Last night, wearing a light yellow suit, a long black tie and a head of hair so perfect it may actually be ungodly, Harry Styles took over London’s Electric Ballroom.
It was a rare opportunity for fans to see the singer in such close quarters, and boy did they run with it. The 1,500 tickets that became available two days before the gig sold out in mere seconds. It was all the madness of a dash for Kylie lip kits in 2016, mixed in with the sheer desperation that comes with the Glasto ticket drop.
The intimate show was the musician’s first in London since he performed two sold out gigs at the O2. Say what you like about the man, but he sure knows how to fill a room.
And he is never one to disappoint. Harry served us the entirety of his latest record, Fine Line, in order of the track listing, sprinkling in some 1D nostalgia with a cheeky rendition of “What Makes You Beautiful” and a cover of Lizzo’s “Juice”, which he also treated us to earlier this week on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge. Harry even gave us a tribute to the gays in the form of his song “Treat People With Kindness”, brandishing a rainbow flag as the stage behind him flooded with multicoloured lights. The power that has, the intelligence that has, the clearance that has, etc., etc.
Then, during the encore, Harry announced a very special guest. It was none other than the undisputed king of grime himself, Stormzy. The combo of Styles and Stormz may not be the most obvious one, but after their albums had been pit against each other in the headlines all this week in the race for Christmas number one, it was an incredible sight to see two equally talented musical juggernauts come together like this. (They’re both likely to be beaten out of the top spot by Rod Stewart, who I feel we can all agree would be more than a worthy winner.)
Stormzy had high praise for Harry and Fine Line, telling the crowd, “This is my fucking brother. I wanna say this on record, this guy has made a fucking brilliant album. From my heart bro, you’re not just a pop star — you’re a brilliant artist.” Wholesome AF.
If you didn’t make it out to Camden last night, as too many of us ticketless scrubs weren’t able to, the memes the show has produced are life giving, to say the least.