At his concert in Munich’s Olympiahalle, megastar Harry Styles shows why he is considered the most iconic musician of his generation: with old and new hits, rituals that he has come to love, charming teasing and the right look.
“Tell the person on your right that you love them. And the person on your left. And then close your eyes and say it to yourself,” Harry Styles urges his audience in the packed Olympiahalle during his concert. Thousands of fans are devoted to this mission, after all, Styles is on a world tour under the motto “Love On Tour”, and there is an abundance of love this evening.
Fans had to wait two years because the “Fine Line” tour for Style’s album of the same name was postponed due to the pandemic. Now the Brit’s third solo album has been released, the one by the boy band founded in the “X-Factor” talent show one direction became famous and since the start of his solo career he has been heroized as a figurehead of an enlightened generation as well as a fashion icon (he was the first man to cover the cover of the Vogue graced) experienced. It’s called “Harry’s House” and is celebrated by the fans as a metaphor for the feeling of security that the 28-year-old gives them. Styles starts the show with the eighties-inspired piece “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” and sprints across the stage in red-pink leather pants and a shirt. This is followed by “Golden” and “Adore You”. New songs are played, intimately performed with the accompaniment of two musicians.
At the concert, some songs from “Harry’s House” show that a small club tour would suit them – such as the melancholic “Keep Driving”. Styles flirts with fans and celebrates rituals that date back to the One Direction era: He calls out “This is a family show” and then asks mischievously “… or is it?” He has been performing this sentence at concerts for more than ten years, and it also sums up the change in his own status: in the boy band he was first the cute curly-headed boy, later he became the long-haired Dirty Harry, who was besieged by the gossip press because of his model affairs, and in the During his solo career, he became a supporter of the LGBTQIA movement – albeit a controversial one. On the one hand, Styles is praised for making the queer community visible, on the other hand, there are accusations that he uses queer motifs for trend reasons.
When the first Pride flag is thrown, Styles says it fits perfectly with the “Disco Medley,” and on the track “Treat People With Kindness,” it’s another family show. The song exudes a musical mood. Pure ecstasy as the One Direction hit “What Makes You Beautiful” is unwrapped. The big poses like the mic stand held up to the sky on “Love of my life” have earned Styles comparisons to Freddy Mercury. Styles is mentioned in the same breath as Elton John (when it comes to looks) or Robbie Williams when it comes to an ex-boy band member’s solo success. Therein lies the crux: What Harry Styles is doing is not new. Men who rock stages in women’s clothing and who blur gender boundaries have often taken to the stage in the past 60 years.
When the biggest hits are unpacked in the encores, including the ballad “Sign of the times” and the summer hit “Watermelon Sugar High”, it becomes clear: yes, it’s a show for the whole family. It’s colourful, loud, inclusive and grants its hero the love he desires.