Prepare Yourself: One Direction Comes to Houston Tomorrow

The world is an often dark and ugly place. Ferguson. James Foley. Ebola: things that we'd all like to avoid, but things we can't (and shouldn't) ignore, at least not in this hypermedia age that we live in.

That's not to say that the times we live in are worse than any other times, just that we've never had as much access to misery at our fingertips as we do now. Which might explain why at least a few of us are looking forward to escaping the darkness, if only for a few hours, at the biggest concert event of the year.

Yes, we're talking about the big One Direction show at NRG Stadium tomorrow night, a show so massive it's hard to believe that it exists. But of course it does. We all need some light in our life.

You get a group of good-looking guys that can sing together and you have them pump out some singles. They play The Woodlands. More singles. They play the Toyota Center. More singles. They play NRG Stadium. It's a pretty logical progression when you think about it. That's the extremely shortened version of the One Direction story, as far as it concerns Houston.

Still, it's a little weird to think the biggest regular (as regular as any non-rodeo show at NRG can be) show of the year is going to come from a boy band. Katy Perry, Taylor Swift or Bey Z we might understand, but even though we know about the hit singles and the new album and that whole "they're getting more mature" thing, it's still baffling to think that a whole bunch of people are paying some serious cash for this show.

Looking at the official ticket-purchasing site, you're mostly out of luck if you're looking to buy from Ticketmaster directly, but some resale tickets are available, with prices ranging from $50 to $505 or thereabouts.

Real talk: at what point do you think the person who bought the entire row in section B2 starts to worry that maybe, just maybe, this investment isn't going to pay off?

Good news for parents, cabbies and Uber drivers: NRG has supplied a map of the drop-off route that you'll be stuck in traffic getting to. This is the sacrifice you make when you decide not to enjoy the show with your loved one/passenger.

For those of you who want to drop off your kids but neither want to drive home or stay for the show, there's a parents lounge being set up in the NRG Center. Sounds like a super fancy version of the Warped Tour's Adult Daycare, and is something we can certainly get behind.

As for what to expect from the show itself, there are plenty of reviews out there, but we're going to stick to just knowing the set list and predicting... hmm.... let's say confetti, pyro and for the members of the band to go airborne at some point. Playing it safe with the prediction? Of course. We're talking about One Direction here.

(No "Teenage Dirtbag" on this tour? Bummer.)