Love this review of Louis’ show in DC at The Anthem, especially the last paragraph!! It truly was a fantastic show, and I loved that he gave it his all the night before the MSG show.
Louis Tomlinson lights up DC's Anthem on his tour, showcasing hits from his solo discography and his new album.
MATT BAILEY / JULY 10, 2026 / CONCERT REVIEWS
The beloved pop star took a break from hockey arenas to play one of live touring’s most beloved large clubs
Louis Tomlinson brought his full arena rig to the 6,000-capacity Anthem in DC on Tuesday (July 7th) for an underplay on his How Did We Get Here? World Tour. The former One Direction star played most of the tracks from his new album, How Did I Get Here? He opened with the record’s two starting tracks, “Lemonade” and “On Fire.”
Only one One Direction song made the setlist, 2014’s “Night Changes.” The rest of the night focused on Tomlinson’s three-album solo discography. With his full-length debut coming just six years ago, Tomlinson is the last of the One Direction crew to jump into a solo career with both feet.
Tomlinson’s pop music is equal parts rave-inducing (“Lemonade” features a bursting surprise right at the top of the show) and genuinely pensive. “Dark To Light” comes off as substantively emotive, with a driving beat anchoring the lyrics. The acoustic “Defenceless” showed off the underappreciated rawness of Tomlinson’s voice.
The pop star spent most of the night awash in a kaleidoscope of lights and lasers. His massive band riders doubled as techno-club light boxes, pulsating light downstage toward Tomlinson.
I love when artists post up at the Anthem with their full arena rig. It makes you feel like you’re at Rock Lititz watching bands run through at the iconic stage-rehearsal base camp. Everything just hits ten times harder in a box one-fourth the size of the Garden—where Tomlinson interrupted Bon Jovi’s return to the stage with a one-off gig on July 8th. (JBJ and company return on the 9th. My thoughts are with those rigging crews. I digress.)
Lasers and screens combined to make his feel like some sort of pop music laboratory in the middle of outer space. It’s a stage you just don’t want to peel your eyes from for a single second. His runway ended in a question mark-emblazoned b-stage where he belted songs “Sunflowers” and “Lucid.” And singing right along with him were his fans—mostly female—screaming every word to the new songs like they had been out for years.
For his third album, Louis pushed himself as a lyricist, songwriter, and performer, holding nothing back on these tracks. Though he certainly doesn’t have to prove himself, it’s clear that he still writes music, plays shows, and sings as if everything is on the line. In the studio, restless creativity and a hunger for artistic exploration drive his process. Live, he leaves everything on the stage as sold-out crowds meet him head-on with the same amount of enthusiasm and energy. As a writer, he’s diving deeper into who he is than ever before.
By the end of the night, having heard most of “Get Here” live, I came to an inescapable conclusion: this record could well earn Tomlinson his first Grammy nomination and win. And that’s a tricky thing to pull off in the crowded field of pop music. As I told a friend during the show, long live boy bands—and the authentic artists who emerge from them.
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