Harry Styles Brings ‘Kiss All The Time’ Home With Manchester One Night Only Show: 7 Best Moments

Thanks to a strict no-phone policy for the show, the arena felt alive in a new way. With Kiss All the Time having been out for less than a day, fans felt compelled to lean deeper into the music, singing along to scattershot passages and laughing together as they learned the lyrics in real-time. Screams and moments of ecstatic dancing blended into one unstoppable wave – particularly during a fierce, dizzyingly relentless “Ready, Steady, Go!” – while Styles looked truly at ease, wearing a relaxed fit comprising a daisy-print shirt and baby blue crew neck.

Styles’ dance moves – once charmingly tentative – have evolved from the loose, improvisational full-fist-pumping and running of his Love On Tour era to more fluid body rolls. For the more ardent fans, watching him spin, strut and groove throughout the likes of “Aperture” or “Dance No More” may have brought back memories of the lingering “never going back to the bakery” meme, a nod to his teenage stint at W. Mandeville Bakery, Holmes Chapel. As he marched around the stage with urgency, it was clear: here is a showman pushing himself to even greater heights.

Does Kiss All The Time centerpiece “Coming Up Roses” house Styles’ strongest vocal performance to date? The answer from the crowd at Co-op Live was a resounding “yes.” Complemented by an orchestral arrangement, his voice soared with renewed power and nuance; a delicate ballad about allowing oneself to dive into a new love, Styles beautifully demonstrated how essential his fourth album is to his growth both as an artist and a human still figuring out his place in the world, despite its differences from the rest of his catalogue.

Few would have expected Styles to bring “From The Dining Table,” the closer of his eponymous debut LP and a real fan favourite, back to the setlist for the first time in 2018 – not least as the opener to his ‘greatest hits’ encore. Performed acoustically beneath a pale white spotlight, the track remains sublimely effective in its minimalism and emotional impact. Judging by the room’s awe-struck silence, many a fan’s devotion was rewarded by Styles’ decision to entertain an element of surprise.

From “Satellite” stomps to Spitgate, Styles’ Love On Tour run was fueled by fan-made memes, interactions and inside jokes, but perhaps none caused as much attention as clips of thousands of fans screaming “Leave America” each night, intended as a playful dig at the star’s extended live activity in the U.S. When Styles reached that lyric during “As It Was” tonight, the room well and truly erupted. Some things never change. 

Before Styles closed the show with 2017 debut single “Sign of the Times,” an anthem of hope and resilience that feels more pertinent than ever, he gave an extended speech that touched on the importance of the community his live shows have forged over the years. “In a world that is so chaotic, it is so easy to be hopeless,” he said. “I look at these rooms and see what you create, and there’s hope here. Thank you for being a light in my life and spreading joy to people in your own lives: be the change in the world.” Right on.

Fancy another one? Just when fans thought the show was over, Styles re-emerged to close out proceedings with a second performance of “Aperture,” presumably after a small mic fault affected the sound the first time around. Clearly high off the adrenaline of the past hour, Styles screamed out the opening line – “Take no prisoners!” – before the first verse thumped into life. Stood behind a synthesiser, his face was a picture of pure glee.