It was December 2019 when I first got Harry Styles concert tickets. He had just dropped his sophomore album, Fine Line, and I was so excited to hear it live that upcoming September. Unfortunately, due to a certain virus that made its way to all corners of the world, the show was postponed. I was disappointed that I had to wait, but grateful that I would still be able to see him perform eventually.
When the rescheduled concert dates were announced, my heart dropped. His Bay Area show, which was the one I had tickets for, was scheduled for a Thursday in November 2021. I couldn’t be in the Bay then—I had to be at school in Santa Barbara! Even if I was able to miss my classes, I had no means of transportation that would not eat into the rest of my week. So, reluctantly, I sold my Harry Styles tickets.
While the announcement of Harry’s 12-show residency at the Kia Forum in October and November 2022 got me thinking I had a shot at finally seeing him live, scalpers’ hijacking of ticket prices meant that I had no luck finding affordable tickets. I was disappointed, but I figured there was nothing I could do. After all, I could not afford to drop hundreds of dollars on a ticket.
One day, though, on a FaceTime call with my little sisters, I got a wonderful surprise. One of my sisters had been able to score me a ticket at face value for November 12, 2022. I was going to see Harry Styles in concert.
As the date of the concert loomed closer, I began a frantic search for what to wear. Harry Styles fans are known to pull out all the stops for his concerts, making the occasion a pseudo-fashion show. While I did cut it close, I ended up pulling together a monochrome blue outfit the day before the show.
Before I knew it, it was November 12th. Having both gotten the anxious gene from our parents, my sister and I decided we had to show up to the Forum at 5:30 pm, even though the show didn’t start until 8. In all fairness to us, we also thought that it would take forever to even get into the parking lot and then the arena, and we wanted to have plenty of time.
To our surprise, though, we did almost no waiting at all. Because my anxious self had also purchased a parking pass ahead of time (what if they ran out of spots when we got there and we had to go park somewhere far away?) and there was absolutely no line of cars waiting to get in, we were parked outside of the Forum by 5:45.
I hastily did my makeup in the car mirror under the illumination of the streetlight and my phone’s flashlight, and then we headed in. While there was a line for the security check, it moved quickly and we were inside the gates in no time. The first thing we were greeted with inside the venue was a table run by Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization that Styles works with and has pledged money to in the past.
Next to them was a table holding a giveaway for a signed Harry Styles poster. To enter, all you had to do was be registered to vote. My sister and I agreed that this was a super cool way to promote voter registration, given Styles’ large teenage audience. As we walked around the outside of the Forum, we quickly saw that it truly had been transformed into Harry’s House for his 12-show residency. Fans were lined up to take pictures alongside quotes from Harry songs that had been painted onto the venue’s pillars. Huge flags with pictures of Styles were hung all around, and there were even lights along the top of the building reading “Harry’s House Night 10.” We spent plenty of time taking pictures of and with everything before making our way inside.
The first thing that we saw inside made me extremely happy: a vegan ice cream stand. As a vegan of six years, I am used to eating before and after a show since there are never many options at the venues. When I saw that the Forum had vegan ice cream, I immediately caved and got vanilla. Even though it tasted mediocre at best, the excitement that they had it at all made it worth my money.
My sister and I were in our seats by 7:45, and at 8 pm sharp, Ben Harper came on stage to open the show. While I had never heard his music before, he was pretty good, and his daughter, who came out to perform a song with him, was incredible. He concluded his set with a performance of Harry’s song “Boyfriends,” which is not a favorite of mine, though I did enjoy Harper’s rendition of it.
As we waited for Styles to take the stage following Harper’s set, the audience came together multiple times to belt out the songs that played on the speakers, including “Bohemian Rhapsody” and a song from Harry’s One Direction days. Finally, just after 9, Styles and his band took the stage and launched into his song “Daydreaming”.
While Harry’s red-, white-, purple-, and yellow-striped outfit was a bit of a letdown compared to the outfits he had worn on previous nights of the residency, that was about as far as the disappointment went. Styles was an incredible performer, interacting with the audience frequently and even helping one fan with her gender reveal. Every song was performed with lots of energy and passion, and how he managed to dance for 90 minutes straight while still singing beautifully is beyond me. His interactions with his band were also adorable, and it was clear that he really loves the people he works with.
While he briefly left the stage after his initial performance, everyone knew better than to leave, and he returned for a 3-song encore, ending the night with a passionate performance of “Kiwi.”
By 10:45, we were all walking out of the Forum with a ringing in our ears and a smile on our faces. It had been an incredible show, and a night we would remember. On a personal level, it was a night I had waited nearly three years for, and I was so grateful that the wait had been worth it.