By Lisamh28
Author’s note: In the fall of 2021, I was a casual Harry Styles fan. In December 2021, I discovered Larry. In June 2022, I made the trek from Pennsylvania to London to see Harry play live for my first time. Just how fast the night changes!
Harry Styles played the second of two back-to-back shows at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, June 19. The stop at Wembley Stadium was part of his first solo stadium tour. He had last played the venue in 2014 as a member of One Direction. The massive structure was filled with a sold-out crowd of 90,000 fans, many dressed in feather boas and pink cowboy hats.
Singer-songwriter Mitski took the stage for her last performance as show-opener on the tour. Then it was time for Harry’s pre-show set list to boom through the speakers. The stadium literally shook when the crowd heard the opening chords of One Direction’s “Best Song Ever.”
Harry took the stage at approximately 8:20 p.m. and sang for an hour and a half. He sang 20 songs, most of them off his new album, Harry’s House. Dressed in Gucci white leather pants and silver sequined tank top, Harry started the set with “Music for a Sushi Restaurant.” The high energy continued, running through older hits like “Golden” and “Adore You” and newer bops like “Daylight” and “Cinema.”
Midway through the show, Harry called attention to an Italian fan in the audience, Mattia, who was holding a cardboard sign that said “From Ono to Wembley: Help me come out.” Harry took the sign and asked, “So you would like the people of Wembley to bring you out?” After thunderous applause from the audience, Harry put the sign down and picked up a Pride flag. “When this flag goes above my head, you are officially out,” Harry said. “I think that’s how it works — alright when this sign goes over your head, you’re officially gay, my boy.”
Harry trailed the flag across the stage a few times, backed by a drumbeat, teasing the crowd by keeping it carefully below his head, at one point joking, “Nope, still straight.” He finally raised the flag above his head enthusiastically, saying, “Congratulations Mattia, you are a free man!” and blew kisses into the crowd. Mattia was the first male fan Harry helped come out during a show.
After leading the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to his bassist Elin Sandberg, Harry got back to the set list, playing old favorites “Canyon Moon,” “Treat People with Kindness,” and One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful.” Harry’s One Direction bandmate, Niall Horan, was in the audience and fan videos that were released after the concert show him smiling as Harry and 90,000 fans sang the band’s debut single. Harry wrapped up the show with his love song to England, “Love of My Life,” and he exited the stage quietly holding a Pride flag over his own head as the song ended.
Harry started his four-song encore with a thoughtful rendition of “Sign of the Times” that was punctuated with fireworks exploding from the roof of the stadium. Harry then sang “Watermelon Sugar,” his current hit single, “As It Was” and the typical show finale, “Kiwi.”
Harry’s two nights in Wembley were an epic homecoming for the London-based singer. Harry will continue his tour throughout Europe and will head to the United States in the fall, playing mini residencies in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Austin before wrapping up the tour in March 2023.
