Seeing Harry Styles on his opening night in Cardiff was not part of my plans on Tuesday. But neither was working late and dragging myself out of the gym even later just metres away from where warm-up Wet Leg were performing their opening numbers. Perhaps some things are meant to happen.
Earlier this week we reported on £50 tickets still available for Harry Styles that would get you a seat with a restricted view, but still be part of an atmosphere that only only tens of thousands of fans in sequin cowboy hats and feather boas could create. What's not to lose? You can see our full review from Tuesday here.
To state the obvious - for £54.40 (including service fees) you are not going to get the best views in house. But what it will get you from block U33 is a seat directly side on from the stage with your own huge screen to see all the action unfold and a pretty unique vantage looking out across the crowds on the stadium floor who've been queuing up since the early hours of Monday morning.
It got even better moments before Harry walked on. With empty unsold seats dotted across the block, many fans took their chance to move down from the heavens at the last moment and across even further in our section of the stadium. At this point we could see the edge of the stage peek out too where the former One Directioner ended up spending the majority of his time - not to mention the portions of the show where he spent his time on a runway out in the crowds, being pelted with flowers, flags and yet more boas. So in the end there wasn't much we couldn't see, apart from sadly the live band who in their own rights threatened to become the stars of the show.
There were loads of other surprising perks too. If we're talking about the highlights, one of the big ones for me was people-watching over the crowds from our vantage spot to see their reactions as Harry worked his way through the setlist. The trio dressed in huge carrot costumes who spent the slower songs lying on the stadium floor gazing up at the lights above, and otherwise dancing round in circles - I'm looking at you. I'm not sure I would have spotted them otherwise, nor the conga line that kicked into action swirling at the back of the crowds.
Equally, watching the majority of the performance off a big screen is not something unique to a restricted view seat - I'm sure I'd be the same if I was way back in the crowd too. But this time there were far less phones in my face even though were were all stood up as I guess filming a screen rather than the man himself just isn't the same. And obviousy the sound quality was just as good.
All in all it was a great night. To be honest, if you're not going to be one of those camping out days ahead for the best spot in the stadium, you might as well save a few quid and grab yourself a bargain - and buy yourself a hotdog and a beer to go with it instead.
You can get tickets for Harry Styles in Cardiff on Wednesday here.
