Harry Styles Shows His Love - On Tour

Harry Styles is back and better than ever.

His sold-out Love On Tour concert kicked off on September 4, 2021 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The show brought out thousands of fans eager to see live music from one of this generations biggest stars.

I say biggest stars in general because Styles goes far beyond music. He’s become a fashion icon, movie star and his relationship with actress Olivia Wilde has shot into that stratosphere of people like Angelina and Brad, Tom and Kate, Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Ben and Jennifer. The only thing I’ve yet to hear is a clever name for the pair. Maybe Wilde Styles?? Ok. No, that made my think of ‘Wyld Stallyns!’ (It’s a Bill and Ted thing). But you get the point. The Harry Styles universe is an expansive place.

Having said all of that, Styles made a point to say during his performance that music is his first love and that he loves playing shows. From my perspective this came off with a sigh of relief to many of his fans, including myself, that adore his music making ability. I love everything else he has going on but please, for the love of everything, keep making this amazing music. Side note: Who else is losing sleep over hearing something from HS3?

The show opened with the song, ‘Golden’ and the crowd couldn’t have been happier. In between the word of the Charles Bukowski poem, “Style” were the signature vocals drops of “da da da do” and the crowd was electric every time they dropped in. It was an amazing moment and left me with goosebumps the size of your Father’s old Buick.

If you’ve been following my journey, you know that ‘Golden’ completely put me over the top as a Styles fan. I was already halfway up the fence with songs like, ‘Only Angel’, ‘Kiwi’ and ‘Sign of the Times’ but when I heard ‘Fine Line’ for the first time and listened the first song, I pretty much have not looked back since as proclaiming Styles as one of my all time favorite artists. Side Note #2: How epic was it having the show start with ‘Golden’ and ending with ‘Kiwi’? I mean, seriously.. If you know me, you know.

In the entertainment industry we talk about “pops” in the crowd when something big happens. This show was truly like a constant “pop” throughout and there was never a lull at any point in the show. I could quite literally drop in the setlist (which I will do at the end of this article) and I’m confident that there would be an array of different opinions on the shows biggest moments. And quite frankly, there’s no wrong opinion here. But I’d be lying if I told you there weren’t a few moments that tested my own ear drums more than others.

One of the most exciting pops was during ‘Treat People With Kindness’. The song already had people dancing in the aisles and cheering very loudly. But the roof nearly blew off of the arena when a friend of mine on Twitter, Kathryn had a pride flag fall to her and asked the person if they wanted her to throw the flag on stage. It was a yes, and the rest is show history. It was an ear and eye popping moment. Harry eventually picked up the flag, after keeping it from security and ran around the stage with it while letting out howling screams. The crowd was ignited in roar.

It was one of the loudest moments I’ve ever witness at a concert.

Two more moments that gave me chills. Guitarist Mitch Rowland walked the catwalk to deliver his edgy and to be honest, totally bitchin’ guitar solo on the song ‘She’. It was a great moment and the crowd definitely showed Mitch the love during that moment.

Harry Styles Mitch Rowland — Photo: HourlyHarry by Elisa – hourlyharry.com

The second thing is something that will stick with me forever. If you’ve ever been to a Harry Styles show you may know what I felt that night. Toward the end of ‘Sign of the Times’ the place was completely illuminated with with cell phone lights and all I can say is that it was one of those magical moments that everyone should experience. Sort of what I imagine it must’ve been like watching Prince perform ‘Purple Rain’, only with actually lighters filling the sky.

I’ll never forget it.

To be honest with you, as I look over the setlist and think back to each song, I could probably write something expansive on each. The show was that good.

Harry seemed to have an extra gear of confidence and stage presence like I’ve never seen before. Granted, up until this concert, I’ve only watched live performances on YouTube. Even still, there seemed to be something a little different. Call it age, experience or just pure joy, Styles has it all and keeps getting better. I can’t even imagine what his stage show will be like in the next five years. Don’t get me wrong, there was some of his well known stage-isms, like a trip here or there or “the whale” but overall he seemed to enter another level of superstar.

Another reason for the excellent show was the ‘Love Band’. Of course, I’m starting with one of my current favorite drummers in the world, Sarah Jones. She was locked in the whole night and I almost had my eyes on her as much as I did Harry. I said almost, but it’s closer than you might think. She’s an amazing drummer. Next is Ny Oh. She continues to blow everyone away on ‘Adore You’ and is the ultimate multi-instrumentalist.

Pauli Lovejoy added a whole new dimension of percussion and really filled out the sound beautifully. Elin Sandberg provided the bottom end (bass guitar) to the sound and really seemed to enjoy the crowd as much as they were enjoying her. Her smiles throughout the set were wide and often. Niji Adeleye not only added a masterful performance on the keys he also tested the low frequencies with some sub-bass level synths. He really rounds out the sound with everything he does. Last but not least is Mitch Rowland on guitar. The overall sound would absolutely suffer without his noodling and power chords. He brings a nice mix of guitar styles to the show and definitely a crowd favorite.

I’d love to hear from anyone that has attended any of the shows thus far. Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what some of your favorite moments from the show are. Who knows, you might end up in one of these articles. The same way that every photo I used here was from a callout I did on Twitter asking for anyone who had photos from the show to send my way. I think it’s a fun way to share in the joy and excitement from the show. Spread the love. And for goodness sake – TPWK.

-Tommy Marz

You can find Tommy on Twitter