‘Someone’s paid a grand in cash’: fans camp out in Manchester for first Harry Styles concert since 2023 | Harry Styles
More than 20,000 fans from around the world flocked to Manchester’s Co-op Live arena on Friday to watch Harry Styles play his first concert in two-and-a-half years; some waited 48 hours to get a place in the front row.
Styles will perform his new album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Sometimes after its full release was released earlier today. Expectations for the show have been high since tickets went on sale for £20 at the beginning of February; This will be Styles’ first appearance since ending his tour in Italy in July 2023, excluding a performance of the album’s lead single Aperture at the Brit awards, which took place in the same arena a week ago. The show was marketed as a homecoming act for the pop star, who grew up outside the city in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire.
Outside the co-op, a growing line of brightly dressed superfans (or Harries, as they were officially known) waited patiently to be let in; some wrapped themselves in foil blankets to stay warm; They had already been lining up since Wednesday to move towards the barriers when the gates opened.
The four friends – Melissa, Dani, Begum and Jessica – had only been waiting in line for an hour and a half, but they were no less excited to watch their idols end the hiatus.
“We absolutely love him, we love his new album, it’s so dancey and fun and it’s going to be amazing,” said Begüm, who has tickets to see Styles twice during his summer world tour. “We love his new era and he looks really happy, which makes us happy.”
Kara Rosenberg, 27, traveled from Chicago to Manchester for the show and said watching her return was a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“I first became a fan watching the British X Factor with a VPN in 2010,” he said. “It really brings me so much joy and nostalgia. I really love everything it represents and I feel like it brings people together in such a positive way and spreads happiness wherever it goes.”
The £20 ticket price is quite low compared to Styles’ guest appearances at stadiums this summer. Seated tickets for sold-out concerts at Wembley Stadium started at £44, but went up to 10 times that amount; standing tickets were at least £144.
Some fans had complained about the cost of tickets in online forums, but others were clearly willing to spend. Richard, the venue’s security guard, said fans arrived early Friday morning in the hope of being able to trade spare parts for a large sum of cash.
“It’s a mental state; one of the employees said someone paid a grand in cash for their ticket,” he said. “There are a lot of signs asking for tickets. I saw someone offering photos of their feet in exchange for tickets. I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen that before.”
Among the ticketless masses are Lena, Alex and Natalie, three friends in their early 20s who flew from Berlin to attend the concert. The trio, who met through their shared love of Styles and have seen him 50 times, were determined to find a way to get into the gig.
“We all met through Harry, so we need to be here tonight,” Lena said. “This is a bonding experience, it’s sacred. We’ve come all this way because we love Harry so much and tonight is going to be special.”
The friends watched Oasis at Wembley last summer, even though they came to the venue without a ticket, and had had success with this method before.
“The key is determination,” Alex said. “We’re feeling pretty good, we’re calm, we know we’re going to get tickets. It’s going to happen and we’re going to be with Harry.”
Always Kiss. Disco, Wonderful is expected to be Styles’ fourth consecutive US No. 1 album and his third in the UK. (His second album, Fine Line, reached No. 2.)
Reviews have been generally positive so far; Publications such as NME, Rolling Stone UK and the Independent rated it four stars.
The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis was more reserved, awarding it three stars because it “lacks the definitive pop bangers of As It Was or Watermelon Sugar.” He also criticized the lyrics: “A sense of musical uncertainty combines with Harry Styles’ singing…as Kiss All the Time suggests. Disco, Sometimes’s title – which sounds like something you’d see on a poster in a certain person’s kitchen, next to a sign announcing it’s prosecco time – the album has a problem with words.”
