Harry Styles leaves Kiwi fans spellbound in near-constant state of total pop ecstasy

REVIEW: The prodigal son of pop returned to New Zealand on Tuesday night with a masterstroke of true pop star power –Styles’ Love on Tour show is a triumph of charisma, charm, and colour.

“People of New Zealand!” he boomed, in a rich Cheshire accent, “This is a beautiful country.”

By the time Styles reached the stage, after warm-up acts from Tauranga folk-pop star Ny Oh and reigning indie darlings Wet Leg, it was hard to imagine another pop star who can summon this knee-quaking, lip-trembling, eye-watering effect on an all-ages crowd.

He’s the new master of the moonage daydream, spinning fresh fantasies from his traditional rock-pop, inventing a new aesthetic along with it – part rhinestone cowboy, part Gucci carnival, part flower power.

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But, what about the music behind the man?

This tour, the first of Styles’ to land in New Zealand since 2017, celebrates the lauded Harry’s House, which was a jukebox kaleidoscope of pop which threw in everything from Steely Dan to a-Ha.

Of all those who worship at the altar of Harry Styles, I entered the most agnostic – but Love on Tour worked away on me, without any pyrotechnics (like Coldplay), gymnastics (like Pink), or profoundly distracting messaging (like U2), to divert from some of the softer songs.

The show goes into cruise control slightly for the more humdrum middle tracks of Harry’s House, but there’s all the verve and sophistication in hits like Treat People with Kindness and Kiwi to suggest Styles biggest and best number might still be to come.

Styles drops many jazzy riffs and vocal twists throughout the evening, inflecting his most popular tracks with a new depth, and adding another layer sophistication to the back catalogue

It’s a straightforward pleasure watching the star as he rocks out to Adore You and Daylight with the three dance moves – high kicks, a playful hip thrust, and that half-jump/spin – which have obliterated your TikTok algorithm over the last 22 months.

An extended punk rock guitar solo accompanies Woman, which surprised me, as the predominantly tween crowd went totally bananas for it (maybe in the age of Olivia Rodrigo, this is the new normal).

The opening chords of Treat People with Kindness gets the crowd jumping more than any track yet. It’s the most sunlit infused of all of his songs and it’s plain why it plays so well. Big hooks, fun interludes, and the kind of easy mantra that’s made Styles’ name.

Styles’ stage design is low-key, lacking the mega-wattage of other superstars – no matter, the plumes of vape smoke are giving enough ambience for all.

In the second half of the show, That’s What Makes You Beautiful gets revived with a new funky riff that’s more Donny Hathaway than One-D. Everyone loved it.

Then we’re in the softboi segment of the show, Styles cooing along to Little Freak and Satellite, eyes mostly closed.

Now, I am scared to even type this, in case Styles Stans come for me, but I was anxious for this gig after Styles’ lethargic show at the Grammy’s. It had signalled A Sign of the Times, that the first moment of a 22-month tour starting to take its toll.

Not to worry. His voice and charisma overflowed at the stadium – by the time we build to the final few tracks, which include Kiwi, As It Was, and Love of My Life, the crowd is in thrall to total pop ecstasy.

By now, my voice is already squeaky in a manner worryingly reminiscent of the tweens adjacent to me.

It’s unclear how the other journalists in the media section have taken to my expressive dance (suffice to say I might miss out on invites to the next mixer).

There are thousands of mums and daughters in arms around the stadium, rocking side to side as Styles crests into the end of his biggest (and best) ballad, Sign of the Times, it’s a very cathartic karaoke session for Auckland. Fans have been in a near-constant state of pleasure, but this one brings puts them even deeper under his spell.

That’s the confetti from feather boas, not stardust, you can see around the stadium, although you’d be forgiven for mistaking them – as the biggest pop star in the galaxy closes his set.

“I don’t want to go home,” one bereft fan sobbed from the abandoned stadium floor, now a patchwork of technicolour feathers.

It was a colourful coronation for pop’s biggest idol – full of comedy (Harry’s jokes about the census, and the extended segment where he dragged the ex-boyfriend of a fan for breaking up with her), and Styles’ wall-to-wall grin setting the mood of the evening.

Styles closes with Kiwi, bringing home to NZ, and the 40,000+ crowd rock out in synch.

The stadium became Harry’s House for the night, but after seeing the sobs of fans and hearing the high-pitched shrieks, I’m convinced it’s Styles’ world, and we’re just living in it.