Harry Styles treated fans to rarities, covers and orchestral reworkings of his material last night (June 16) as he performed with the Jules Buckley Orchestra and the House Gospel Choir at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
The intimate gig was part of this year’s Meltdown Festival, which Styles has curated, and came amid his record-breaking 12-night run at Wembley Stadium.
“Good evening, Wembley,” he joked in reference to those shows after ‘Paint By Numbers’. He described being asked to curate Meltdown as an “honour”, adding that the Southbank Centre’s “faith and trust in me means a lot”.
“It feels strange […] to be so aware you’re in the middle of your career highlight,” he continued. “This is an incredibly special week for me.”
Throughout the set, Styles sat to the left of conductor Buckley, switching between playing piano and guitar over different songs as he sang. The setlist largely drew from his two most recent albums, 2022’s ‘Harry’s House’ and this year’s ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally’, eschewing some of his biggest hits to focus on songs like ‘The Waiting Game’, ‘Carla’s Song’ and ‘Boyfriends’.
At various points, he wove orchestral pieces between his own work, including Buckley’s ‘Matter Red’ and ‘Hummingbird’, and ‘Hommage’ by Patrick Watson. Styles discussed Watson’s influence on his work with Buckley, who arranged the strings on ‘Coming Up Roses’ and for his ‘Together, Together’ tour, saying he had played the conductor and composer a track called ‘Here Comes The River’.
“There’s this tension in the strings – it’s the same four chords round and round, but the tension keeps going and going, and never quite releases,” he said. “I played it to Jules and said, ‘This is the feeling that I want in the strings. I want it to inhale and inhale and inhale, and never quite exhale. What do you think?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I did those strings.’ So we were off to quite a good start. I said, ‘Oh, yeah, just do that again then!’”
Styles also performed some tracks from earlier in his career, including ‘Two Ghosts’ from his self-titled debut album, which he aired for the first time since 2020, and the title track from his second album, ‘Fine Line’. Ahead of a reworked version of ‘Carla’s Song’, one of the highlights of his latest album, he explained more of the story behind the song, recounting an experience of seeing his friend Carla listen to Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ for the first time.
“It was the most vivid reminder of what it means to be part of people’s lives,” he explained. “I’ve been so wonderfully fortunate to be a part of people’s lives through music, and this moment I had with a friend was a reminder of that.” He described the moment as “like watching someone see a magic trick for the first time” and noted that “hearing songs like that is a reminder of this thing that is so much bigger than any one artist that you like, these things that are around for so much longer than any of us”. “Sorry to bring death into it – it’s inevitable, apparently,” he quipped.
Styles closed his set with a cover of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, before leaving the stage to a standing ovation from the sold-out 2,700-capacity venue. Earlier in the evening, he had paid tribute to the musicians joining him on stage last night, and to Buckley. “I’ve always been a lover of orchestral music and classical music, and it’s incredibly intimidating as someone who cannot read music,” he said. “But I’ve never felt so welcomed into a space. [These musicians] never made me feel like I didn’t belong.”
Harry Styles played:
‘Boyfriends’
‘Paint By Numbers’
‘Matilda’
‘Matter Red’
‘Two Ghosts’
‘The Waiting Game’
‘Fine Line’
‘Hummingbird’
‘Coming Up Roses’
‘Here Comes The River’
‘Carla’s Song’
‘Hommage’
‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’
Meltdown Festival will run until June 21 and will feature performances from Orlando Weeks, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Soulwax, Bar Italia, Jon Hopkins, Dev Hynes, and more. The run began last week (June 11) with a performance from Los Angeles’ Warpaint – the band’s first gig in nearly two years.
Styles kicked off his record-breaking stint at Wembley last week (June 12), paying tribute to the late artist David Hockney and looking back on his connection to the area and its links to his days in One Direction. “Sixteen years ago, my mother signed me up for the X Factor without my knowledge,” he told the crowd towards the end of the night. “I wouldn’t be here today if she hadn’t done that. She’s here today – thank you so much. You’ve changed my life, all of you.”
The Together, Together tour continues at Wembley Stadium tonight (17), with further dates on June 19, 20, 23, 26, 27, 29 and July 1, 3 and 4. Visit here for any remaining UK tickets and check out doors and stage times here. Styles will donate £1 from every ticket sold to LIVE’s levy to help protect UK grassroots music venues and support emerging talent.