We were lucky enough to see Harry Styles at the O2 Arena in London where he performed two sold-out shows as part of his world tour.
The support for the evening came from Mabel who took the stage for 30 minutes prior to Harry taking the stage. She sang a setlist of 7 songs. The highlight being her beautiful and haunting cover of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You.’
With the crowd warmed up it was time for Harry to take the stage in his leopard print custom-made Alexander McQueen suit.
He opened with ‘Only Angel’. Before singing album tracks ‘Woman and ‘Ever Since New York.’ He sang ‘Two Ghosts’, which was a firm crowd favourite.
Then the crowd went crazy as he sang the first of three tracks he would perform throughout the show as a nod to his 1D days. ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ was first up. The arrangement is different from the original version sung by Harry and his 1D bandmates. It’s far rockier and edgier. But it really works.
Harry without a doubt is an absolute professional. He strikes the balance of delivering the vocals and being in total command of the whole stage and audience, which is sometimes hard for a solo artist to do.
He by his own admission only has 10 songs, so told the adoring crowd that they would hear all of them and some covers plus songs they had never heard of before. Harry Styles underestimated his fans here, the two songs were ‘Medicine’ and Anna’, two tracks Styles had written and recorded for his first album as a solo artist but they didn’t make the cut. ( would love to know why as Medicine, in particular, is the track which would have fitted in on his album perfectly). The fans knew both Medicine and Anna word for word and sang along word for word.
Harry also covered Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ and did his own version of ‘Just a Little Bit of your Heart’, a song he had written but was given to Ariana Grande to record.
The standout moment was Harry’s performance on the ‘B Stage’ at the back of the arena. He walked through the crowd, much to their delight. It led to him doing another nod to One Direction, with a beautiful stripped back version of ‘If I Could Fly (For Your Eyes Only)’. He only sang ‘Sweet Creature’.
It also created one of the most magical and goosebump-inducing moments of the evenings. The whole of the O2 arena turned in to a rainbow for Sweet Creature. This was a fan-run project by @RainbowHProject for both nights of his O2. To show Harry the power of his fandom and how his concerts help any and all fans to feel safe and be themselves. Harry acknowledged the effort by telling the crowd “They were making the room look wonderful”.
The hard work and time that was put into this project by his fans to make the whole arena come together for one singular moment that no photo can do justice to is a testament to Harry and how as a performer his music and performances make people feel. To be able to envoke that reaction is a special gift not many performers have.
Harry’s last nod to One Direction was a reimagining of their hit ‘What Makes You Beautiful. Again it lost the pop edge and became far edgier but still as good and another favourite with the crowd. Especially audience member Richard who along with his wife Karen were celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary. They were noticed by Harry who congratulated the couple and made it his mission to get Richard to smile. His rendition of ‘What Make’s You Beautiful’ did just that, much to Harry’s amusement. He later apologised to Richard during ‘Sign of The Times.’
He ended the night on a high with crowd favourite ‘Kiwi’. Harry Styles is without a doubt a born performer. Be it as part of a band or as a solo artist. He exudes charm, you can tell he is firmly at home on the stage and he delivers a show which appeals to not just his fans but their boyfriends, girlfriends and parents who might not be big fans of his, but by the time they leave, they cannot help but admit Harry Styles is a true performer and knows how to put on a show!
Have you been to see Harry live yet or are you going? Share your thoughts with us over on @CelebMix!