“Style is the answer to everything…” a voice starts, barely heard over the thousands of screaming fans.  The screams only intensify as the first few notes of a song is played on the speakers around the stadium.  “A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing…” the pattern repeats, a line from a poem, the next few notes of a song, and the growing screams.  “To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without it…” The screens overhead light up with two rabbits spinning in front of flashing, multicolored backgrounds.  “To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art.”  The last line of the poem is said, and the screams become deafening, music lost behind the growing excitement.  The screens begin to flash faster, until they turn into a bright orange light, and on stage, a figure holding a guitar begins to rise, “Golden..”

After two years of anticipation, award-winning singer-songwriter, Harry Styles, has returned to the stage for Love on Tour.  This 40 stop tour stretching across the United States, began on September 4 in Las Vegas, and will end with a bang with three nights at The Forum in LA.  Every show has been sold out, and additional shows have been added to accommodate the amount of fans who were unable to get tickets to the original dates.

Some critics may assume that with the rescheduling and cancelling of so many dates, some being postponed for over a year, that many fans would sell their tickets out of disappointment.  However, this could not be farther from the truth, as this seems to have increased fans’ excitement, with many fans lining up over 8 hours in advance, some even camping at the venues overnight, in the hope to get closer to the stage.

The two largest influences on this tour, for both Styles and his fans, have been love and style.  Styles has been seen as somewhat of a fashion icon to fans, as he has been seen taking inspiration from other icons such as David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, and Prince by ignoring gender stereotypes in clothing and modeling more feminine clothes in magazine covers.  In one specific Vogue cover, Styles was wearing a multitude of different dresses and skirts, and despite the negative feedback he received from critics, he didn’t change his style.  Just as he has been influenced by others, many fans were influenced by his past outfits in choosing what to wear to Love on Tour.  Coming dressed in high-waisted patterned pants, sequin dresses, and runway ready outfits, with feather boas, cowboy hats, and colored sunglasses, every fan has come dressed to the nines.

“Look to the person next to you and tell them that you love them.” This is something Styles says every night to the tens of thousands of fans listening intently to his words.  He goes on to say, “Look out for each other, and if we do it, I think we’ll be alright.” Love is, if possible, an even greater influence than style on this tour.  As fans come from all around the country with their love for Styles, their love for each other grows.  People from all different backgrounds, young and old come together for one special night full of love, hence the name: Love on Tour.  Styles has an amazing way of making his fans comfortable with being who they are and allow them to show it at his concerts.  He waves around pride and BLM flags and constantly reminds others to love each other.  His energy is contagious and it causes those at the shows to feel safe with their identity.

The atmosphere at these shows is exhilarating and everyone, even if they aren’t a fan, enjoys their night.  Emma Moyer, an LHS senior and big Harry Styles fan, had an amazing time, “I thought the people were wicked nice, there were people giving out chicken tenders, fries, and conducting different fan projects!”  She goes on to say, “I think that the process to getting into the concert was super organized, getting wristbands was super easy and although the line was long and stressful, it worked out well.” Moyer ends with, “Harry was amazing. I was not expecting how good he was going to be live  He was prancing all around the stage.  The whole set was perfect and it made me want to wait in line in the heat for hours again.”

Love on Tour comes as the sequel to Live on Tour, his first tour after One Direction in 2018.  With Styles having released his second solo album, Fine Line, in 2019, fans can enjoy nearly all of their favorite songs from both his self titled album and his recent one live and in person.  Starting off the show with an upbeat, energy inducing song, Styles sings ‘Golden’ and keeps the energy up while dancing around stage.  He continues with songs like this until he slows it down with ‘She’, a six minute long song with a minute long guitar solo at the end. Styles takes a couple breaks between songs to interact with fans and say a few words, before going off stage and leaving the fans in darkness.  After a few minutes of silence save the cry of some, hoping for him to return, he does with his debut single ‘Sign of the Times’.  Finally he ends the show with possibly his most exciting song, ‘Kiwi’ a song that leaves the stadium breathless.

The screaming that seems to have never stopped, somehow grows even louder, as the stadium flashes red and bright white.  The band plays a repetition of the ending notes of the final song, and the figure that we saw rise only two hours ago, we now see running off stage.  He turns around to bow and thank the fans and then is gone.  The lights go up and the fans are stuck wondering if what they witnessed had really happened.

Love on Tour, the 40 date trip with new experiences each show, brings together people from all over for an awe-inducing night.