You read the title correctly, yes I did get to go to Harry Styles: Love on Tour, and not to be dramatic, but it was a life-changing experience. Fans, like myself, have been waiting as long as two years for their concerts to finally happen as COVID pushed back the tour dates not once, but twice now. Thankfully, the shows did go on and Mr. Styles did not disappoint. From “Golden” to “Kiwi,” the entire audience was out of their seats, dancing, laughing and some even conga-lining the entire night.
When I say Love on Tour was an experience, I mean it wholeheartedly. Before I can get into the show itself, I should start with some backstory. I did not have tickets to this event. With all the wait and anticipation, tickets for this show were a hot commodity. It has been sold out for months and resale tickets were going from anywhere between $300 – $1500. With so many scammers out there as well, I was not looking to buy resale tickets.
When I was younger, I was a concert maniac. I went to concerts for artists like Justin Bieber, The Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana when she was in her prime. How did I get tickets to all these shows? The box office. On the day of an event, there will usually be a few leftover tickets, even if the show is “sold out.” This is because the band may have leftover tickets they didn’t end up using or there may be some last-minute returns. Regardless, there is still a chance. I remember my mom telling me about getting these tickets when I was younger and I decided that was what I was going to do on the day of the Harry Styles event. It was worth a shot.
Unfortunately, word about box office tickets spread like wildfire, and a lot of other fans had the same idea as me. Around 900 other fans to be more precise. On the day of the concert, I rushed from my 9 AM class to an Uber so I could secure my spot in line on the day of. With my best friend by my side, we plopped ourselves down in line and simply waited. We were 556 and 557 so the chances were slim, but we were not taking no for an answer.
So, from 10 AM until about 8 PM, we waited. It was freezing cold, there was nowhere to sit, and I had to watch as each of the three portable chargers we brought slowly died one by one. For lack of better words, the line was gruesome. We began moving a lot around an hour before the show was supposed to start (which was at 8 PM). We finally entered the grounds of The Forum and thought there was hope. I could see the box office sign from where I was standing. This is where things took a turn for the worst.
“There are no more tickets for the show tonight!” the security guards would scream. “Go home!” I would hear. Any normal person would hear this and think that it was time to leave but us fans did not want to take no for an answer. The majority of the line stayed despite the cries there were no more tickets. It is almost 8 PM at this point and the opener was getting ready to go on. For the few of us that were left, we continued to wait. We were not giving up until Harry went on. Still, without a ticket in hand, I made my way through security and was now in line outside of the box office.
I was so close, yet so far. In my deluded and quite stubborn head, I was not taking no for an answer. I had a gut feeling I would be in that arena that night, no matter what it took. I was scanning Twitter, looking for any kind of ticket. The box office was officially closed at this point, yet I held out hope. By around 8:30 PM, a miracle happened. The universe was on my side and I found an account on Twitter selling two tickets at face value. I screamed and jumped with joy. It was happening. Right in the nick of time, I secured my ticket.
By 8:40 PM, I was in the arena. My heart could not stop racing. Somehow my dreams became a reality. I took a second to take in my surroundings. All around on pillars were Harry Styles lyrics plastered for fans to take pictures in front of. There was even a “timeline” of Harry’s career all along one wall. For a Styles fan, this was sincerely heaven on Earth. I had just enough time for pictures and to get merch before running to my seat at nine to be there in time for the opening.
Then commenced probably ninety of the best minutes of my life. The stage was circular and set up in the middle of the arena so no matter what seat you had, your view was amazing. Harry pranced around the stage, always dancing and smiling and bringing a fun, lighthearted energy as he sang about virtually every fruit you can name. I mean that literally as he sang “Cherry,” “Watermelon Sugar” and “Kiwi” all in the same night. And if you are reading this and are a major Harry Styles fan, I am here to confirm he did play “Medicine,” and I can confirm life peaked at that moment for everyone in the crowd.
It was an absolute stunner of a show and I am so grateful to have gotten the experience to go. Besides his killer performance on stage, there were so many other cool aspects of the night. For example, I saw Lizzo, SZA and BTS casually dancing in the crowd. Another highlight of the night was possibly making it into the Love on Tour documentary. As Harry was playing, the camera crew came directly into my section and began filming the show as well as the crowd so I was heavily dancing and flinging my boa around for the camera. When it comes out, keep an eye out for me during “Treat People with Kindness.”
I also wanted to give a special shout out to everyone else who was in attendance at the show because the fans did not come to play. Harry Styles concert outfits are not your run-of-the-mill fits. Every fan in the stands was dressed as if they were starring in the show themselves and I LOVED IT. There were boas on boas, sparkly pants and fun patterned everything. You cannot go to Love on Tour without dressing the part, so it was fun seeing how all the fans dressed up.
Overall, despite waiting ten hours in line with no actual tickets, I 100% would go through the entire experience again. There is a certain energy that is in the air when all these fans come together to see Harry perform. You could feel the excitement that was radiating off of everyone and the passion behind it. Even waiting in line, I was able to make friends with some of the coolest girls as we bonded over Harry and how badly we wanted to see the show. If you ever get the opportunity to see Harry Styles live, do it. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and you will 100% have to balance the fine line between screaming, crying and throwing up. And now I must say, until next time Harry.