie with Only The Poets!
Afterwards, we felt like we needed to process everything that had happened so far, so we headed to a cocktail bar and drank our emotions. I honestly felt so emotional and hyped after the film that I just wanted to be hugged tight for half an hour but I also felt like I couldn’t sit still for more than two minutes. It was so strange and just the best feeling. We discussed the film as we drank and quickly decided that Oli was the best thing out of the whole thing. He was so funny and also showed so much support for Louis that he made our hearts melt. Everyone needs a friend like Oli! Also, I feel like we need a special mention for Maraca Oli, as that was something I never thought I would get to see and am so glad I did!
The best part of the whole film! Maraca Oli!
All in all, we had a fantastic night (minus the hour where we ended up assisting two very drunken 18-year-olds who collapsed in Mcdonald’s into an ambulance to get their stomachs pumped – it’s all drama drama drama in London!). We talk and drank and danced (badly) before getting a taxi back to our hotel and collapsing into two semi-drunken heaps. It was an amazing experience and it’s just so surreal to think I was there, in the same room as Louis and his family and Liam and so many other celebs eating popcorn! Let’s face it, not even being thrown up on by a drunken girl could put a damper on such a night!
