Louis Tomlinson at Andrew J. Brady Music Center - Cincinnati, OH

Louis Tomlinson has embarked on his first ever world tour as a solo artist. The former member of One Direction made a stop at the Andrew J. Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 19 to a sold out crowd.

Fans of One Direction and its members have always harbored a reputation as being the craziest, loudest, and most dedicated group of supporters in the world. This rule met no exception in Cincinnati! The lucky ticket-holders began lining up on the freezing streets as early as 32 hours before Louis’ show was set to begin. Armed with HotHands and Louis dolls, the crowd spent their time signing flags and chatting about their love for Louis.

The show began at 8pm with a set from surfer-rock band Sun Room. At 9pm on the dot, the lights went down. The drone of a sound effect began to play, and the giant smiley-face banner dropped from above. Louis Tomlinson stepped onto the stage to wild screams with the biggest smile on his face. He took in the sight as he began to sing We Made It. Yes, he’s made it. The night consisted of songs from Louis’ album, covers from other bands, and songs originally performed by One Direction.

During Too Young, fans held up signs that read “this is everything we’ve waited for,” as an homage to the lyrics in the song, as well as their time spent waiting for this tour. It was originally planned for 2020, but rescheduled due to the pandemic. In fact, the Cincinnati show was added last-minute to the tour lineup, only announced less than a month ago, after a cancellation from Toronto.

An unfortunate consistency on Louis’ tour so far has been the necessity to stop the show at various points due to fans in the standing pit needing medical assistance. After camping for many hours in the cold and standing in the hot venues for even longer, dehydration and exhaustion has become the enemy of many fans. Security did an incredible job of making sure to monitor the crowd for anyone who needed help and had water on hand, ready to be passed out. Louis, too, made sure to encourage hydration throughout the show and repeated his pleas for them to take care of themselves. In the first 30 seconds of performing Beautiful War, he called out “stop the show” to make sure that several fans could get taken care of. After 5 or so minutes of police, security, and fan intervention, the show went on.

Whether they became fans of Louis after the release of his solo album Walls, or have been One Direction fans since 2012, the crowd at this show had an absolute blast dancing and singing along to the music. It was certainly a night to remember in Cincinnati.

You can learn more about Louis' album and tour at louis-tomlinson.com.

SETLIST

1. We Made It

2. Drag Me Down (One Direction cover)

3. Don’t Let It Break Your Heart

4. Two of Us

5. Always You

6. Too Young

7. 7 (Catfish and the Bottlemen cover)

8. Fearless

9. Habit

10. Copy of a Copy of a Copy

11. Just Hold On

12. Defenceless

13. Beautiful War (Kings of Leon cover)

14. Little Black Dress (One Direction cover)

15. Walls

16. Only the Brave

17. Through the Dark (One Direction cover)

18. Kill My Mind