Anyone who knows me knows that I will not stop talking about Harry Styles: Love on Tour. After being on the phone with my mom for two hours pacing and anxiously waiting to see if Ticketmaster finally allowed us into the room to pick our tickets, I was finally able to start jumping and crying (which woke my roommates up, oops) because not only was I going to Love on Tour, but my mom was also able to secure me a pit ticket. Once one of my roommates was able to calm me down and I started to get ready to go to class that day, I saw that Harry decided to announce a second show. So, this situation had to repeat all over again the next day. While I couldn’t get a pit ticket for the second night, I knew I was going to be happy just to be in the same room as him.Â
Fast forward a couple months and the entire United States was in lockdown because of COVID-19. The majority of my quarantine was spent anxiously wondering if my Harry Styles show was going to be able to happen in July. Staying positive, I was still planning that it would happen, and I was researching outfits and saving money to be able to buy as much merchandise there as I wanted. I had constantly been stalking Twitter and TikTok to make sure I wouldn’t miss any announcements regarding date changes or cancellations. One day in the beginning of June, my Twitter feed was blowing up with rumors of rescheduled dates and venues saying that a big announcement would be happening tomorrow. The next day, in the middle of my shift at work (and wearing a Harry Styles shirt for good luck), the announcement was made that the show had to be rescheduled. My mom and my amazing boss were being witnesses to my tears seeing that my July 24thand 25th, 2020, shows were now rescheduled to September 24th and 25th, 2021. Many deep breathes later, my mom eventually says to me, “Anne, that’s two days before your 21st birthday.”Â
I was only months away from seeing Harry when I made the decision to upgrade my one seated seat to a pit ticket for the second night. After being scammed twice on Twitter and having to call PayPal multiple times to get my money back, I bought a ticket on StubHub. From there, I started to finally consider what I wanted to wear. For us Harry Styles fans, Love on Tour shows are our equivalent to New York Fashion Week. I had originally picked out an outfit before the rescheduled dates, one of which was a blue and pink romper from Shein, but due to it being a year and half later, it no longer fit. I had spent hours on TikTok looking for inspiration what other fans were planning to wear and digging through shopping sites. Eventually, I had decided on my night one outfit being inspired by his iconic Grammy performance look and night two consisting of the two Fine Line album cover colors, blue and pink. Night one’s outfit was a black tank top, black skirt, sparkly black boots and a green boa. Night two consisted of a pink bodysuit with sheer sleeves and flowers sewed on the it, blue flare pants, white converse and my “Finally 21” birthday sash and matching tiara.Â
The night before, my mom had picked me up from school and we had driven up to my aunt’s house where we would be staying for the weekend. The next morning, the day of the concert, we had woken up at around 5:00 a.m. to go downtown to the United Center, where starting at 9:00 a.m., they would be handing out wristbands. As my mom, myself and hundreds of other girls waited in line where the United Center staff would hand out the wristbands for both the pit and after verifying our vaccination/negative COVID tests. Once I had my wristbands, my mom and I headed back to my aunt’s home where I could get changed, relax and eat before having to be back in the line at 4:00 p.m. to keep my designated spot in line.
After filming my TikToks, getting tons of pictures and buying almost $350 worth of merch, I headed back to my line where I was able to make friends with the girls around me and start to mentally prepare myself for what was about to happen. After making it in and finding my spot in the pit, my nerves had officially set in. Two hours into us standing around, Jenny Lewis, his opening act came out and performed. Then, 30 minutes following her leaving, Harry came out wearing an iconic black sparkly shirt and crème-colored pants. He performed, danced and interacted with the audience for the whole 90 minutes. And just like that, it was over for night one. I met my mom outside at our parking spot, cried for a solid ten minutes because I was overwhelmed and in shock for finally seeing him after three years. We drove back to my aunt’s house and repeated the same thing the next morning.
At around 6:00 a.m. my mom and I had arrived at the United Center again to get in line for my wristbands. I was able to make friends with the girls around me again and my mom was being my personal Dunkin runner. At around 9:30 a.m. again, they started handing out wristbands for those in line as well as checking our vaccination statuses. Once that was taken care of, we went back to my aunts, and I was able to take my nap and eat and get ready. We came back to the United Center at around 3:00 p.m. so I could take pictures with the backdrop that the venue had displayed. By 4:00 p.m. I had to be back in my spot to keep my number. With the line for the photo-taking being so long, I had to sprint to my place in line. Once I got into my spot, it was there that I put on my 21st birthday sash and tiara. My new friends were singing happy birthday to me while my mom was taking pictures of me, drink in hand. We had to wait until roughly 6:30 p.m. till they let us into the venue where we had to go through a metal detector, down a flight of stairs, and then get another wristband due to people sneaking in last night. Once that was all taken care of, my group sprinted to find a good spot in the pit. With his stage being in a round, we had many spots to pick from. Eventually, we had decided on being near the side where he comes out so we can try and grab his attention as soon as possible. Jenny Lewis came out right on time again and performed her set. After a half-hour intermission between her and Harry’s set, he rose from below the stage wearing a red shirt with floral details and matching red pants.Â
Styles opens with “Golden,” then goes into “Carolina” and “Adore You” before he officially introduces himself and thanks everyone for attending. The one thing that Styles knows how to do is entertain people. At this specific concert, it was the first time he had sang the song, “To Be So Lonely,” which he hadn’t sang at all yet during the tour. For the entire 90 minutes of his performance, you will never be bored. The main highlight of my night came when he was singing “Lights Up.” He is always running around the stage, on both catwalks and yelling at the audience to sing. It was this moment where I held up my phone with the message, “It’s my 21st birthday, take a shot with me!” When he came to my side of the stage, he saw it and mouthed “Happy Birthday” to me while he was holding out the mic making the audience finish the lyrics. It was from that moment that the inner 12-year-old had died and all my work of being an obsessive Harry Styles fan had paid off.
Once the show was over and I met my mom at the car, I burst into tears from not only shock but also pure happiness that my idol had finally noticed my existence and wished me a happy birthday. It wasn’t until the next day where the post-concert-depression had finally hit me, and my concerts that I had been waiting 676 days for were finally over.Â
Having this special moment with one of my favorite people on the planet is something that I will cherish forever and never forget. Styles has a way of making every single fan in his audience feel special and unique for the show. If it hadn’t been for him, I would not be the person I am today and I would not have the confidence to be who I am without him.Â