Rainbow feather boas, pink cowboy hats, and cherries decked out thousands of city-goers across the capital of Wales. It could only mean one thing; Harry Styles was finally welcoming Cardiff to his ‘house’ at the Principality Stadium.
It had been a long wait for Welsh Harries to see him take to the stage, with the concert falling eight years and two weeks since One Direction took to the stadium as a four-piece on their On The Road Again Tour in 2015, but the wait was certainly worth it.
Love On Tour is a perfect package that encapsulates the atmosphere and the joy his music has brought fans. From the second he bounced on stage for the opening track ‘Daydreaming’, the energy was electric, enough to light up Cardiff for a month even. Despite having the roof on during a scorching summer’s evening, Cardiff has not had a crowd this loud in years, with passers-by recording how insane the atmosphere was.
Leave America Cardiff ?? #HarryStyles #HSLOT pic.twitter.com/FM0n1ZZWHe
— Em | Mickey’s bestie (@littleteagirl_) June 20, 2023
To be able to command a stadium of 70,000+ people on your own is truly a challenge that not many can do, but Harry Styles has the charisma and star quality to do just that. Dancing the night away to bangers such as Music For A Sushi Restaurant, Golden and Satellite, euphoric escapism is not enough to describe the overwhelming sense of joy that overcame every soul in the stadium that evening. Not even a Wales Grand Slam win in the Six Nations could compare to the bliss that the Principality Stadium had during Harry’s stay.
“If you feel comfortable, take the hand of the person next you, now we really find out how hot it is in here” – Harry on stage at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, 20 June (via @besosweetkim)
pic.twitter.com/xTqMsu0juQ— HSD Love On Tour (@hsdlot) June 20, 2023
Harry Styles has created an environment not only within his online fanbase, but in his live events too of love, light, freedom, and of course, kindness. His first crowd talk of the night instructed concert go-ers to “Turn to the person on your left and say ‘I love you.’ Turn to the person on your right and say ‘I’ve got you’.” Even during the emotional deep cut Matilda from Grammy Award-winning album Harry’s House, fans have undertaken a project of ‘letting go’ of heart balloons during the chorus. A sign of releasing their worries and pain, causing an incredibly moving scene during such a heartbreaking song. The safe space his live events have become for his fans to be who they are, and feel free and open to be just themselves only adds to the overwhelming appeal of the United Kingdom’s finest pop export.
Starting out a mere 10-minute walk away in the Cardiff International Arena on the X Factor Tour in 2011, to selling out two nights (with a third definitely possible) in the Principality Stadium in 2023, Harry Styles only continues to go from strength to strength as an artist and as a performer.
Witnessing the global stars’ triumphant return to the Welsh capital could only create one feeling; that we were watching a legend during his prime years. The final shows of his two-year-long Love On Tour run would be recreated in future documentaries about his incredible career and the levels that he has reached during his 13 years in the industry. Many will tell their children and grandchildren of their youth witnessing Harry sing Sign of the Times, just as our parents and grandparents tell us tales of watching Freddie Mercury command the stage in their younger years. He truly has become the rockstar of our generation.
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