For the SiriusXM + Pandora event, Styles plays the wildly intimate 650-person Music Hall of Williamsburg, and Billboard was inside.
The super secret location of Harry Styles’ Friday evening (Feb. 28) SiriusXM x Pandora show wasn’t revealed until the morning of, but once fans arrived at the address given -- 66 N. 6th St. -- it was right there on the marquee: Harry Styles was playing the 650-person capacity Music Hall of Williamsburg.
For Styles, who played a Fine Line release show at Los Angeles’ 17,505-person capacity The Forum and will soon kick off his world arena tour, this intimate of a show is rare. Such a fact was further evidenced by the lines of eager fans snaking around each side of the building and waiting across the street.
About 20 minutes before the show started, a crew member laid down a new setlist and promptly placed a shirt over it to ensure no one snuck a peak; and with 10 minutes to go, a series of tracks from Styles’ close pals played back-to-back: Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way,” a nod to Stevie Nicks (who performed with Styles during his Forum show in December), and Lizzo’s “Juice.”
By 7 p.m. on the dot, the show started. After a brief introduction from the night’s trio of Hits 1 hosts, the crowd released a deafening scream as Styles stepped onstage. At the top of the nearly 20-minute interview, Styles -- wearing red boots, navy-blue pinstripe pants and a yellow and blue polka-dot sweater vest over a white button-down -- said, “I feel like making this album [took] a lot longer than the first one.” To which a fan screamed back, “That’s right!”
Elsewhere, he emphasized the importance of making music that excites him and said while making Fine Line he learned that just because something may make him uncomfortable to write or record, “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.” When asked what current pop song he wishes he wrote, he revealed it to be Lizzo’s “Good as Hell” for that very reason, saying: “She has this infectious positivity and is so authentically herself. She’s really inspiring.” As for whether the two would collaborate? “If something made sense,” he said, “maybe.”
And of course, the interview wasn’t complete without a brief discussion of convenience store chain Wawa, at which Styles was recently spotted. “I love a Wawa, they’re everywhere,” he said. “I was going to a Wawa recently, and we open the door and it’s playing [One Direction song] 'Night Changes' and six girls were in the back just singing and I was like, 'I’m gonna wait in the car.'”
Styles fully embraces his One Direction past, though, even playing “What Makes You Beautiful” during his brief but highly energetic set, calling it “an oldie but a goodie” and proudly waving the pride flag around during its closing notes. He later dedicated Fine Line single “Adore You” to the fish that starred in its music video, and introduced “Watermelon Sugar” by recalling how he wrote it in Nashville on a day off from touring his debut self-titled album back in 2017.
Before delivering the set’s final song, Styles had just one request: “We’ve got four minutes left of this secret session, I need you to give me everything you’ve got.” He then ripped into his most explosive -- and another fruit-inspired -- track to date, “Kiwi,” for which he transformed Music Hall into a full-blown stadium rock show. The show itself may have been a secret, but one thing is widely known, and was proven tonight: Harry Styles knows how to deliver.