Love On Tour: an occasion to dress up in your fanciest clothes and wear a boa with no judgment. For those of you who don’t like Harry Styles (how?) and don’t know what I’m talking about, Love On Tour is the name of his current, well, tour. It started on September 4th, 2021 and is set to finish on July 22nd, 2023, and, despite its length, he keeps adding new dates all around the world. I remember last semester, after I had already seen him at Harryween in October, he announced 15 nights at Madison Square Garden, 15 nights in Los Angeles and a couple nights in Austin, Chicago and Toronto. This was a complete surprise as his North American leg of the tour had supposedly already finished and he had already planned dates in Europe and Australia. Of course, I was very excited and immediately texted my parents to ask for permission to go. However, it seems that this tour is never-ending and I have to wonder if this is taking a toll on his physical and mental health.
Obviously, we all want to see our favorite artist on stage. It’s one of the best feelings ever in my opinion. But in this situation, I have to wonder if this is going to have serious effects on Harry’s health. He’s been on the move, from country to country, for over a year and he still has one more year to go. He hasn’t been home in a very long time which means he probably has not seen his family and friends or spent quality time with them. That must take a heavy mental toll. Not only that, but his concerts are very physically demanding as well. He holds very long notes multiple times each concert, and dances and jumps around for over an hour multiple nights in a row.
And after everything he is already doing, people have the audacity to complain that there are not enough dates. When Harry announced his new European dates, after he had canceled them due to COVID, people were quick to criticize him and question why the United States had gotten way more dates. I think this is an unfair criticism. Yes, Europe is a continent while the US is a singular country. However, if we compare physical and population size, the USA is bigger. Plus, traveling between European countries and cities is far easier than in the United States thanks not only to its smaller size but fantastic international transportation system. It’s simply easier for a person in Barcelona to travel to Madrid to see Harry than for a person to go from Boston to New York, even if they are both the same distance apart. Not only that, but adding even more dates would exacerbate the amount of time Harry has to spend work without a solid extended break and without seeing his family.
Is that okay? I know touring is part of his job description, however, I think there are limits. He’s still a human being, after all.