There’s something to be said about artists that grow up with us. For many, spending over a year in isolation brings up nostalgia for simpler times. It may bring memories of being a zit-faced pre-teen jamming out to “What Makes You Beautiful” in the back of a minivan, times when one’s biggest worry would be whether they’d end up with Zayn or Harry when playing MASH at sleepovers.
Although many former Directioners’ music taste has certainly evolved since 2010, 2020 was the perfect opportunity to revisit childhood obsessions. Luckily, Louis Tomlinson is providing a new virtual concert and an opportunity for fans to fall back in love.
For those unfamiliar with the British pop scene, Tomlinson started his music career on the X-Factor, was one-fourth of One Direction, has writing credits on 37 of the band’s tracks and garnered over a billion streams from his solo music.
“The Away From Home Festival,” Tomlinson’s brainchild, was held on Aug. 30, 2020 at the historic Crystal Palace Bowl in London. Over 8,500 lucky fans scored tickets to the completely free one-day event through an online prize-draw.
For those who didn’t snag tickets to the in-person event (or hop on a flight to London), Tomlinson will host a global streaming event on Sept. 4, featuring a mini-documentary, 70-minute full concert and backstage footage from the festival.
For all live-music junkies, the pandemic has been a sad, lonely drought from a favorite pastime, a void that’s been filled, to an extent, with new music releases and concert live streams.
The Away from Home global event isn’t Tomlinson’s first rodeo with pandemic streaming. The British singer-songwriter sold over 160,000 tickets to his concert live stream in December 2020, making it one of the biggest concert live stream events that year.
Monday marked the artist’s first time performing in front of a live audience in 18 months, after his sold-out world tour was postponed in 2020. According to a statement released by Simon Jones PR, the festival was held in celebration of the return of live music this summer.
“I’ve been sat on this idea for the last 12 months at least, and now to see it come to life makes me very excited,” said Tomlinson. “Personally, playing live shows is the best part of what I do, and it’s been far too long since I’ve seen my fans, so I wanted to put this festival on to say thank you for all the support and celebrate the return of live music. I’ve got a really good feeling it’s going to be a really special night. We all deserve that!”
For those who would like to tune in, tickets for the global streaming event are available for purchase at https://smarturl.it/awayfromhome.
UKMC (Aug. 31, 2021)
