“ time I open any social media there's so much negativity about him, coming from every side, hate posts with 100000 likes, etc. I hope it's just a social media thing. But it really sucks because you know he's really pouring his whole heart into this era and the feedback is so negative. “
I get it - Harry’s our baby, right? But let me offer some counter narrative. This is Amsterdam this morning.
https://x.com/sonnyangelrry/status/2056013212210888975?s=61
I’ve read 3 reviews basically falling all over themselves to describe how amazing the show is and how amazing Harry is.
Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/harry-styles-triumphant-amsterdam-tour-opener-review-1235563977/
Variety. https://variety.com/2026/music/reviews/harry-styles-amsterdam-night-together-together-tour-1236751132/
The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/17/harry-styles-together-together-tour-genuinely-charismatic-performer-amsterdam-live-concert-review
There are fan videos all over showing how much fun the show was and the energy.
He said it himself - get off your phone and enjoy life. He’s done that - I truly don’t think he is sitting reading stan Twitter or tumblr. He’s learned what’s true and what’s not.
He has sold out shows, fans going wild and stellar reviews.
And what I am NOT going to do today is watch some shitty live from the rafters with the filmer screaming “Medicine” the entire time. 😂😂.
OH MY GOD I WATCHED HERS, TOO. I wanted to throttle her. Awful.
And thank you for the reviews. I haven't had a chance to look for anything yet. These are lovely to read. Both the descriptions of the show and the reminders of some of what Harry said in between songs.
“None of these songs would exist if it wasn’t about being open to things and letting things enter your life,” he told the crowd. “Sometimes to put your phone down and go out for a night can change your life. It actually sounds silly, but it’s true. It changed MY life. And YOU’VE changed my life, over and over again.”
[...]
For a star who’s been shy about doing interviews lately, he sure does love to wax eloquent about the philosophical premise of KissCo and the whole Together, Together show. “I think we live in a time where it doesn’t seem very cool sometimes to try,” he said. “But I think trying is the coolest thing you can do. When I’m in these rooms with you, I see the way that you treat each other and you TRY with each other—you dance with a friend, you dance with a stranger. That’s what this is all about. It’s about being open to people, being open with your friends, being open with strangers.”
He hit that theme over and over—the importance of music as a communal experience. “I want to say thank you to all my friends who took me out dancing the last couple of years,” he added toward the end. “And all the strangers who had to dance with me.” The crowd was feeling his words deep. “I think in a world where we’re surrounded by so much noise, wherever it is—if it’s online or in your life, it happens to all of us and it affects all of us.” But he added, “I want you to feel what this feels like, to be in this room with a bunch of people who love you tonight, and remind you that the only thing to do is live and exist with your integrity and your respect and your dignity.”
It’s evidence of what – to use a modern term – a huge flex the Together, Together tour is. There are doubtless sound reasons for performing lengthy residencies at single venues rather than dutifully dragging yourself around the globe – Styles’ 10 shows in Amsterdam are the only gigs he’s playing in mainland Europe, followed by similarly lengthy sojourns at venues in London, São Paulo, Mexico City, New York City, Melbourne and Sydney – but it also helps underline the scale of the former One Direction star’s solo success. Twelve consecutive nights at Wembley is a feat not even Taylor Swift’s Eras tour could match. Here, it suggests, is a man who’s not only pulled off one of the hardest tricks in pop – the journey from manufactured boyband member to respected solo artist is a notoriously thorny one – but done it with an almost unparalleled degree of aplomb. You’d have to look back to George Michael’s post-Wham! career to find even a vague equivalent.
In a live setting at least, you see their point. Tracks from said album that sounded flat on record feel noticeably punchier on stage. Sometimes they’ve been obviously zhooshed-up – Taste Back now comes interpolated with a whopping sample from Underworld’s Born Slippy – and sometimes they just feel potentiated by their live incarnation. Ready, Steady Go! seems more vital and alive performed by Styles in the middle of the audience – three linked catwalks bedecked with LED lights lead out from the stage into the crowd – surrounded by dancers flinging themselves around in a manner that seems abandoned, even if it’s presumably choreographed to within an inch of its life.
It hints at the strange tension at the centre of Harry Styles’ solo career, a curious blend of straightforward pop moves – the irresistible blasting brass of Music For A Sushi Restaurant, the hook-heavy Watermelon Sugar and As It Was – and lunges towards something more leftfield. At one juncture, the audience is treated to the unexpected sight of a man who first found fame by charming Simon Cowell on The X Factor bellowing into a distorted microphone in a manner not unlike that of late Fall frontman Mark E Smith. The live incarnation of 2019’s Treat People With Kindness owes a great deal to Talking Heads, specifically This Must Be The Place.
[...]
In a world where pop stars are encouraged to take no risks whatsoever, there’s something appealing about being in the presence of a pop star who’s willing to push the envelope at least a little.
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