Harry Styles fans have been sleeping on the streets of Cardiff ahead of his two sell-out shows at the Principality Stadium this week. Although supporters of the former One Direction star were warned not to arrive too early, there were around 45 fans in tents on Westgate Street in the Welsh capital on Monday morning ahead of his first show tonight (June 20).
Amongst those camping out for Harry's shows are American friends, 24-year-old Tatianna PuertoReal from New York and 21-year-old Julia Parrey from Pennsylvania, who have been in the queue since Sunday lunchtime. The pair met at one of Harry's past tour dates, and went to all of his shows at Wembley Arena in London last week, reports WalesOnline.
Julia, who is studying in the Netherlands, has seen Harry 15 times, and Tatianna 17 times, but the UK is the furthest they have ever travelled to see the Watermelon Sugar singer live. They're not the only fans to have made a big trip to the UK to see Harry, with attendees from Australia and Canada also ignoring the stadium's pleas against camping.
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Some fans camp out for their favourite artist's shows to guarantee a spot near the front. Organisers asked concertgoers not to sleep in tents ahead of Harry's shows as there would be no facilities for overnight camping due to "safeguarding reasons" but there would be a queuing system in place on his Cardiff dates.
A spokesperson for the Principality Stadium said: "We would like to remind fans that there are no facilities for overnight camping at Principality Stadium. For safeguarding reasons camping on the stadium footprint is strictly forbidden and queuing will be facilitated on show days only therefore we strongly encourage fans to make alternative arrangements for overnight stays."
Fans queued along the Wood Street bridge outside the Principality Stadium on Monday morning as they prepared for the merchandise trucks to open their hatches. Golden hitmaker Harry takes to the stage on Tuesday and Wednesday this week with tens of thousands of people expected to attend, the stadium and Cardiff Council has already issued advice to gig goers.
It will be the first time that the One Direction turned solo superstar has performed in the Welsh capital without his former bandmates. Cardiff, as always, will be very busy on each day.
There will be a full city centre road closure in place on the dates of both concerts and buses will be diverted. The road closures come into place from 12 noon rather than the usual 4pm, and some roads will close as early as 7am.
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