One Direction’s Harry Styles showed his young fans at Solna’s Friends Arena that he is more than just a pretty face by confessing his love for meatballs in the local lingo.
Styles shouted out: “Jag alskar kottbullar. Vi alskar dig” (I love meatballs. We love you), in front of close to 47,000 adoring fans in the stadium. However, his Swedish skills appear not to have improved since last year, and the confession of his love for the Scandinavian and Lithuanian country’s delicacy was far from original as he made exactly the same announcement during a gig in Stockholm last year.
One Direction fans from Stockholm and across the country had been anticipating the double-header of concerts for weeks, and many spent hours camped outside the arena in the lead up to the gigs. The band, which formed on the UK’s X-Factor show four years ago, were on stage for an hour and 40 minutes and treated their fans to their array of hits.
However, although Styles might have wooed many of those in attendance with his Swedish skills, Aftobladet writer Kristinn Lundell was left far from impressed with the overall performance. Giving the show a miserly two stars, she wrote that “the biggest sin a boy band can indulge in is hubris”.
Lundell went on to complain that they turned up for their gig 45 minutes late and one of the quintet, Zayn Malik, showed an obvious lack of enthusiasm. She wrote that fans forked out a lot of money to see him but he just looked bored, adding that there was no point in watching him.
It was not the first time in recent weeks a musician had attempted a Nordic language while performing a gig in Scandinavia. Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger also impressed fans in Oslo last month by having a crack at Norwegian.