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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Polly Hudson

I was a whinger, a cynic, a misanthrope. Then I saw Harry Styles live – and I will never be the same again

A young man wearing a white shirt and black and white polka dot tie and black shorts sashays across a stage in front of a huge crowd
‘Good evening, my name is Harry’ … Styles delivers at Wembley on 19 June. Photograph: Anthony Pham/Shutterstock

The answers to some little questions are hugely revealing. We pass it off as small talk, but asking about somebody’s first anything often reveals all you need to know about who they are today and why. If only I’d understood the implications of buying Wig Wam Bam by Black Lace as my debut music purchase – had known it would shape so many future interactions and realised how ridiculous you feel simply saying those words, even to those too young or cool to be familiar with the full sonic horror.

So, to halt generational trauma, when the opportunity came to supply my son with the dream reply to “What was your first concert?” I took him to Harry Styles at Wembley during a thermometer-shattering heatwave.

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