Rabid fans of pre-fab British boy band, One Direction, have been camping out in front of 30 Rock for days in hopes of seeing their idols on this week’s “Saturday Night Live.”
About 150 devotees were lined up on the sidewalk from the Rainbow Room marquee to the end of the block by Friday night.
The first guy in line, Leo Rivera of Beverly, Mass., claimed he arrived at 4 a.m. Tuesday.
“This is like what happened in the 60’s for the Beatles,” raved Rivera, 21. “It’s happening all over again.”
The pre-fab band of five lads from the United Kingdom formed two years ago, when all of them were on the British version of reality TV impresario Simon Cowell‘s “X Factor.”
They used YouTube and Tumblr to spread the word, and have snowballed in popularity, especially among teen girls and young women.
Mary Rose Pincus, 16, of Farmingdale, L.I., said she loves One Direction because the band’s lyrics encourage girls’ self-esteem.
“I’m inspired by them,” Pincus said. “Especially for girls who feel insecure about themselves, it makes you feel better. They call all their fans beautiful.”
A security guard outside NBC said only Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga‘s appearances have attracted lines this long.
Tickets for One Direction’s Dec. 3 concert at Madison Square Garden went on public sale Friday and fans said they were gone in a minute.
These groupies got a thrill earlier Friday, when one of the band members, Liam Payne, came out of rehearsal and caught the eye of some female fans. They asked him to pose for pictures, and he obliged. But Pincus said Payne asked, “So, what are you guys waiting for?”
When Pincus told him, “You!” his jaw dropped, she said. “He looked shocked.”
Soon a mob of young girls figured out what Pincus already knew. And, just like the mop-haired Brits in the first British Invasion, he had to run to escape the screaming horde.
