Over the weekend, in the Italian city of Reggio Emilia, Harry Styles bid a final farewell to his epic Love on Tour by blasting out The End; the signature show-closer of acid rock group The Doors. “Can you picture what will be? So limitless and free,” the voice of Jim Morrison sang as the final splutters of fireworks fizzled out, and stagehands began packing down Styles’ enormous stage set for the last time. Two years, 169 live shows, and lord knows how many outlandish sequinned looks by Gucci later, the Once Directioner’s epic lap of the world was over for good.
Surely the most anticipated world tour of the decade so far, the epic outing was originally supposed to accompany Styles’ second solo album Fine Line, a pop record flecked with subtle and hooky hints of both psych and soul. While 2017’s self-titled debut solo record saw him beginning to emerge from the squeaky clean shadow cast by his boy band beginnings – Kiwi is a playful twist on glam rock, while From the Dining Table alludes to the merriment of some casual morning masturbation – Fine Line fully committed to the cause.
In the lead up to its release, Styles spoke about experimenting with psychedelics during the recording process, and recounted his quest to rebuild the dulcimer similar to the one Joni Mitchell used on Blue in amazingly nerdy levels of detail. In other words, the sort of thing that might cause Simon Cowell to slide off his X Factor judges’ chair, frozen in a state of sheer horror.
Harrystyles: To the most inspiring people I know. Goodbye for now. Love On Tour forever. pic.twitter.com/gBEN44sH02
— Harry Styles Updates. (@TheHarryNews) July 24, 2023
Then, we all know the story of what went so horribly wrong for live music – and indeed most things – in 2020. Harry Styles’ Love On Tour was shelved for the foreseeable, and by the time touring was back on the cards, Styles had a third record ready to go along with its return. In hindsight, Harry’s House is probably the moment that tipped him over into global household name territory; he was no longer bound up with the sometimes weighty associations with his past life in One Direction, and had forged a full identity as a solo artist.
By now, Styles also seemed liberated from that baggage, speaking far more freely about the outpouring of emotion that came with inking his solo contract. Upon learning that he would no longer be bound by a so-called cleanliness clause – which means artists can be immediately dropped following any “unsavoury” behaviour – Styles said that he burst into tears with sheer relief. For the first time, “I felt free,” he admitted.
Just four days after Harry’s House came out, Styles crammed a neon cottage, a raucous One Direction cover (What Makes You Beautiful) and a handful of quips about Watermelon Sugar’s suggestive inner meanings into the comically undersized Brixton Academy – and the one-night only show ended up feeling like a dress rehearsal for Love on Tour. Aside from the unmissable sea of bright pink feather boas wafting into the venue, the first thing I noticed was how jovial it all felt in the waiting crowd; prior to deploying a crafty spritz of perfume ahead of showtime, the person immediately behind me politely enquired to check if anybody in the nearby vicinity suffered from asthma.
After years of being conditioned to tolerate motionless chin-strokers who are for some reason also 11 ft tall, and the eternally pointed elbows of bored men standing stoically behind their girlfriends like ghosts at the feast, this sense of camaraderie and fun initially came as a real shock. Londoners almost rioted the day that some poor misguided soul tried to hand out some ‘Tube Chat?’ badges; yet here we all were… willingly making conversation with strangers and bursting into laughter after simultaneously yelling along to the same lines. A stranger even complimented my hat, an old piece of Harry Styles merch from the debut tour! What kind of brave new world was this?!
As Love On Tour rumbled on, the crowds only grew more lovely; as much as Styles put on a spectacle at Wembley, his fans were, by now, an integral part of the show, and just as much fun to watch.
Decked out in cowboy hats, bright crochet and fruit prints, they skipped about in mass conga lines, raced through fully choreographed line-dances, and laid down on the floor to take in slower tracks like Fine Line and Matilda. With organisational skills that many world governments could take note from, they ran meet-ups for solo gig goers, and coordinated dedicated fan projects complete with distributed signs and camera filters; at Styles’ Manchester show, for instance, those near the front held up pink lights and signs to remember the music fans who lost their lives in the venue’s 2017 terror bombings.
Too much of music is still ruled by a misplaced sense of snobbery towards certain music fans. Teenage girls in particular can be ridiculed, and painted as screeching and hysterical; a smart musician understands that their passion is one of the most powerful, infectious forces you can welcome into your orbit as an artist. “They’re our future,” Styles agreed back in 2017; while some of his other One Direction bandmates were busy trying to cast off the fanbase they’d cultivated, he welcomed them along on the next chapter. “Teenage girl fans — they don’t lie. If they like you, they’re there. They don’t act ‘too cool.’ They like you, and they tell you. Which is sick."
harry styles giving the most heartbreaking speech at the last show of love on tour #LoveOnTour #harrystyles pic.twitter.com/DF34i4tftp
— jikke ♡︎ (@remcIoudsss) July 22, 2023
Styles, too, seems to fully appreciate the rare sense of community he’s fostered at his live shows, thanking his fans for creating a kind of family, and also sharing a video that paid tribute to the truly unique atmosphere of Love on Tour after it drew to a close.
“I don’t get to do this if you guys don’t come,” he said, during the final night. “I know that more than anyone else. You guys being here tonight, I know you wanted to make it special for me. You make it special for me every single night. The atmosphere that you have created, the family that you have created, this safe space that you have created… I want to thank you for everything.”
