Harry Styles' Music & Concerts

We've watched HarryStyles grow up publicly and musically for 15 years. From UK's The X Factor, One Direction, and a solo global pop artist! To review his 4th album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, I interviewed Seeing Them Live's podcast host Charles Zona, and his teenage daughter. They share great stories as Harry's biggest fans, and seeing his concerts!

Harry's promo cameos: 2026 Grammys Album of the Year; BBC Radio 1; BRIT Awards; Zane Lowe Show; crashing SNL a week early; Netflix's One Night In Manchester

Episodes when I was on Seeing Them Live: George Michael Sings to Jessica, 2024 Wrap-up, 2025 Wrap Up (Pt. 1), (Pt. 2)

Charles' book: Ticket Stub Stories

Music Notes with Jess interview

Follow our social media pages on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube!

Email: musicmediareviewpodcast@gmail.com

Theme Song: "Gym Track (2026 Remix)", composed by Jessica Ann Catena

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hey, I'm Jess. Welcome to Music Media Review, a podcast critiquing topical events of the modern music industry. From UK to the X Factor, One Direction to Global Pop Artist, we've watched Harry Styles publicly grow up in 15 years. With his fourth album now, disco the time, disco occasionally. He's felt so comfortable sharing what's on his mind and maintaining connections to the future. This episode will be a collaborative review of Harry Styles' music and his concerts. I invited my friend Charles Sona, podcast host of Seeing Them Live, and his teenage daughter, Lily. They share great feedback as fans and unbelievable stories. Here's our music media review. It's very rare when new music comes out that you get to talk about what you like about it, just in real time, the reactions of how the music is going to be the rest of the year or later on. And that's one of the reasons why I started this podcast, Music Media Review, because I wanted to open up the conversation more than just my voice, but the people who have feelings about these artists that mean a lot to them. And I got just the people to talk about Harry Styles, Kiss All the Time, Disco occasionally. Please welcome my friend Charles Ona, host of Seeing Them Live, the author of his memoir, Ticket Step Stories, and his daughter, Lily. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Hey Jessica. Thanks for having us on.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Oh, absolutely. And thank you for arranging your schedules with this too.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Yeah, no, we're we're really excited to uh talk about Harry Styles and yeah, Lily's I would consider her a super fan. So yeah, we uh and just by association, um I I learned a fair bit about Harry Styles myself.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

I'm sure. So I want to start off with that because Lily, I'm assuming you first heard Harry Styles from One Direction, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Um, I think I first heard him from his album Fine Line.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Don went One Direction.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Like still Yeah, I was wondering that too, because One Direction, they were a very unique boy band. And I don't know if a lot of people know this, but the people who put them together with Simon Cowell, they were on the X Factor in 2010 in the UK, and all five members were contestants, and instead of eliminating them, they really liked how each member had a little bit of something. So that's how the supergroup or the boy band got formed on there, and every single artist, they've all had solo songs. So I was curious if that's how you started listening to Harry too.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Yeah, yeah. And I I think um yeah, I think we we started listening to to Fine Line and um during COVID. During COVID, oh okay. And so um I and I just want to say, Jessica, that you know, I was um I I I'll call it my boy band biased. Like I was you know, poking holes in Harry's songs I'd listened to because you know, I just I you know, I I just didn't like the concept of a boy band and so but you know, I have to say, as I listened to his albums, then especially when uh Harry's House came out, yeah. Um I I changed my tune on that. I I do think when I read critics' uh reviews of his albums, that they have a boy band biased still as well.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Like they they mention things that have nothing to do with the music, like how how big his pants are in a video. I mean, it's like okay, what does this have to do with the music, you know? But uh, you know, so I admittedly I I was like that myself, but um Harry's House, and then now this this new album, Kiss All the Time, Disco occasionally.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

He got it.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

I I think it's great. Um, but I'll let Lily uh comment on it as well.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

Yeah, I I love the album. Um I think when the first song Aperture was released, it was like a snow day, so we were all home. And I just remember like going to YouTube and I see that he released another music video, and I was like, oh my gosh, he released a new music video. Like, what? So I love that song because it was just like the first time I've been hearing him in a long time. And then uh the day his album was released, or I think the day after, he came out with a music video for American Girls, which uh might be one of my favorite music videos he's released.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Wow. Well that yeah, that just came out, and I just read that before we started recording, that's number one in the UK. So so far, Aperture and American Girl, they're both doing very well, and there's a chance where in the US that we may be seeing him number one again. So I have to say, I played back all of his albums this week. So I heard Harry Styles 2017, Fine Line 2019, which you're right, it carried over into to COVID. Harry's House was 2022, and he won the Grammy for that. I was so happy when he won that. My favorite song from Harry is music from a sushi restaurant. I just feel like I'm at a party when I hear it's just so fun, it's so energetic. And I know this is gonna sound controversial, but I understood that he beat Beyoncé's album Renaissance because it was this was a totally different sound for him. And he's not your typical pop star, you know. As you just said, Charles, I agree with you that the critics shouldn't think about one direction. Yes, that was his origin, but it is totally different hearing back all these albums where sometimes he's serious, sometimes he's just speaking from the heart, and other times he's just having fun, and he wants everybody to kind of be on the same page as him. So I noticed that when I was listening to Kiss All the Time, Disco occasionally, it was more serious, but you still had upbeat songs like Are You Listening Yet, Pop, Dance No More, and I was like, there he is. And I think that's where the disco occasionally comes in with the title. Because first of all, that's a very long title. I even saw, I even saw on Twitter that fans were saying hashtag kiss all the time. They didn't even want to finish writing the rest of the album. But I felt that kiss all the time, disco occasionally was him saying that yes, you could still see me as this fun guy, but this is where I'm kind of thinking about my life a little bit, where I want to start get serious in relationships like my friends are.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, yeah. And um, no, I I think like like the first four songs, especially um Aperture, American Girls, Ready, Steady, Go, and Are You Listening Yet? And you're listening, you can't see that's a that's a strong string of songs, in my opinion. I mean, that's that's great. And then the rest of the album is you know, it turns into more Harry Styles type songs, I would maybe categorize them as, and then and then it gets back into the more dancy stuff. But those first four songs, you know, that I I'm I really enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Yeah, it set a totally different tone. I was actually thinking about like the new wave stuff from like the 80s, because it kind of has like that where you're just kind of thinking when you're hearing these songs. It's not like girl meets boy, boy meets girl, I love you. You know, it's far from that. It's way more intellectual. And Lily, I'm sure that you must have felt aperture's adrenaline when you saw him running around the hotel rooms in the music video.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

Yeah. Um, I know I think in an interview he said that this album it's not like about himself like saying, Oh, I'm gonna come back and this is what I've done. It's more about like, oh, this is what's happening in the world and like this is what I want to represent with the album. And I think aperture, like especially the music video, I think that was kind of like just a person's mind in general. Wow compared to like what they know.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

And and that uh what I thought was cool about that video, a lot of uh American um elements to it, you know, the the choreography of uh you know, dirty dancing, Michael Jackson, uh Madonna, you know.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

And he's been dating some American girls, so I'm wondering I'm wondering if he'll be kind of sticking around in America a little bit because he dated Olivia Wilde, he dated Taylor Swift, and now he's with Zoe Kravitz, I hear. Yeah. So who knows if maybe I don't know, he might be staying in the U.S. Lily. Do we have to get you a restraining order? Are you gonna be okay with that? No, I'm just kidding. But you know, I also wanted to talk about there was a lot of promotions for this album. First, he handed out the Grammys album of the year to Bad Bunny. Then he also just performed uh the opening of the Brit Awards. But I think one of my favorite things was recently on Saturday Night Live and how we just surprised him, you know, in the audience and he kept on stealing the thunder from Ryan Gosling's monologue. I thought that was hysterical, and I can't believe they kept that a secret.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah, yeah. We watched that and I because I was I hadn't watched Saturday Night Live, you know, in a while. Really? I just happened to be, you know, we were watching it, and so I'm yelling for Lily, Harry's on Saturday. What? You know, because she knows that he's he's gonna be on this weekend, you know, coming up, uh the you know, the following week. So yeah, that was that was hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

I loved it, and I can only imagine what he'll do tonight. I know we're recording 12 hours before he's on. Do you think he'll do aperture in American Girls as his uh excuse me, as American Girl as his performances?

SPEAKER_03 10:48

I think I think he will, but I don't know. I'm thinking he might also do like pop or are you listening yet? Yeah. Like there's like gonna be three songs. I'm really excited for his cameos. Um because I don't know if you've seen like the advertisements for them, but there were two like little like clips of him. I thought those were like really funny. So I'm pretty excited to see what he does tonight.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yeah, I am too, and I'm a huge Saturday Night Live fan. I'm actually wearing a Saturday Night Live shirt right now for those who can't see. I figure I wanted to get you all excited for tonight. And you know what's interesting? This album only came out a week ago, but right after he had a Netflix special air where he performed the whole album and an encore. It's called One Night in Manchester. It was at a venue in Manchester, England, and that's pretty unique. I don't know if maybe this could be a new trend we're seeing this year. Bruto Mars also just did the same thing with the romantic. He just did uh his live album as a TikTok live stream. It was partnered with iHeartRadio, and now just seeing this. I mean, Charles, have you ever seen anything like this before?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Um, not not really. I mean, I I was I mean, would if you just think about the whole the whole concept of it, okay. The album comes out, um what date was the album come out, Lily?

unknown 12:16

March 6th.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

March 6th. Um and then you do this live stream essentially less than 24 hours after the album comes out, and you're gonna play the album in its entirety. I mean the confidence you must have uh behind this of this music that you've made that nobody's really ever heard, essentially. Um, but I also think that speaks to like his fan base too. Like they just want to see Harry, they want to see him do his new stuff, and um the only other band, um, Radiohead did something similar to that. You just mentioned Bruno Mars. But um even the Radiohead uh live uh video um that was released, you know, not so soon after the album was released. The only other band is uh Pink Floyd would do that. Um, with The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals. Um they would play even sometimes before the album was officially released, wow, top to bottom. And I I'm old enough, Jessica, where I saw the Animals tour.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Um my dad did too, actually.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Yeah, and they played Animals, every song on Animals, and then they followed it with every song from Wish You Were Here, and then they closed with the song Money, and that was it. And I mean and you couldn't even see the band. It was like, you know, it was all about the music, which I think Harry kind of did the same thing with that live stream. I mean, he kept that stadium pretty dark, he did, like a club, you know, like it was him. And I I thought I just thought it was remarkable that he would play the album in its entirety, invest all the time and money to film it, um, which is which is great because now it's like a live recording we all have. And the other cool thing, you know, he plays the album, does some hits, and then he plays Aperture again at the end. Yeah, as an encore, yeah, which I thought was so cool. And and we'd chatted before, and I and I, you know, the only other band that comes to mind that I've ever read that has done something like that was Led Zeppelin when they came out with their first album. You know, the crowd was going crazy, they played the whole album.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Can you imagine that?

SPEAKER_00 14:47

I mean, just being in that audience, they had nothing else to play, so they played the album again.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

And nobody cared. And I I think it was like it was very similar to this. Um, you know, I what I you Aperture's such a great song.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

It really is.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

And to hear it a second time at the end of the show, I was I was totally into it. I thought it was like the coolest, coolest thing. Yeah. What did you think, Lily?

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Well, I thought because um usually played like you know you're beautiful or Kiwi. I like the end of his show, he's on Love on Tour. So I thought he was gonna play one of those. But then when he played Averture, 'cause he opened it with it. Um I thought that was like insane. That was so cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Yeah, well, y you know, I was curious hearing the because I was driving when I heard uh Kiss All the Time, Disco occasionally last weekend, and I was trying to picture before seeing the Netflix special or just even thinking about he's gonna be doing the residency later on this year at a couple of different venues, but I was trying to picture like would he be moving around on stage, would he be standing once in a while, would he be sitting once in a while? And what they do show you is it almost reminded me as if you're in a club, they have the DJ mixer where you kind of just, you know, you put in the beats or you, you know, you raise the volume. But they also had like a I don't want to call it like a a circle, but they had the singers who sing in the background of Aperture, and they had all these different lights, and that's what I was trying to picture. I kept on thinking how the lighting was gonna be. When I think of the club, it's kind of like what you said before, Charles, about how they couldn't see the band. That's what I picture in a club because you can't really see who you're dancing around, you're just kind of listening to the music, and it's just kind of putting you in this zone.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Yeah, and the other thing I thought was cool is Harry every once in a while was going on to that that little synth table he had.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

And uh, you know, he was he was really uh, you know, turning the knobs and and doing some some cool stuff. So I I would expect to see more of that, maybe even getting into it more and extending his song, you know, where he just goes a little a little bit more into it on the on the synth table at some of the songs.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

It kind of reminded me of Ed Sheeran. The way that he does, you know, that loop pump when he's playing the guitar. I just saw him do that at Jingle Ball. That's what it reminded me of. It was he wanted to just kind of be more really hands-on with the audience.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Yeah, and he and he mentioned that. Um, did you watch that uh BBC interview with I didn't, no. He he plays uh five songs off the new four off the new album and one uh Tears for Fears song.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Um, Everybody Wants to Rule the World.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

He was talking he before that he he played, he was interviewed by this guy. You know, he he said he had seen several bands live, you know, on his time off, and he was immersed in the crowd, and how he was um I thought was interesting, he went to an L C D sound system concert, and um, because I had been reading the critics saying how he's ripping off L C D Sound System, you know, some some of the reviews.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Um they've been really harsh lately, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

And so I thought it was cool that he's like, yeah, I I saw L C D sound system and I liked them. And um what but what he said was they were playing the music, their dance music for themselves on stage rather than in the crowd, and he didn't want to remove him the crowd from himself, and he thought if he always kept doing things the same way, that he kind of would lose touch with the audience. So when he saw L C D Sound System, he's like in the crowd, you know, yeah, experiencing it, and and some of these other bands like Radiohead, he went to see. Um, I I had read uh Lily's also a big Fontaines DC fan. Yes, that's right. So he's going to these clubs and seeing these shows, and he's in the audience.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

And he wants to bring it to them.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Yeah, so so darkening the lights in the stadium and and just kind of you know, he's basically on the dance floor with you, with the fans, yeah. I I just thought it was really cool the way he explained that and and addressed the L C D sound system. And let's face it, when you're listening to any song, I I just listened to one um oh god, what's the I can't think of the band now. Um anyway, it's a mod they just came out with some it's a new band. And and one and part of it sounds like Steve Miller Fly Like an Eagle from like 76.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

So it's fabricated sound.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Well, but I mean, anybody, whatever your taste in music is, you know, you have that library in your head. So then when you hear this new band, you're like, oh wow, that they sound a lot like REM, or they sound a lot like this. But I mean, it's impossible almost to create an entirely different sound. You're influenced by other bands, you draw on these things. So, you know, him kind of I I think he was just addressing the L C D sound system um as inspiration, yeah. And he and he he used it and he's not apologizing for it.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah, and you shouldn't, because it's not like he's sampled and he has a right to like whoever he wants, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

And to that point, I also wanted to mention that you both also saw Harry Styles in concert, and I wanted to hear more of that story. It has a very unique setting, so I'm gonna give you both the mic.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Okay, yeah, yeah. Um, well, we again, you know, we're listening to Harry Styles, and Lily was listening to Harry's House quite a bit.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

And um, so he came through Chicago on that tour. He had toured uh played five nights at the United Center for Fine Line, but it was still a little too covet-y, so we I didn't feel comfortable going to that show. But um so Harry's House comes out, and um I I go online, Ticketmaster, and they and I'm totally uh clueless of Harry's stage setup and you know where things are, and they serve up these three tickets in Johnny's place, which is the pit in front of the stage. And then there's two side pits, one's called Hollywood, and the other one was called Bishopsgate. And so I go to check out, tickets are over seventeen hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Oh my gosh!

SPEAKER_00 21:55

And I'm like, I never I don't pay that kind of money for concerts, I never have, so I text my wife. She's like, oh my god, no, that so I I I jump out of line. I didn't get the tickets, we didn't go to the show. And so I was I was you know I was bummed out, but you know, that was just too much money. So um we start listening to Harry or I start listening to Harry's House, and it does kind of have a melancholy through line, that album, you know, sort of to me. And um, you know, I start kind of feeling bad that I we didn't go see Harry in Chicago.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

So you gotta apologize. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

So and and Lily's never been to a concert, and that was gonna be her first concert and stuff, so so I'm like, well, where else is he playing? You know, and in the meantime, Lily's watching all of his YouTube recordings of fans, you know, entire shows as he's going through Europe and stuff, and I see, hey, he's playing uh he's playing Lisbon, Portugal, like about 10 or 11 weeks from the time I got this idea. So, you know, I talked to my wife and we're like, yeah, let's go see Harry. So, but Lily doesn't have a passport, and she's a minor, so we had to get like you know, the passport applications. And I and I'll say this, anybody listening when you're getting a passport for somebody who's never had one, go to the library, your local library. Wow. Oh my god, they are like a million times more helpful. Do not go to the post office are you know, we we unfortunately had some crabby people we were dealing with. So I wasn't there. Uh I had to work that it was a Saturday. So I had to fill out this uh DS 3053 form. So again, if you're going to get a passport and you want to bring your child to Europe and you you're on a tight timeline, go to the appointment, the whole family. Because this DS 3053 form was like me saying, Yes, I'm Lily's dad. And it's very short form, and it needs to be notarized. So, you know, we did it. Um, passport was gonna take about seven to nine weeks. Um show was about it was on July 18th. We sent her passport application in on May 3rd. Wow, and it was just getting delayed and delayed.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Finally, I got an email like June 3rd saying it the the form was improperly notarized.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Oh my god, no.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Long story short, what a nightmare.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Oh for Harry.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Yeah, I send this form back, get it renotarized. They they send me another letter weeks later, it's improperly notarized. I mean, when you notarize something, as you might know, Jessica, I mean it it's just like a stamp.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

It's not yeah, I actually I did have that experience. I'll I'll briefly say that I actually helped one of my babysitting families get another adopted child, and I went to the bank and they signed it, but I did have to wait a year because I had to do a letter recommendation, and it took that long for them to finally get okay. So, like they really take a whole time, like it's almost like a background check. They look at everything.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

And did you have like a reason for for getting passport? Did it say we want to see Harry Styles?

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Like, did it have no, but but but that's funny. I uh the the problem gets solved by me saying that eventually. So I I get the form back again, the second time, improperly notarized. I go to the library then where they helped me get my passport because my passport had expired, but it I got it within like three weeks.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

So the one the librarian looks at this form they gave me and she goes, they gave you this form? And I'm like, Yeah, this, you know, this is that DS3053. She goes, she looks up, she points at the bottom of the the corner right side. It says, She goes, This form's from 2016.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

This form's outdated. I'm like, oh my, yeah, exactly. Oh my god, this came from the passport agency. They gave me an outdated form. So I fill out the she gives me the proper form.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

I did it notarized, but this is Friday. Uh Harry Styles is playing Tuesday, so there's no way that the the form can get to the agency by Monday. We'd have to leave Monday to see Harry on Tuesday in Portugal. Um, which is exactly what we did not want to do. Canceling airfare, oh god, purchasing.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

What a nightmare.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Well, anyway, so to your point, I had heard that um people had told me that if you're having trouble getting your passport, contact your local politician. I'm like, yeah, right, or whatever. You know, to go on a black hole somewhere, it won't work. I I contact this the senator and our state representative, and boom, they're like on it.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

And I tell them we're going to see Harry Studd. We have tickets and then Lily, we come back Friday night. We're bummed out because I put the tickets back up on StubHub. There was no way we were gonna go, we'd have to leave on Monday, and how we're gonna get this passport. So she checks the status of her passport.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Yeah, we're like about to go to sleep, and I no, I check yours first, I think. Yeah, just to like see, compare. And yours says it was like delivered or whatever, and then I check mine, and I see that it's uh shipped, and I was like Oh my god, oh my god, shipped.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Yeah, so they're shipping this passport, it'll be at our house on Monday. So I rebook the airline tickets, take the Harry Style tickets off a Stub hub, and we f we pick up the passport on Monday at UPS.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

And we leave that afternoon and flew through the night. Yeah, then land Tuesday morning and see Harry that night.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Six hours away.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

And I have to say, the only way that could have happened was one of the politicians that we'd contacted said, hey, you know, because I explained to him this email. I here's a screenshot, there's the attachment of the 2016 floor.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

She's not moving away. We're just going to see Harry.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Yeah, and I and like it's this isn't our doing, you know. And they must have contacted the passport agency and said, You gotta release this passport, you know. Wow, what a story. Yeah, yeah, it was crazy. So then we go, we see Harry, and yeah, as we're, you know, getting close to the stadium.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

Oh, okay. So we're in this like taxi, this cab, um, and I'd say maybe like half a mile, a mile out from the stadium, I see these two girls, like they're both um on an electric scooter, and one of them has this like pink feather boa, which is like a constant at like his concerts. Yeah, it's like blowing in the wind because we were right by the water, and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so cool!

SPEAKER_01 29:04

You're getting there.

SPEAKER_03 29:05

Yeah, we're almost there.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

We're totally jet lagged out of our minds.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

Yeah, and we're walking to the venue, and I see this um guy like just directly in front of me, and he he is in all silver like sparkles like everywhere. This like jumpsuit. He has these like five-inch heels on, and sparkles like all over them, and I think he had like a blue boa or something. I was like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Wow, everybody got all decked out.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Yeah, yeah. So um, so yeah, we get there. The Harry Styles fans were so nice because the whole place, um this place called Pasio Martimo de Alja's, which is basically um uh called the seafront promenade. Um, it's all general admission, holds 60,000 people.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Wow, that's pretty big.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

Yeah, yeah, and they have it sectioned up so they had Johnny's place and the two pits on the side, and we were on the front pitch, which um he had a catwalk that went out into the front pitch. So oh, yeah, I've seen I've seen concerts like that. When he would play Matilda, because we had watched every single Harry Styles concert up until that point, he comes out and plays Matilda on the on the end of that catwalk with his band. Was it Acoustic Lily or something?

SPEAKER_03 30:34

Or I think so.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Yeah, maybe it was. But um, but they're like, Oh, do you want to get closer? You know, and that the fans were were so nice. And you know, those three tickets when those seats weren't bad, those were good seats, were eight hundred dollars with three tickets.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

Can you believe that?

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Now at the United Center, it was double. Yeah, yeah. I mean, okay, granted, we would have been in the pit, but we were we were darn close to those pits. Um it's just nuts. And that that stub hub price, you know. If you would have bought them, you know, when they went on sale, it would probably been half that amount for three tickets. So the price difference in Europe is is crazy, crazy.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Um, but yeah, then uh so we're we're uh sitting there, comes out, you know, and we'd seen the intro a bunch of times, but when you're in the crowd like that, oh it's different.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

You feel it.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

It's nuts. And what did what did he open with again, Lily? Um, I forget the I forget the song that he opened with. Living in a daydream, yeah. Um in the middle of a song, okay. Like, I don't I can't I because I'm we're jet lagged. It's a you've been through enough. Yeah, it's a beautiful night.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

So like waters glowing in the air.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah, it's like humid and wow and windy. And I'm like, oh my god, am I uh at Harry Styles in Portugal? You know, I couldn't believe it. And then in the middle of that song, he he checks, hey, Lisbon, you know, and he and he goes into the rest of the song. I'm like, oh my! I mean, it was just like like he was talking about like being in the crowd, he he called out the town like that. It just I don't know, I just even talking about it, I kind of get chills talking about it was like you can't believe it happened. Yeah, it was so like emotional. Um yeah, and and then of course he he put on a you know fantastic show. It was it was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

What I thought cool was because we had seats and okay, it was kind of like the stage and then like all the seats behind it, right? Because it was it was an outside venue. So there was like this spot like kind of next to the stage where like no one was really standing, it was very odd. So me and my mom, we kind of like go on that side and we get like such a better view of Harry, and I have like such good videos of him dancing around on stage, and I was just like staring, like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

What a first concert, huh, Lily? Yeah, unforgettable. Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

It was great, and then uh you know, wet leg had opened for him on that tour on many many of the dates. I don't think the whole thing, but um, they came out and played a couple songs with him. Yeah, that was that was cool too.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Yeah, it was uh it was unbelievable that it came together like that uh in that in that way. But so yeah, you know, when this album came out, we're like and he announced the tour. We're we're going to Madison Square Garden, you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Yeah, so yeah, that's what I was gonna say. So you're gonna see him again later on this year. Yes, and you're flying to New York where I'm talking from.

SPEAKER_00 34:03

Yes, yes. So uh yeah, maybe um, you know, we could do a a pre-show.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

I love to.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

I love uh record or seeing them.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Yeah, we could even record for seeing them live. Why not?

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Yeah, or so yeah, something like that too.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Um and you have you ever been to Madison Square Garden, Charles?

SPEAKER_00 34:23

No, I have not.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Really? Yeah, my mom lived there as a kid.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Oh, she's gone many times, and I have to get her on your show seeing them live because she's seen Julian Lendon, Led Zeppelin, she saw Queen for a week. She I want her to I want her and I want you to try to see if you can get her to write a book too, because the experience that she's had, and Lily, I don't know if your dad told you this, but my mom had an interesting experience a little after I was born. She and my family are huge Queen fans, and she didn't have a passport situation to what you went through, but she also had to be looked into because she flew to London to Freddie Mercury's tribute concert. My dad got tickets because he was working at an ad agency, and Revlon, the makeup company, was one of the sponsors, and he got two tickets and he didn't want to leave me, so my mom took a friend, but they were saying to her, you flew all the way to see a concert. And she said, Yeah, that's right. And so they kept on calling her States. Look, States wants to go see Freddie. Like that's what they kept on calling her. She just she had such a good time. She she couldn't even eat. She was just so excited to be there. She saw all of these rockers at Wembley Stadium, and we have this huge picture frame in the basement where she has the tickets, she has the t-shirt that she got, where Freddie Mercury has the his arm up in the air like the Wembley concert he did in 1986. It was it was an awesome experience for her.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

That that sounds cool. Yeah, we have to get her on, you know, and talk about these stories.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

I gotta push her. She's camera shy, but I'm sure she'd love to talk. And you know, Charles, we've been such good friends the past few years. It's such a such a special friendship. I want you to know that.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

Yeah, same here. I mean, uh, this is this has worked out great. Um and and people uh love your episode apparently because um it's as you know, it's the most downloaded episode. I still can't believe that.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Yes. So speaking of Madison Square Garden, Charles is referring to when I talked about when I was at Madison Square Garden in 2008, my first concert was George Michael. And it's funny, he had the same catwalk stage setup you were talking about. And I don't know if you saw the news, but they're actually making a concert film this year of his Faith tour.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Yeah, I I did see uh I didn't read the article, but I did see like a a headline on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

Yeah, I think they're gonna try to release it to the movies and possibly do like a live record of it. And I do have I can't remember which anniversary it is, but I have a faith CD where they played some of his live versions from that concert. So that's pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_00 37:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that that's great. You know, when I when I was writing that book, you know, you gotta do a lot of research and stuff, and and you know, trying to find like concerts or recordings of concerts, you know, because you know your memory isn't great, and and neither is the internet. The internet's powerful, but there's some bad information out there. So like you you if you could see or watch the concert, you know, a video of it helps, or even a nice recording of it. And I just wish more bands would have done that and and would you know continue to do that in the future, just as a a record that could, you know, people could access 50 years from now, um, you know, what songs they played, what they were wearing, uh the venue. You know, I think it's just so valuable, and it and it, you know, it doesn't have to be a Netflix special, you know, it could be uh a a recording of somebody close to the band that can do that or something. You know, it's just it's just nice uh as as a yeah, just as an archival thing to to reference.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Absolutely. And Lily, I'm sure you see this on TikTok a lot where I think a lot of modern artists are trying to do that exact same thing. In the year alone, we had role model get all these celebrities and friends for Where's My Sally for his song, Sally When the Wine Runs Out. When I saw Jingle Ball in December, I saw Zara Larson bring a fan on stage, and she got to do the TikTok dance that just happened by chance in I believe it was Amsterdam when she first did it. So, what do you think of those concert gimmicks? Do you think that's gonna help bring more people wanting to go to concerts?

SPEAKER_03 39:16

I do, because like I don't know, like people like me who didn't like see a concert, you know, before Harry, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 39:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

I think it'd be like cool to see them on like TikTok, YouTube, whatever. Because that's what I kind of did. I would watch them, I'd be like, wow, this like looks like a really cool atmosphere. I'd like like to be here, you know.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Absolutely. And I think because to the point where they're saying that concerts cost so much money, they want to obviously have something where you'd say, Yeah, sure, I want to go that or I'd pay for that. Yeah.

unknown 39:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Now if we could just get those costs down, I know they're trying everything legally, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Um, really, like, I mean, again, even this Harry Styles show uh in Madison Square Garden, you look at those ticket prices, you know, they're five, six hundred uh over a thousand, depending on how close to the stage you are. And then go to Wembley Stadium or go to um this uh this place in Brazil, um a uh called Murumbai Stadium.

SPEAKER_01 40:23

Oh, I think I heard that. I think Lady Gaga went there.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

Those tickets are so inexpensive. Yeah, um, they're like a hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

You know, or yeah, for Harry Styles, uh$150. And I'm talking like these are good seats. Um, yeah, you have to fly to Brazil. That's maybe a downside, unless you know, make a vacation out of it.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

Like But now we know what to do for passports, so thank you for that. Thank you for that learning experience.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

But um, yeah, the other countries are are so much cheaper. It's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

And it makes no sense to me, and not to get too economical here, but they always say that everything's more expensive in the other countries, but the concert tickets aren't like shouldn't it be the opposite?

SPEAKER_00 41:07

Yeah, uh yeah, I don't know. Um, you know, if you you get a vacation out of it and uh you you probably pay for the vacation with Harry Styles.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

I mean, yeah, I'm sure. And I forgot to ask, how did you get around um in in Portugal? Did you have to get any English translations or no?

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Um Portugal is is is really a great place to visit. Every everybody speaks English.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

They're all very friendly, the food is awesome. And to get around, we took taxis um just because of the hotel we were staying at. There was a taxi stand there, and um, we did Uber once in a while, but because the the streets come up in Portuguese, you know where the driver's gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 41:57

Yeah, well, and they drive different, obviously. They drive on the opposite side of the road in Europe.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

And and I was like, um I have no idea where this guy is because I don't I don't know these streets, I don't speak Portuguese. So the the tech that the cab stand in front of the hotel was like, you know, it's there, we hop in it. It might have been a couple bucks more expensive, but um, yeah, it was it was a great vacation. Um after we I think we slept about 12 hours.

SPEAKER_01 42:26

I'm I'm sure it was a whirlwind.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Yeah, um, but no, it was it was great. I uh we definitely want to go back sometime and maybe Harry will play there again. Yeah, go check it out.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

I'm so glad. And what made you choose Madison Square Garden? Was that just the residency that he posted?

SPEAKER_00 42:42

Yeah, the residency. Um and you know, Lily's summer school schedule and just other things, uh vacations we had planned. You know, I'd love to go to Wembley Stadium, but it was just um you know, the dates, it was there was just too much going on there. So we'll be there over Labor Day weekend, which you know, we love going to New York.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Very nice.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Um yeah, it's Saturday night. Yeah, and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

Well, I'm an hour away, so I'm sure we'll talk, and I'd love to meet you both. And and obviously Valerie, I'd love to meet Valerie as well.

SPEAKER_00 43:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would be awesome. And uh yeah, like I said, maybe we could uh do uh a report from the field for you. Sure, and we'll to do a nice, you know.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

Um and a nice salute to Harry.

SPEAKER_00 43:33

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

So well, I've been looking forward to this. Thank you both for agreeing to talk and sharing these stories. And I would love to do also a post show, you know, interview again after you see him again.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

Yeah, yeah, we'd we'd definitely be up for that.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Charles, if anybody wants to be a guest on seeing them live and share their concert stories, where do you recommend they go?

SPEAKER_00 43:57

Yeah, uh well, we have uh, you know. Website, seeing them live.com, and um on the website is a guest form, and it's a very easy form to fill out, you know, your contact information. Um, we ask your first concert, um, most surprising concert, most memorable.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Um and it can be from any time.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Yeah, anytime. Is our our tagline is everybody has a concert story. Let's hear yours, you know, basically, or hopefully one day we'll hear yours. Um so yeah, and we we develop like uh from that form, then we develop kind of how the interview is gonna kind of roll out so that you're not caught like, oh, I don't I forgot what date that was, because we do all the research, yeah. And and try to pin down years and dates and venues and and such.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

So um it'll jog the memory a little bit too.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

Yeah, and then we send that back to the guest, and the guest's like, oh wow, yeah, I forgot about that one, or or what have you. And so, yeah, they're about uh interviews are half hour, 40 minutes or so, and um and then if you want to promote something, you know, which is we've we have bands on, promote their songs, albums, we have you know, regular people on. Um yeah, we we'd love to have your mom on too.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Yes, I'm gonna try to push her. And also, where can we get your book, Ticket Stub Stories?

SPEAKER_00 45:25

Uh, it's on Amazon, yeah. Um, so it's available in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover Ticket Stub Stories, uh, memoir of live music. So it chronicles my concert experiences starting at 11 years old and going all the way to I don't know, is it 2023, maybe I think something like that. Um doesn't include the Harry show, though.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

No, it doesn't, no. That that could be an you know, if you ever want to do an extended, that could be the last story.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Yeah, that can be an update uh to it. But uh yeah, and it it includes images of all the ticket stubs, like that, because I used to collect them um when they used to be available.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

Yeah, they don't do that anymore. Now it's paperless.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Yeah, although the Harry show in Lisbon uh had paper tickets, so I had an electronic one, and then Lillian and my wife had the paper tickets. So we just actually got those framed the Harry Love on Tour Lisbon poster and um an unused wristband, which I talked the security guard out of giving me one. He's like, Well, you're or as a woman, what why do you want one if when you're leaving? Like, trust me, I just want one, you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

Don't ask me any more questions, we've been through enough.

SPEAKER_00 46:47

Yeah, so we got the poster, the two tickets underneath, and then the wristband underneath the two I love it. Um, but yeah, so we they they occasionally uh even last year I I saw a couple bands that had you know paper tickets or ones you could print out, and I've gotten virtual tickets now, too, those uh NFTs, non-fungible token Stubbs. I in fact I just got one for Iron Maiden for uh September.

SPEAKER_02 47:19

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

They sent those out. So each ticket has um uh that's like a virtual artwork. It has your seat number and everything on it. Um that's in your like ticket master wallet kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

So that's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

Which I guess I could print out um, you know, if I wanted to.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Yeah, I'm sure we'll find a spot. Yeah, so well, thank you both again. This has been so much fun. Stay in touch, and I will definitely talk to you both soon.

SPEAKER_00 47:51

Yes, thanks for having us, Jessica. It was a lot of fun, and we really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

A great first interview on Music Media Review. We thank you for listening. I'm shared the episodes I was guest on Seeing Them Live in our episode notes. Also, when I interviewed Charles and the show's producer, Doug Forzak, on my previous podcast, Music Notes with Just. They're always looking for guests. Here and sign up to become a guest on seeingthemlive.com. Harry Style's Saturday Night Live episode can be streamed on Peak, NBC.com, and on demand. If you'd like to be a guest on Music Media Review, email Music Media Review Podcast at gmail.com. Please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and follow our social media pages for updates: Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. I'm Jess. Talk to you next week.