Some artists have solo careers that feel like a natural continuation of the bands that made them famous, and others emerge to reveal something entirely unexpected. For me, Harry Styles has always belonged firmly in the latter camp.

I was never particularly a One Direction fan. I followed their extraordinary rise through The X Factor and was well aware of the phenomenon they became, but their music largely passed me by. Then Harry released Sign of the Times. It stopped me in my tracks. Ambitious, mature and worlds away from the music I’d associated with the boy band, it revealed an artist with far more dimensions than I’d anticipated. I’ve been fascinated by him ever since.

Fast forward to 2026 and that former boy-band member was playing an extraordinary run of sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium, very much a young man with the world at his feet. Together, Together, his first major tour since Love On Tour, takes an unusual residency-style approach, visiting just seven cities around the world rather than following the traditional touring model, in support of his latest album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. The London leg grew into a staggering 12 nights at Wembley Stadium, with Shania Twain as special guest, an achievement that underlines quite how enormous Harry Styles has become as a solo artist. Yet perhaps one of Harry’s greatest charms is that he doesn’t particularly behave like one.

There’s something refreshingly normal about him. He remains funny, humble and remarkably down to earth, retaining an almost boy-next-door quality despite performing in front of a sea of people. He doesn’t swagger around Wembley demanding that you acknowledge his superstardom. If anything, his stage persona can occasionally feel almost too understated for a production of this magnitude. But his warmth, humour and sheer likeability compensate for any lack of conventional showmanship.

And he certainly doesn’t lack energy. Harry seemed to spend half the evening running up and down the vast runways extending into the crowd, an impressively athletic feat in itself. His interaction with individual audience members provided some genuinely funny moments and revealed that dry northern sense of humour, while his band and dancers added movement and colour around him. One particularly joyful sequence saw the whole company marching together down the runway during Aperture, perfectly capturing the communal spirit of the show.

Then, of course, there’s the style. Harry has long been one of pop’s most interesting dressers, unafraid to play with fashion while somehow making everything look effortless. Even something as simple as the tank top he wore for part of this show looked fabulous. And yes, it has to be said, he is an extraordinarily handsome man. Yet that visual appeal is only a fraction of what makes him interesting. Beneath the clothes, charisma and megawatt smile is an accomplished musician and songwriter who has successfully built an identity entirely separate from the band that launched him.

The setlist reflected that evolution beautifully. An opening section moved between newer material and huge solo hits, with Golden, Adore You, Watermelon Sugar and Music for a Sushi Restaurant sitting alongside songs including Are You Listening Yet?, Taste Back and Coming Up Roses, before the gorgeous Fine Line shifted the mood.

Later, an orchestral string medley of Night Changes, Falling and History offered an elegant acknowledgement of both his One Direction past and solo career without allowing nostalgia to dominate the evening. Keep Driving and newer tracks including Ready, Steady, Go!, Dance No More and Pop demonstrated the breadth of the set, while Treat People With Kindness provided another characteristically upbeat celebration of the philosophy Harry has made very much his own.

I have to admit that his latest album isn’t my favourite of his work. The more dance-driven tracks translated particularly well to a stadium setting, but for me the evening’s greatest musical moments came from elsewhere in his catalogue. Perhaps that’s simply the perspective of an older fan surrounded by a new generation who knew every word.

And I really was surrounded by them. I was standing in the stage right Disco section, one of the enormous areas towards the front, where the demographic consisted predominantly of excitable young women. At various points I found myself mentally explaining that my children were in the toilet. I don’t have children, but it felt important that everybody knew this.

Still, I’ve always preferred being as close to the action as possible, and the atmosphere was fantastic. For all the excitement, the crowd around me was friendly and remarkably polite, creating an environment that felt celebratory rather than frantic.

Watermelon Sugar was an obvious highlight, a perfect summer stadium song that seemed designed for tens of thousands of people to sing together. Matilda provided one of the quieter emotional moments towards the end, but it was Sign of the Times that remained the pinnacle for me.

There was something wonderfully circular about standing in Wembley Stadium listening to Harry sing the very song that had first made me take him seriously as a solo artist. As the stadium illuminated with thousands of phone lights, his image towering over the crowd on the screens, it was genuinely spectacular. I’ve loved the song since I first heard it and, all these years later, hearing it on that scale was worth the price of admission alone.

As It Was is another favourite and provided the huge celebratory finale the evening demanded. Unfortunately, stadium concerts also require the occasional brutal logistical decision. Wembley is impressively organised, but anyone who has attempted to get onto the Tube alongside tens of thousands of other people after a concert will understand why I began making my escape partway through the song. There is something mildly infuriating about artists quite reasonably saving their biggest hits until last while those of us reliant on public transport calculate precisely how much of them we dare hear.

I caught enough, though, including the fabulous fireworks illuminating Wembley. There remains something uniquely magical about a vast outdoor concert finishing beneath a night sky exploding with colour. However many big shows you attend, it’s difficult to become blasé about that sight.

Harry wasn’t the only superstar on the bill. Having Shania Twain as a special guest was extraordinary in itself, but there was something particularly lovely about the pairing given Harry’s affection for an artist he grew up listening to. Seeing someone of her stature sharing these Wembley dates with him felt less like conventional support billing and more like one generation celebrating another.

Shania looked sensational, with fabulous hair, a fantastic figure and an outfit, right down to the boots, worthy of the occasion. The vocal difficulties she has experienced in recent years were sometimes evident and she is understandably no longer the singer she once was, but the catalogue speaks for itself. The crowd adored her, the hits prompted enormous singalongs, and it was a genuine pleasure to see such an iconic artist perform them.

Yet one of my favourite memories of the entire evening didn’t happen particularly close to Harry at all.

During a trip away from my spot at the front, I wandered further back and came across groups of young women dancing together. Some were holding hands, others had formed little circles. They weren’t worrying about whether they could see Harry properly or calculating how to get another ten feet closer to the stage. They were simply dancing with their friends, completely immersed in the music and the moment.

I’ve been (and sometimes still am!) the obsessive fan who absolutely has to be at the front myself, so I understand that particular form of madness. But there was something wonderfully pure about watching these girls simply enjoying being there. For them, the concert wasn’t just about the tiny figure running around on the stage in the distance. It was about each other, the music and a shared experience they will probably remember for years.

Perhaps that was the real meaning of Together, Together.

Harry Styles may now possess the kind of career most artists can only dream about, capable of filling Wembley Stadium night after night, but his appeal remains surprisingly human. He’s a talented songwriter and musician, a charismatic and stylish performer, and a global superstar who still somehow gives the impression that he’s having as much fun being there as everybody watching him.

For me, the newer material didn’t always reach the extraordinary heights of his strongest songs. But when a stadium full of lights accompanied Sign of the Times, or thousands danced to Watermelon Sugar, or groups of friends spun around each other beneath the Wembley sky, that hardly mattered.

It was huge, colourful and spectacular, but ultimately its greatest pleasure was something much simpler: the joy of being there, together.

You can find more photos on my Instagram account @underthestars_bygirloutside. Please give me a follow whilst you are there 🙂

UTS Rating: 🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭

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