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In all my years of supporting Harry Styles, either as a member of One Direction or a solo musician, I’m embarrassed to say that I have never seen this man perform live. Well, sort of. The closest I ever got was when I took a 1 a.m. Megabus from Baltimore to New York to watch One Direction perform on the Today show in 2013. The closest my friends and I managed to get to the band was directly behind and across the street from the Toyota Summer Concert Stage with a huge, red orb obfuscating our view.
Still, despite my limited experience, I’m largely skeptical of Styles as a good live act. I’ve seen enough of his televised performances and recordings of his shows to know that he doesn’t exactly have the Mick Jagger-like vivaciousness he’s always trying to mimic, and that his Prince-esque costumes (although, he still looks good somehow in his ugly, cleavage-bearing jumpsuits) aren’t as mesmerizing as people say. His live singing is either disappointing or just fine. And he’s always either lowering his songs by several keys or completely avoiding high notes seemingly to prevent his voice from cracking.
And in case you think my opinions are totally ill-informed, I’ve also heard several accounts from recent concertgoers and people who attended his Coachella set in May that, while the vibes were nice, he’s no Bruce Springsteen.