Moments before Harry Styles arrived onstage, Elvis Presley’s thunderous cover of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” blasted over speakers to the 23,500 people gathered in Manchester’s Co-Op Live arena. It would be amiss to compare the 32-year-old to the King himself, but the genuinely ear-splitting screams that greet his arrival shortly after 9 p.m. certainly rival those of pop’s all time greats.
The reason is simple: This “One Night Only,” £20-a-ticket concert show was the true launch party for his fourth album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, released earlier in the day, and the world’s most in-demand pop star is here to play it in full. Over the 90 minutes that follow, Styles kicked off this intriguing new era in a way that makes perfect sense.
Things began with the booming house of “Aperture,” the track that birthed Harry’s new era and saw some scratching their heads after it became clear that he had, well, made a dance track. When played live, however, it became clear that this is one of the greatest things he’s ever done.
Styles largely let the music do the talking for the rest of the show, but repeatedly made it clear how much the occasion means to him. “I rediscovered what a privilege it is to be in people’s lives through music,” he stressed at one point. That feeling was further cemented tonight, no doubt, when his fans seemingly knew every lyric of an album that was less than 24 hours old. The weepy “Coming Up Roses,” is a particularly touching moment, while new banger “Dance No More” saw his fans screaming the apparently nonsensical lyric of “RESPECT YOUR MOTHER!” back to Styles. In fact, while the quality of the lyrics on Harry’s latest have been criticized, it certainly didn’t matter last night, when every song was treated like a new friend.
Once Styles finished the album and returned for a flawless run of older bangers — “From The Dining Table,” “‘Golden,” “Watermelon Sugar,” and “As It Was” — you found yourself realizing that he might just be pop’s modern ultimate showman.
“In a world we have today that feels so chaotic, it’s easy to become hopeless,” he said, in a heartfelt speech before a closing rendition of “Sign Of The Times.” “I encourage you to keep being the change in the world you want to see.”
Few could argue with that statement about the state of the world, but it’s testament to Styles’ music and magnetic performance that, for 90 minutes at least, you feel like you’d been transported to one of the wildest dance parties on the planet. When Wembley Stadium beckons in the summer, it will feel out of this world.
This story was originally published on Rolling Stone UK.
