Many fans noticed that when singer-songwriter Louis Tomlinson announced the ‘How Did We Get Here?’ tour dates, the Amsterdam date was to take place on April 20th – or 420. A funny coincidence or specifically planned? Possibly the latter, as Tomlinson even released special merch for this event online mere hours before the show started. Thousands of eager fans had lined up throughout the day to get the best spot in the venue and experience this special night together.
Doors to the Ziggo Dome opened at 18:30, and only half an hour later, the first support act, ADMT, took to the stage together with his guitarist. The singer-songwriter, whose real name is Adam Taylor, hails from Doncaster, the same city Tomlinson himself grew up in. Taylor opened the set with ‘Homeless’, which was quickly followed by ‘Burn Brighter’. In between the songs, Taylor took the time to talk to the audience about their meanings. He, for example, spoke about how he wrote ‘Overboard’ about mental health and specifically his being diagnosed with depression. In his music, Taylor wants to tell his own story. “If you don’t live your truth, you’ll never be free”. Throughout his set, the audience excitedly clapped and swayed along, and formed hearts with their hands, eagerly returned by Taylor himself. The singer ended the set with ‘Cover to Cover’, during which he held up a Dutch flag. However, he held it upside down for quite a bit, which led to the audience jokingly booing him until he turned it the right side up. ADMT’s bubbly personality and honest lyricism surely made many fans fall in love with him tonight. For those who want to hear more, the singer will be releasing his debut album, From Good to Bad and Back Again, on May 15th.
Next up was English rock band Pale Waves, which consists of lead singer and guitarist Heather Baron-Gracie, bassist Charlie Wood, and drummer Ciara Doran. The three-piece band began their part of the evening with ‘Eighteen’ and ‘Perfume’. As Pale Waves’ music is quite different from Louis Tomlinson’s, it was slightly harder for them to get the audience going. However, as soon as they played a magnificent cover of The Cranberries ‘Zombie’, everyone screamed along to the lyrics. From that point onwards, the audience was visibly more excited. As Baron-Gracie stated halfway through the set, Pale Waves is a “very, very queer band”, and quite a few rainbow flags were being waved all over the floor area. Especially ‘She’s My Religion’ got a huge reaction, and when Baron-Gracie said that the next song, ‘Kiss Me Again’, was also a gay anthem, loud cheers could be heard. Guitarist Charlie Wood had asked the audience earlier in the set who had heard of them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, not many people raised their hands, but when Wood later asked if people would come to see them on their own headline tour, many people did voice their support. Let’s hope Pale Waves will be playing that headline show in Amsterdam sooner rather than later!
A few minutes past nine, it was finally time for the night’s main event. Flashing white lights lit up the audience as blue lasers ‘drew’ the question mark logo from Tomlinson’s latest album onto the LED screen. Five band members walked on stage first before a Dutch voice-over welcomed the fans to the tour. As soon as Louis Tomlinson himself took to the stage, he dove right into ‘Lemonade’. The confetti canons went off halfway through, making the entire venue yellow. He followed with ‘On Fire’, for which a fan project had been organised, the venue lighting up yellow, orange and red. After moving on to ‘Written All Over Your Face’ and fan-favourite ‘Out of My System’, Tomlinson walked to the B-stage at the end of the catwalk for the first time tonight. Here, he performed the slower, more emotional ‘Bigger Than Me’.
“Amsterdam, 420, how did we get here?” Tomlinson shouted as soon as he made it back to the main stage. He told the audience he was particularly excited for this show as he continued with ‘Saturdays’ and ‘Holding on to Heartache’. The latter gained a huge reaction as it had not been played on this tour yet. Fans’ emotions ran even higher when the next song turned out to be ‘Dark to Light’, a beautifully raw song from his latest album, How Did We Get Here?. Flashlights lit up the venue like stars in the night sky, and through the loud singing, loud sobbing could also be heard. After continuing the set with ‘Broken Bones’ and an acoustic rendition of ‘Defenceless’, Tomlinson left the stage as a video began to play on the LED screen. Spotlights were pointed at several areas of the crowd as cameras filmed the enthusiastic fans. In the meantime, the instruments were set up on the B-stage, so that Tomlinson and his band could perform several songs there.
Tomlinson started this next section with an acoustic version of ‘Just Hold On’, the studio version of which is an EDM collaboration between the singer and DJ Steve Aoki. He continued with several songs from his new album: ‘Lazy’, ‘Sunflowers’ – during which quite a lot of people held up either real, fake, or handmade sunflowers – and ‘Lucid’. Throughout the next song, Tomlinson’s band members walked back towards the main stage one by one, until only the singer himself was left. As soon as he made it back too, he had to light one up. “This is one of my favourite fucking cities in the world, and it’s not just about the weed,” Tomlinson stated, laughter sounding from the fans. He took this moment to show how grateful he felt to be able to perform here, as he said that “this is a fanbase where every single person makes such a huge difference on me, my life, my career, everything”.
Over halfway through the set, Tomlinson continued the show with the banger ‘Jump the Gun’, followed by ‘Imposter’ and ‘Sanity’. Another real fan favourite turned out to be ‘Kill My Mind’. Halfway through the song, the fans lit up their flashlights and moved them up and down to create a very cool effect that filled the entire room. Finally, Tomlinson ended this high-energy part of the set with ‘Face the Music’ and ‘Silver Tongues’, the two of them divided by a short keyboard interlude. Tomlinson then walked towards the B-stage once more to perform half of ‘The Observer’, performing the second half back on the main stage before wishing the audience “goodnight”. Of course, this was not yet the actual end of the show. One last video played on the LED screen before Tomlinson took to the B-stage one last time tonight, this time to perform ‘The Answer’ together with just his guitarist. Flashlights lit up the room one last time as well.
Back on the main stage, Louis Tomlinson ended the show with two more songs, but not before thanking the audience again. “Everybody says they got the best fans, but I really do,” he said as the audience cheered loudly. He closed off the evening with ‘Miss You’ and ‘Palaces’. During the latter, the confetti canons went off for the second time, ending the night with a bang. While Tomlinson’s show might not have had the most advanced production, the simple band setup and clever visuals on the LED screens worked really well. The fans knew the lyrics to every single song and were clearly happy to see their favourite ex-One Direction member shine on the big stage. Tomlinson himself also seemed truly happy to be here, and that was not just because of the weed – the fans were what made this night one Tomlinson will never forget, and neither will the thousands of people in attendance.
