Despite a best-selling album and sell-out world tour, the first half of 2026 hasn't been quite the home run Harry Styles might reasonably have anticipated. Unlike his last LP – 2022's Harry's House – Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally, received muted reviews on release back in March, with critics complaining its LCD Soundsystem-inspired pop didn't deliver the unbridled dancefloor catharsis promised.
The Together Together world tour hasn't been without its controversy either, attracting criticism for prohibitive ticket pricing, the limited coverage that the residency model provides and – in the opening nights in Amsterdam – stage design that actively obstructed views. (The latter issue has been solved in time for Styles' record-breaking Wembley Stadium residency, with a number of 10ft high 'bridges' shrewdly removed from the set.) Still, as any of the 90,000 'Harries' in attendance on Friday night will tell you, it's in the live arena that Holmes Chapel's finest really shines.
If Kiss All The Time… saw Styles struggling to capture his incalculable charisma on record, then he delivered it in spades at the first of 12 consecutive London shows. Bounding out in a pinstripe blazer, black slacks, powder blue shirt and giant shades, he utilised his sub-3-hour marathon skills pounding the pitch's three interconnected catwalks while blowing kisses to every inch of the stadium. Behind him, an unbelievably tight band brings Are You Listening Yet? exploding into life, anchored by the powerhouse drumming of Sarah Jones.
Addressing the stadium for the first time, Styles explains: 'Our job is to entertain you – your job is to have as much fun as you possibly can,' and the audience duly obliges. Despite those aforementioned teething problems, the set proves cleverly designed, its intersecting walkways carving up pockets of space for fans to dance in. This staging is at its most effective during a powerful one-two Ready Steady Go and Dance No More, which sees Styles and the band relocating to the centre of the pitch, while handheld cameras capture their vigorous movements. For a moment, this cavernous venue feels more like a sweaty club.
Indeed, delivering personal connections on an industrial scale remains Styles' key strength as a performer. Equal parts international heartthrob and boy next door, he reminisces about his X Factor audition, chats about his preferred style of egg (it's fried, FYI) and pays tribute to the fandom, explaining, 'Seeing what you all created together – this energy, this community – I've never felt more hopeful about the future.' There's something innately endearing about seeing a global megastar so patently humbled by the scope of his success, thanking the audience for 'changing my life over and over again.'
We are repaid with a tour debut of Little Freak, a string medley featuring 1D classics Night Changes and History, and a slew of cleverly revamped arrangements interpolating Talking Heads (Treat People With Kindness), Underworld (Taste Back) and Gorillaz (Dance No More). Before a show-stealing rendition of Aperture, Styles pays tribute to David Hockney – whom he sat for a portrait with in 2022 – displaying a quote about the importance of communal experiences in art. As thousands of sequin-skirted fans watch fireworks explode from the roof during a triumphant final encore of Sign of the Times and As It Was, it's clear that the events of tonight were testament to exactly that.
