The first solo tour from Harry Styles, Live on Tour, consisted of 89 shows performed in under a year. When it ended in July 2018, the singer shared a parting message thanking everyone for coming and bidding a momentary farewell before running off to make new music. Flash forward five years, and we’ve arrived at the conclusion of Love on Tour, the collection of 169 shows in support of that music — and the goodbye this time around is just as bittersweet, if not more, as it punctuates the most transformative era of his career thus far.
“To the most inspiring people I know. Goodbye for now. Love On Tour forever,” Styles captioned an over three-minute long video comprised of footage from the tour. But only a select few moments of it center around himself or the band he’s been performing with for the past two years. Instead, it captures heartfelt and intimate moments between fans, both friends and strangers, who gathered in cities across the world where they found a goldmine of wholesome connection through his music.
The first fans highlighted in the video recall skipping class to buy Love on Tour tickets, deciding: “Harry Styles is more important than anthropology.” Outside of the other venues he performed at, fans assisted each other with applying glittering gems to each other’s hair, kicked off their platform boots while they waited, and broke down some self-made choreography in preparation for a night of dancing.
“It’s such a different atmosphere, and you can feel it when you walk in,” another person states in a voiceover during the montage. “In a room full of strangers, you can feel like you’re really in a family.” And each night backstage, Styles was preparing for them, too. In the video, the singer is shown sliding on his signature ring collection, cycling through the nearly 200 glammed-out outfits he donned over the course of the tour, and breaking into the dance moves his fans have learned by heart.
The footage included in the video, all captured between the tour’s September 2021 start and July 2023 end, position Love on Tour as being so much bigger than Styles himself. While some fans had their phones out to capture his star power on stage, others spent the night in the back of the pit jumping rope with a string of feather boas. They held each other, cried together, and embraced one another to the tune of music from all three of his albums: Harry Styles, Fine Line, and Harry’s House.
“We want to help each other and just be kind to each other and love each other,” another fan explains, recalling the strong sense of community and unspoken understanding created in these live music spaces. “Those friendships are gonna stay after the tour and that doesn’t end because the tour is ending. That’s always going to be there.”
And that’s really all they’ll have until he returns. You won’t find Styles providing play-by-play updates on social media. In fact, those live shows are really the only place you’ll find that unburdened version of him, embracing the same type of self-acceptance and freedom he encourages his audience to. “None of you are alone,” Styles states in a moment of the video captured at the final show on Saturday. “I feel what it is that you create together. This show is what it is because of all of you. You’ve changed my life. Thank you so so much.”
In the final moment of the video, a heart-shaped balloon floats away into the sky. It takes the place of the heart-shaped glasses he wore in the final post of the Live on Tour era. In a separate post to his Instagram story, Styles took one final bow.
“It’s been the greatest experience of my entire life,” he wrote. “I feel so incredibly full and happy. It’s all because of you. You have given me memories that will last a lifetime, more than I could have ever dreamed of. Thank you for your time, your energy, and your love. It’s been an honor to play for you. I hope you had as much fun as I did. Look after each other, I’ll see you again when the time is right. Treat People With Kindness. I love you more than you’ll ever know.”