Just Let Me Adore You: A Love On Tour Journey

I had this elaborate idea planned for how I wanted to write this article. This piece on my journey to seeing Harry Styles on his highly anticipated Love On Tour. But as I sit here on Oct. 23rd, riding the train with my Love On Tour tote bag shining in the corner of my eye, I realize all the words I want to say will never compare to the feeling that electrocuted my body as he walked on stage during my concert two nights ago. However, the autumn leaves floating outside the train window remind me that life would be useless if we did not dare try to show our true colors and express the feelings we think no one will understand. So, I will write and hope you understand.

My mom drove my best friend, Gabbi, and me three hours from New York to Uncasville, Connecticut, to see Harry Styles at Mohegan Sun Arena on Oct. 21st. But long before this Thursday evening came months of planning, weeks of anticipation, and hours of singing in the shower to “Adore You,” counting down the days to the show.

Here is how it all went down.

**Day one, July 14th: Harry announces that Love On Tour is back!**

A month before his sophomore studio album, Fine Line, was released, Harry Styles announced that he was going on tour. The North American leg of the show would unfold over the summer of 2020, bringing smiles as bright as the sunshine in the air. But, when Covid-19 took the world by storm last year, concerts were one of the first activities out of the window.

A few months into the pandemic, Harry Styles officially announced that his North American Love On Tour dates would be rescheduled to begin in 2021. "The well-being of my crew and all the fans around the world will always hold top priority," he wrote in an Instagram post. "I can't wait to see you all out on the road, as soon as it's safe to do so."

Thankfully, on July 14, 2021, the world was right again. Harry announced that Love On Tour would be going across America starting in September.

Unfortunately, Harry's news for non-U.S. fans was not as sweet: "To everyone in the UK, and across the world, I can't wait to see you again, but for obvious reasons, it is just not possible at this time," he wrote. "I will be sharing more news soon about shows across the globe, and new music. I love you all so much. I'm very excited, and I can't wait to see you."

It was a bittersweet day for Harries across the world —but for fans like myself, the idea that our king would be back in his element of rocking the stage again sent a chill down our spines.

Day three, July 17th: to buy or not to buy?

But I still didn’t have Love On Tour tickets! As a more recent Harrie, I failed to buy tickets when Ticketmaster first sold them two years ago. So with the prospect of seeing Harry in concert, pulling my heartstrings and taunting my wallet, Gabbi and I both agreed that we would find a way to go to this concert no matter what.

We decided to try and get tickets to one of the new stops added on tour — October 21st at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. As New York natives, of course, it would be easier for us to have attended one of Harry’s five New York City shows at Madison Square Garden. But looking at the $1,500 pit tickets for MSG, we hoped we’d have better luck finding cheaper tickets for a Connecticut date.

Our parents agreed, and the next step was to secure these tickets.

Day nine, July 23rd: buying love on tour tickets

On this sweltering day, I rose out of bed at 7 a.m., and a tangle of anxiety and excitement made my stomach feel like sour matzah ball soup. The thought of not getting tickets to Love On Tour made me nauseous.

Ticketmaster would release Uncansville tickets at 9 a.m. EST and I FaceTimed Gabbi to get ready. We both set our laptops open to the site, watching the virtual waiting room tell us how many minutes were left until we could purchase tickets. I even had my parents log onto the website, doubling our chances. When the clock finally struck 9 a.m., I was number 1,500 in line, but my mom only had 400 people in front of her, then 150, then 10, then five, then boom! As Ticketmaster transferred my mom to the area to buy tickets, my dad and I ran over to her computer, and Gabbi bit her nails, watching through my phone screen.

“All sold out,” my mom sucked her teeth. “Go to StubHub,” one of us suggested. Of course, in this age of re-sellers, people would have already posted tickets to the show on these second-party sites. As we all resorted back to our devices, the concert gods revealed themselves. Ta-da — tickets were spilling out of every corner of the screen! After all this work and the roller coaster these last two years have been, Gabbi and I deserved to splurge and get pit tickets.

By 10 a.m., we were officially Cherry Pit ticket holders! Our summer jobs of chopping salads and serving frozen yogurt would come through as we paid back our parents during the following months.

Ninety-two days until we see Harry Styles in the flesh.

Day twenty-one, September 4th: Harry’s first show

He’s back! He’s back! He’s back!

Shining in a sparkly pink vest and pink trousers designed by Harry Lambert, Harry looked like a fluorescent pink star during his first stop on tour in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Day forty-nine, October 2nd: Harry’s merch shop

Unfortunately, I was not like my best friend Olivia, attending Harry’s second show in New York on Monday, October 4th. Even so, I still had to connect with my New York Harries somehow, and the pre-concert merch pop-up shop was the perfect opportunity to do so. Olivia and I went along with another friend from our school. Luckily my best friend from New Jersey, Arielle, was in town for the weekend as well. So even though she has been anti-Harry Styles for ages (to tease me, I suppose), guess who ended up buying a poster from the shop?

We lined up at 8 a.m. outside Madison Square Garden, where hundreds of people wrapped around the block. But in no time, we were speeding into the arena, pondering over what to buy. T-shirts, posters, “Treat People With Kindness” water bottles, and more splattered the stands. It was fun being surrounded by people I love to honor the British man we all love! After collecting our goodies, Arielle and I spent the rest of the day in SoHo. We soaked up the early autumn sun and spotted Harries with Love On Tour tote bags sparkling the streets.

Day sixty-seven, October 20th: clothes, hair and nail time

With one day left until the show, it was time to secure the last-minute details and get ready.

I bought my 70s queen outfit months ahead of the show because while Love On Tour is a concert, it is also a fashion show for us Harries. Boas, sparkly sunglasses, flare jeans, and white knee-high boots are uniform for us all. The next step was getting my nails painted. Harry is known for colorful nails with whimsical designs. Similarly, I got a fresh new set of acrylics with smiley faces in all colors of rainbows. As for my hair, I let my curls rock and wave into a voluptuous afro as high as the sky.

Shimmered with the excitement that this was all happening, it was as if I was a little kid again on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to come down the chimney. Thus, I wrote a version of “A Visit from St. Nick” and sent it to Gabbi:

A Visit From Sir Harry Styles

‘Twas the night before Harry, when all through our bones

Excitement was stirring, jiggling like stones

Our hearts thump thump

Wild like a roller-coaster bump

Anticipating what will surely be

A night filled with luck.

In which she responded, “Lmfao girl! I still have to paint my nails.”

Day sixty-eight, October 21th: day of the show

Everything before Harry came on stage that night now feels like a time-lapse video, but thankfully I can slow down some parts.

First, my mom and I picked up Gabbi, and since both of our moms were the real MVPs of this trip, I took a picture of them holding a sign that said “Moms For Harry.” Not to brag, but it even got reposted on @harryflorals, the most popular Instagram fan account for Harry Styles fans. Then we drove to Connecticut, watching the green leaves change into pumpkin pie hues and red apple tints. Once we arrived at Mohegan Sun at 3 pm, a rainbow vomit of slot machines, restaurants, and hotel rooms unfolded in front of our eyes. This vast 34-story entertainment complex truly has every activity under the sun, with the concert arena at its core.

We did all the logistical things like showing proof of vaccination to get vaccine wristbands and getting Cherry Pit wristbands to enter the show officially. Pit ticket holders could arrive back at the stadium at 6:10 pm, while the concert would begin at 8:00 p.m..

In the following three hours, my mom checked us into our hotel. Gabbi and I scarfed down a dinner of spinach artichoke dip with tortilla chips and steak from Applebee’s, and while one of us did our makeup, the other showered. Finally, after taking pictures in the hotel parking lot and rushing to the arena, we made it in time. Running down the stairs to the pit, Gabbi and I secured a barricade, the closest you could possibly get to the stage. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

At 9 p.m., the lights dimmed, and Harry rose from the stage in a blue shirt and cherry red trousers. Then it hit me — I was really at Love On Tour. Once he started playing “Golden,” I straight up sobbed. Flashbacks of all the stress it took to get these tickets to finally be standing there with nothing but joy in my heart cemented this moment as the best day of my life.

For the next hour and a half, I screamed, laughed, smiled, and danced with Gabbi always by my side. When Harry played his final song for the night, I cried once again. It is incredible how life-changing one concert can be — one human can be. How lucky we are to be alive in the same universe simultaneously, with the same music flowing through our earbuds.

Day sixty-nine, October 22nd: the morning after

Right after the show, “Humble” by Kendrick Lamar blasted through the stadium’s speakers, as everyone was trying not to cry. After Gabbi and I successfully escaped the madness of the arena, my mom took us to 7-11. As I filled up a Big Gulp with coke and bought salt and vinegar chips, the post-concert depression reeled in.

The next morning, as we left the hotel and watched Harries in crinkled Love On Tour shirts snack on breakfast in the lobby, it hit me that this was all truly over. I missed the experience already. All those months of anticipation and the concert were over in the blink of an eye.

But at least my eyes were open for a moment and I experienced one of the best artists of our generation rock it out on stage.

As Harry says, “ Remember everything will be alright/ We can meet again somewhere/ Somewhere far away from here.”

So until next time, Love On Tour. Until next time.