One Direction are currently on an epic 128-date world tour to support their latest album, Take Me Home. They have already made a comprehensive trip around Europe, including an impressive six sold out shows at The O2 Arena in London. The next stop is America, with the US leg of the tour kicking off in sunny Florida this Thursday, 13th June. The tour will continue, taking in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, until the end of October, just in time for the boys to begin the promo campaign for their forthcoming third album. Find tickets to live events including the Take Me Home tour.
For Harry, Louis, Niall, Zayn and Liam, the past three years have been a whirlwind, and their schedule doesn’t allow for much of a break this year. However, they don’t have much room for complaint, as all five band members were included in the 2013 Sunday Times Rich List. According to the newspaper report, they are each worth £5 million, or in total £25 million. That puts them only £5 million behind Adele, who had by far the biggest selling album in the world last year! One Direction’s wealth was earned not just by music sales, but by merchandise, endorsement deals, and of course the exhaustive world tours.
You might be worrying what a group of boys all aged under 21 would choose to spend £25 million on, but in fact they won’t have much time to splash the cash. To make the most of their moment at the top, One Direction’s record label Syco are planning to release their third album in three years towards the end of 2013. According to Ed Sheeran, who penned 1D’s 2012 hit Little Things, album number three is already complete, presumably recorded in any spare moment during the recent European tour. Songwriter Wayne Hector, who has been writing for the band, says that the new music will have a more mature sound. However, Syco aren’t known for taking big risks, so it’s unlikely we’ll hear anything too dramatically different.
For now, they’re still performing the hits and fan favourites from Up All Night and Take Me Home. The Take Me Home tour setlist also makes room for a few covers, including the Comic Relief single One Way Or Another, and at a recent show, the Backstreet Boys classic I Want It That Way. One Direction concerts are known for fan hysteria, and if you’re not prepared to sing, dance and scream along, you’ll be missing out on the full boyband experience.