Recently, I had the opportunity to see Harry Styles free at the Today Show. Let me tell you, it was a once in a lifetime experience.
The concert was kept very quiet with very few posts about this free concert on social media. I had entered a lottery for the free VIP tickets about three weeks prior and had no luck. Honestly, the date of the concert slipped my mind because of the lack of media attention. Luckily, my friend reminded me, and that’s when the anticipation began.
The Today Show starts at 8am, and Harry comes on at 9am. We read that the line begins to move into the concert location at 5 am, so what time were we supposed to line up? At first my friends and I were planning to leave our dorms at 3am, but after some long thinking, we knew crazy Harry stans would be eager to be in the front and so we decided to get to Radio City at 2am.
When we arrived, the line was already up the block. My friends and I were able to camp out between 51st and 52nd Street. As the night went on, we were approached by YouTubers asking us what we thought about Fine Line and somehow my opinion made the video.
Finally, after sitting in the freezing mist for over three hours, people began to sprint. I grabbed my friend’s hand and ran like hell. With our adrenaline pumping at 5am, we felt like Usain Bolt. Then the running stopped and we were all cramped on the corner of 48th street.
For the next hour, it was stop and go running until a man finally came over to explain what was next. He told us to orderly walk to the entrance of the concert, but no one listened. We ran, everyone ran. We pushed through the crowd and landed ourselves in the fourth row of general admission.
At around 7am, Harry Styles came out for sound check. He was dressed in jeans and an adorable cardigan. He sang “Lights Up”, “Watermelon Sugar”, “Adore You” and “Kiwi”! Yes, he played “Kiwi”. Sound check was great and it only got better when he came out for the real deal.
At 9am, Harry came out to sing “Lights Up”. He left the stage and announced through social media that he will be coming to Madison Square Garden for Halloween. Eventually he came out and sang the same songs from sound check, only more iconic. He was dressed in the same blush pink I was wearing and I could not have felt trendier. He finished the set and announced he was singing one last song. Much to my surprise, he sang :What Makes You Beautiful”. As a forever One Direction fan, I never felt happier.
After the concert ended, I promptly walked to work and started the day without any sleep. Honestly, every second of seeing Harry made the exhaustion, the cold, and the chill in my body all day 100% worth it.
In conclusion, if one of your favorite singers is performing for free, YOU BETTER GO!