Harry Styles Live On Tour - Nashville, Tennessee - September 25, 2017
Hello loves,
I know this is incredibly late; however, I still wanted to share my experience. In September I had the pleasure to see Harry Styles on his first solo tour when he came through Nashville. I personally loved that all of the 2017 dates are at what I would consider "theater" style venues or "intimate" venues like the Ryman and Radio City Music Hall.
First let's take a second to talk about the experience of purchasing the tickets for the show. In order to ensure that most of the tickets went to actual fans, you had to go through Ticketmaster and sign up as a "Verified Fan" and on the day of the sale we were sent codes. On the morning of the sale I was at work, so I had the window open and ready to go when the tickets finally opened up. I also appreciated that the tickets opened up at ten o'clock in each of the venue's time zones. I felt that was a smart move on Ticketmaster's part to prevent the website crashing due to the high traffic volume. Once the website unlocked, I immediately refreshed the page and entered the code that was sent to me. I had no problem putting the code in on the desktop site; however, it would not show tickets for me. I quickly jumped on the mobile app and entered the code. I simply typed it in, and clicked "best available" with the number of seats I needed selected. I was able to snag three seats on the main floor, about three rows under the balcony. My tickets prior to fees were $79.50 each, and after all fees they were $92.
In July when I purchased my tickets for Niall Horan's show (review coming soon) I noticed that Ticketmaster had listed the opener for Harry's show and I went searching for their tunes. Muna is a trio that hails from Los Angeles and identifies as "dark pop", or pop rock. I personally would describe them as a bit more electronic pop rock with an eighties vibe instead of "dark pop". Muna's debut album About U was released in February 2017 with several power pop hits like Loudspeaker, and I Know a Place. I don't have a clue where Harry found this band, but I am really happy that they were on this tour. Not only does their aesthetic fit with Harry's "Treat People With Kindness" mantra, but their music has the same high energy and throwback vibes. Not to mention Muna covered Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks and it was everything I had hoped for and more. I was so busy singing my heart out along with the trio, so I personally didn't capture it on video but you can find it on YouTube. I did take note that a large majority of the crowd didn't seem to know the song; however, that was not very surprising to me since Harry was the headliner. The one thing I will say about Muna's performance is that there was a bit of an awkward stage presence, but it is definitely something that will get better in time. The trio is a really unique powerhouse, and I can't wait to see what is next for them.
The weekend before the show, I received an email from the Ryman with the final information as far as all of the stage times. In that email I noticed that a second opener had been added to the list. I hadn't heard any mention of this, but it seems like it came together rather quickly. Cam is a country artist that hails from California, but moved to the Nashville area and has worked with Jeff Bhasker who also worked with Harry on his debut album. She mentioned during the show that when she first moved to Nashville she made it a point to tour the Ryman, and when she did she stood on the stage and told herself that one day she would play a show there. Needless to say it was really neat to see someone's dream come true, and I'm sure one day very soon she will be headlining at the Ryman herself.
If you aren't familiar with Cam, she has had several big hits including Burning House which was all over the radio and the charts. Honestly I have to admit that I don't listen to a ton of country, but I had definitely heard Burning House more than one time on the radio. Overall, Cam's bubbly, sweet persona went right along with the overall aesthetic of Harry's show. The only critique I have for the addition of Cam into the lineup is that I felt that the energy of the room went down several notches. Muna left the stage with such a high energy with I Know a Place that it would have been the perfect transition into Harry's set. I can understand that Cam is the more well known artist when compared to Muna, so I know why they added her into the middle of the show. As you can tell from the video to the left, Cam definitely has an amazing voice. The video to the left is of her cover of Sweet Dreams by Patsy Cline. Along with the Patsy Cline cover, Cam also performed several of her other songs including Mayday, Burning House, and her latest release Diane.
Now let's talk about the man everyone was there for, Harry Styles. Let me start off by telling you that the video above does the sound absolutely no justice. The second the spotlight illuminated Harry's silhouette, that crowd went absolutely mad in a very high pitched way. I can honestly say that my ears were still ringing the next morning. As you can see in the video above, Harry opened the show with Ever Since New York with a simple stage and simple lighting; however, that all changed when the secondary curtain behind the band opened up to reveal a full wall of lights after Carolina. Through these first three songs Harry was definitely a bit on the stiff side, and honestly nothing like he had been back in his One Direction days. It was completely understandable as he was just beginning to find himself as a solo artist, and his Nashville show was only the third show of his tour. By the end of Just a Little Bit of Your Heart, the fourth song of the set, Harry finally started to loosen up and interact with the crowd. Honestly I don't remember much from the first three songs of his set because he was so stiff, and he wasn't interacting with the crowd in his usual sassy manner. Just a Little Bit of Your Heart is a cover of the song he wrote and Ariana Grande performed that he dug out to perform for this tour, and I have to say that I wasn't that familiar with the song but everyone around me certainly seemed to know it by heart. By the end of the song he let the crowd finish out the song acapella creating a moment that truly stood out in my mind even as I sit here months later.
Styles was still a little stiff during Sweet Creature; however, I have to say that I personally can't blame him for being quite as stiff as he was. The song is such a sweet acoustic song, and honestly one of my favorites from his debut album; however, I found it really difficult to hear him. In the video to the right you will hear how loud the crowd was, but the audio on my phone was able to pick up his voice among the masses. In the moment; however, I found that I could hardly hear him which is unfortunate. I know, and understand the excitement of the crowd; however, I don't really understand why there seemed to be a need for everyone to shout the lyrics at the top of their lungs.
The true essence of Harry's show started immediately following Sweet Creature and the show took a massive turn into a true rock show and his Jagger personality came out in full color beginning with my favorite song from the album, Only Angel. Styles truly came alive complete with his classic dad dance moves, and his crowd interaction really began as he grabbed hands from one side of the stage to the other. If you think Harry isn't watching everyone in the audience dancing to his tunes, then you would be completely wrong. Harry certainly proved that that during Woman when he mimicked someone's epic dance moves from one of the balcony sections (you can see that bit here starting at the one minute mark of the video).
The big rock hits of Only Angel and Woman were followed by Meet Me In The Hallway bringing the energy of the room back down a few notches to lead into the cover of Girl Crush by Little Big Town (how appropriate since we were in Nashville, right?). Styles made no mention of the song as he started; however, the crowd quickly caught on within the first line of lyrics "I got a girl crush", and I have to say that I absolutely loved his unique version of the song. I wasn't incredibly impressed until the entire band joined in on the tune, but Styles has some incredible chops and the song definitely made goosebumps to pop up on my arms.
Now let's talk about the next cover (in total he had four in his set) What Makes You Beautiful. I know that this is the song that put One Direction on the map, but I have never really liked the song. To be completely honest it is one of my least favorite songs, so when I heard it I let out a massive groan. I can appreciate Styles honoring his start, and from what I could actually hear over the shouting of the lyrics his version was much better than the original song. However, I hope he doesn't continue to play it into the tour next year.
Styles ended the main part of his set with Kiwi, arguably the crowd favorite of the night. The punchy song was complete with more of Harry's dancing and huge stage presence. He commanded the energy of the room while he threw water around, and pulled the infamous 'Harry Whale'. As you can see in the video to the right, the light show for this song was probably the best of the night. The impressive light show combined with Harry absolutely losing his mind during this one song truly made me want to go to his show at Bridgestone next summer. Honestly I wasn't planning on it, but one of my friends couldn't make it to this show anyway so I look forward to seeing what he does with the show on a bigger stage.
Styles left the stage following Kiwi to a roaring crowd and proceeded to remain backstage with the crowd going mad for several beats. A true encore moment. He returned to the stage where he performed From The Dining Table and his final cover, The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. Like I mentioned earlier, in general the crowd was a little young for this cover, but The Chain is one of my favorite songs so I was definitely clapping and singing along with Harry and his band. Harry certainly rocked it and I heard several girls still talking about his cover when we were at Niall Horan's show in November.
The final song of the night was Sign of the Times, Harry's first solo single. Before he jumped into the song Harry encouraged everyone in the room to "embrace" someone they hadn't come to the show with, someone you didn't know. Share the love, spread the love all while Harry himself placed a pride flag on his microphone. It was another memorable moment from the show to me. The feeling that everyone is loved and included when they were in that room was definitely palpable.
Overall I had a blast at the show and I have a feeling it's going to be one that I talk about for years to come. Like I mentioned above I look forward to seeing Harry's larger show at Bridgestone Arena in June, so expect a review of that show in the future. Be sure to check out Muna and Cam's music and remember Harry's motto "treat people with kindess."
