Harry Styles Goes on Tour, Creating a Welcoming Environment for Fans

This past month, singer-songwriter, pop star and fashion icon Harry Styles continued his run of concerts, “Love On Tour,” recently performing at Madison Square Garden in New York during his 15-night residency from Aug. 20 to Sept. 21. The arena has been dubbed “Harry’s House” after Styles’s most recent album, released this past May.

Styles broke numerous records with “Harry’s House,” earning 16,103,849 streams in a single day with his lead single “As It Was,” the most single-day streams on Spotify in the U.S. He also had the largest sales week for both a solo UK male artist and a vinyl album in the U.S. He performed songs from all three of his studio albums during his concerts.

Senior Elson Bankoff, who attended the concert on Sept. 3, shared her enthusiasm for the artist.

“I really appreciate his charisma and his stage presence,” Bankoff said. “His music is well-made and tasteful and really unique as well,” she added.

Styles’ music is a mix of genres and sounds with pop, soft rock and ballads featured on his three albums. He draws inspiration from artists including Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac, and their classic rock influences are reflected in his music, according to Cheat Sheet.

Junior Elena Faz Garza attended his performance on Sept. 1 and said that her favorite part was when Styles sang the song “Treat People With Kindness.”

“The pit did a conga line, which was really cute, and I got to see it from above,” Faz Garza said. “The lights were flashing rainbow colors and synchronized to the beat, which was really fun,” she continued.

“I think something that made the night really special is that [Styles] creates this very safe space that I don’t really get from a lot of performers,” Bankoff said. “All of these factors create this feeling like you’re a kid again,”  she added.

Faz Garza has been a fan of Styles since he was in the band One Direction. She elaborated on her fondness for him, saying, “I really appreciate his individuality and how he is unapologetically himself and how comfortable he is in his femininity.”

Styles defies traditional gender norms through his flamboyant style and rejection of toxic masculinity in favor of authenticity, encouraging his fans to be their most true selves. He creates a supportive atmosphere at his shows by interacting with the audience, responding to fans’ signs with playful banter and heartfelt advice and dancing with fans’ pride flags onstage during his song “Treat People With Kindness,” which is also Styles’s personal motto.

“He’s very one on one with the crowd. It feels like a smaller space than it is, even though it’s literally Madison Square Garden,” Bankoff said.

After performing in New York, Styles will tour in Austin, Texas, Chicago and Inglewood, California before continuing to tour internationally.