Harry Styles' show began with the sound of an ethereal gospel choir and a cloud of artificial smoke as the mesmerising introduction to his song 'Only Angel' echoed throughout Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Not long after, the man himself emerged, launching head-first into an evening of pure, uninterrupted music with no need for distracting visuals, over-the-top set pieces or cheap gimmicks. Just an hour and a half of Harry and his songs.
“I've only got one album,” he stated at a point in the evening. “There are only ten songs to my name!”. Despite his previous success with One Direction, this is still pretty impressive. The music must be good if you're able to tour the world with such a limited backlog of solo work. In Harry's case, there's almost no question. His music is brilliant.
Speaking of brilliant, it would be remiss of me not to mention The Preatures who opened for Harry. Lead singer Isabella Manfredi burned through a high-energy set filled with genuinely great tunes that got the crowd considerably warmed up for the main event.
The Preatures - Image © Ophelia Symons
Harry's debut, self-titled album received well-deserved acclaim and as a body of work it translated stunningly in a live setting. Backed by a full band and blowing kisses to screaming fans, the performer had 13,000 people in the palm of his hand for the entire night.
The show, like the album, was quite the roller-coaster of emotions. One minute you were swaying slowly to the singer's sultry vocals on 'Meet Me In The Hallway' and gorgeous guitars of 'Two Ghosts', the next you were out of breath for dancing too hard during 'Carolina' and 'Medicine' (the latter an unreleased song).
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Let's be clear, this roller-coaster was a damn good one. The show's setlist seemed to be expertly crafted so that there weren't too many heavy points all at once, nor were there too many overly-exhaustive points all at once. It was an even sprinkling of both throughout the evening, which in Harry's case worked absolute wonders.
We even got a performance of 'What Makes You Beautiful' by One Direction (minus the other four members, obviously). It goes without saying that the audience completely lost its mind for this.
Harry Styles - Image © Ophelia Symons
Harry is an exceptionally talented vocalist. During the show, his high register was strong and packed a punch, while his lower register was enough to melt hearts; fragile but steady. His stylings were the sign of a man who not only has an impressive vocal range but also excellent control.
'Sign Of The Times', his first single, filled the arena with a sea of phone lights. It 'closed' the show before Harry eventually re-emerged to perform three more tunes: 'From The Dining Table', a cover of 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac and finally his own 'Kiwi'. The last song consisted mostly of a majority of the crowd screaming the lyrics 'I'm having your baby! / It's none of your business!' with all of the energy built up throughout the night exploding one final time.
Harry Styles brought a stellar album to life with this live show. It was the perfect companion to the music; his energy and willingness to entertain the masses shone through and even managed to further engage an audience already captivated by his sheer existence.
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