The ringing in my ears is finally starting to subside from what was undoubtedly the loudest concert I have ever been to. Twenty-thousand screaming fans descended upon Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Sunday night to watch One Direction perform, and I have never seen—or heard—anything quite like it.

One Direction, a British-Irish group comprised of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles, have made it quite clear that the boy band phenomenon is back. Girls were actually sobbing in the stands as the band performed on stage to their largest crowd to date.

The boys performed songs from their debut album Up All Night, including current singles “One Thing” and “What Makes You Beautiful.” They also included a medley of acoustic covers ranging in style from the Black Eyed Peas’ “I’ve Got a Feelin,” to an impressive rendition of Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie.”

Though they lack the dancing and choreography of the *NSYNC/Backstreet Boys era, they make up for it with their surprisingly strong vocals and stage presence. Their preppy, school boy image won over the hearts of all the girls in the audience and had the crowd on their feet for the entire set.

The boys seemed genuinely humbled by the fans’ reaction and continually thanked everyone for their overwhelming support. Many girls came dressed in T-shirts with sayings like “Mrs. Horan” and “Will You Harry Me?” emblazoned on them. Two fanatics sitting next to me even proudly showed off their manicures which had the boys’ names and favorite things delicately painted on them.

The band seemed to be enjoying their visit to the Lone Star state, often attempting a Texas accent between songs and actually saying that they enjoyed the heat.

Their first album has already sold 800,000 copies in the U.S. alone, and the band is currently recording their second. If you missed Sunday night’s show don’t fear, One Direction is already scheduled to come back to Houston on July 21, 2013.

While we may have temporarily gone deaf from all of the screaming, we left the Pavilion in high spirits and the chorus of the encore song “I Want” permanently stuck in our heads.