Hello, welcome back to another episode of Broken Record. My name is Ellie. I'm your host and today I'm very excited because we will be talking about the Harry Styles concert I went to. So over this past summer, my parents got me tickets to see Harry Styles in Portland for my birthday, which I'm very grateful for.
It was super duper fun. It was at the Moda Center, which is kind of Portland's big venue. It's where the trailblazer's playing with their basketball team and it's really interesting because I feel like the Moda Center is Portland's big venue. Like that's the one I hear about a lot and it only hosts 19,000 people versus like the Tacoma Dome that hosts 23,000 people.
Or a women field that hosts 72,000 people. So it's very interesting. But it was cool. I really like the Moda Center.
They had very cool venue options and everything was kind of labeled nicely. If that makes sense, it was easy to find our seats and it was like they had a lot of food options. They had drinks. They had a lot of merch booths, which is really nice because the merch lines were really long.
And so since there was a lot more, the lines obviously were shorter than they would have been if there was less booths, if that makes sense. It was super fun. It was really good merch. It was his merch.
It's hard to explain, but it's like a white shirt with red checkers, like a checkered pattern, but with red squares instead of black squares. And then it's white bunnies on it, but like rabbits, not like bunnies. I don't know. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's really cool.
And so that was great merch. He also was selling cats that said, here he was my friend, which I thought was really funny. And then yeah, it was super cool. And we stayed in the Hyatt, which was literally a two minute walk from the venue to the hotel, which was really nice because we didn't have to worry about calling an Uber or something, which is obviously crazy after concerts or any big event.
So that was really nice. And then when we were there, we made a friend, which is so fun. Her name is Natalie. And we show she was taking pictures of everyone in her section, not like of everyone in her section.
That sounds creepy. But like people wanted to get pictures and so she was like, oh, do you want me to take a picture for you? And they're like, sure. And so that's how we initially started talking because she asked my sister if we wanted to picture her.
And then she ended up sitting next to us, which was fun. And then we were just talking throughout the whole night. And she's super nice. And then something I want to talk about is Harry's stage and Mike set up.
So his stage set up is a lot different than like a traditional concert set up where there's a stage at one end of the venue and there's a really big pit. And then it's like a rectangular shaped stage. But Harry's was in the round, which means that anywhere you are in the room, you can see the stage. You have a clear view of the stage, if that makes sense.
And so he had a diamond-shaped stage in the middle. And then on the two of the points of the island, not the island, the diamonds, on the two points that were pointing towards the long ways of the stadium. There was a walkway. He had like a catwalk going out of each side, which was really cool.
And so he was in the round. Well, that's what the round is. So it was really cool because he like got to move around a lot more because if you've seen Harry Styles performing, you know, he likes to move around. He likes to dance.
He likes to interact with people. And so this set up is very good for him because he can do all those things very easily. But something he has a little trouble with is that he has a wired mic. And so that means that the microphone he's holding has a wire to it that's attached to the soundboard or whatever, versus a wireless mic or a head mic, which you don't have to worry about carrying the wire around.
And so it's turning water in and perform because it's a really long wire, but sometimes it's not long enough. So he'll be running around the stage and then he'll get like a yanked back because the wire catches him because he can't move it any further than he has to go back and untangle it and then come back around. It's quite funny. Very entertaining.
Yeah. And so his there was an opener. Well, obviously there's an opener. A lot of concerts have openers, but Harry's opener is was is Jenny Lewis.
They're towards still happening is Jenny Lewis. And originally I hadn't heard of her, but she but then after doing some digging, she was she sang a song for the bolt soundtrack, which is a Disney animated movie with like Miley Cyrus. And it's about like a spy dog. I don't really know.
I was scared of the movie growing up. So I didn't really watch it a lot, but it's about like a like a dog who's like on a TV show, I want to say, or maybe the girls on a TV show. But one of them's one of them's like in the film industry and then the other one's a spy. I don't know.
It's kind of confusing, but it's a good movie. And so she she sang one of the songs on the soundtrack called Barking at the Moon. And so that's that's how I do her. That's how I connected to not the dots over.
She was. But yeah, speaking of dogs, she during her opening, it was super funny. She like there was a phone on stage, like a prop phone or whatever. And she and then it started ringing the middle of the opening act and she picked it up and she was like hello.
And then her dog answered it. Which was weird, but funny. And so it was just the dog barking and she was like, what? You want me to play this song?
Okay. And then she started playing a song that she wrote about her dog over quarantine called Puppy in a Truck. It was funny. Yeah, I'm going to play a little clip of one of her songs because she was really good.
And I want you to be able to listen to it. So here's a clip. Okay, now that you've heard Jenny, I want to talk about Harry. So how the night, like how the like timing of the night when it was Jenny performed and then it was a half hour break and then Harry performed.
And as I mentioned previously, Harry, like this, the stage was around, which means there's no backstage that he can just walk out from. He has to either like walk from backstage and like walk through the audience, but not the audience. Like there was barricades, but like walk through the floor and then go upstairs onto the stage or he could get rolled out in a box during the half hour break and then be pushed under the stage and lifted up from like a little elevator thing. And that's what Harry just to do.
And so if you don't, Harry, he's very notorious for his outfits and something that everyone loves to see is his concert outfits because it's different one every night. It's most likely going to be custom Gucci, which is insane. And it's like everyone wants to know what it is. So he obviously wants it to be a surprise until he's on stage.
He gets rolled out by crew members into they roll through this through the audience and then they push the box under the stage and then he goes out. And then during the intro, there's like a little lever thing where like like an elevator lever thingy where he stands on and then it lifts him up when it's time for him to go on stage. So it's really cool, but it's really funny seeing the box get rolled out because everyone knows it's him and so they all start shooting and he's just crammed into the box because it's not like a big box. Like he has to like fold himself, like he has to like crouch down or something.
And so it's kind of funny. But yeah, speaking of the intro, it was it's such a cool intro. So Harry Harry's last name is style. You know that and Harry's also very well known for his style, like his outfits and stuff.
And so what Harry did was that for his intro, he took the Charles Bukowski poem called style and he took an audio clip of Charles reading. And like edited it with some like with like a part of his song to make it look to make it like flow. I don't know. I can't really explain it.
So I'm just going to play a clip. Here you go. So that song led into the first song of the night, which is called Golden, which is one of Harry's more popular songs. It's a great summary song, Feel Good vibes.
And the this is totally off topic, but the music video for this song is so cool. He filmed it in Italy, which is like crazy. And he's just like running and driving around and he looks so happy and it's awesome. So I'm going to play the golden and hopefully you'll think of Summer or something happy.
So after Golden, he went on to sing Carolina, which is a great song. And then he sings Adore You, which is also a great song, one of his more popular ones as well. It is another summer song. And he is a little sassy and it's funny because if you ever listen to this song, you know that one of the lyrics is just let me adore you.
And so Harry purposely, he like had the audience sing, just let me adore you. And then he was like, OK, yeah, it's so I'm going to play a clip of that because I think it's cute and funny. After Adore You, Harry went on to sing Only Angel, which is a great song. It's from his first album.
I didn't get a good clip of it, so I'm not going to put anything in. But I did get a good clip of Harry's next song that he played called She, which is like a song about this like imaginary girl and like relationship that Harry's created in his head. And it's such a good song, such a powerhouse. And one of my favorite parts of this song is so this song is I think five or six minutes, which is kind of long and it's so long because half of it is a guitar solo, which is so crazy.
So Mitch Rowland plays the guitar for Harry. He has helped Harry with his first album, with his second album. He goes touring with Harry and he plays the guitar solo and she and it's so, so, so, so good. Like so good.
He's insanely talented. And I'm very impressed. And so I'm going to play a little bit of she and then just guitar solo. So as you can tell, Mitch Rowland has earned his lot to be on this team.
He is insanely talented. I'm so jealous of his guitar playing abilities. And while he was playing the guitar solo, Mitch, Nijie, who was the pianist and Harry all went down to the end of one of the catwalks. And they sang one of my favorite songs, well, technically two of my favorite songs.
But so the first one they sang is two ghosts. And they did sing like the full two ghosts, which was interesting. They sang like an acapella chorus, which is absolutely beautiful. And then they took that course and then they transitioned it into falling, which is another beautiful, beautiful song.
It's sad, but it's beautiful. And something fun fact about falling. Harry wrote it in like 20 minutes. I was watching an interview and I think he said that he was coming out of the shower and his friend was like playing the piano and he was playing the tune of falling.
And then they sat down together and they wrote falling in like 20 minutes, which is insane because it's such an emotional song. And it's so like it's so powerful that like you would think that it took more time to write it. But it didn't. And it's so cool.
So here's a clip of two ghosts transitioning into falling. So after that, beautiful, beautiful songs, those beautiful, beautiful songs, Harry went on to sing some Star Volm 6, which is also outstanding. And then he played Woman, which is another good song. It's from his first album, Harry Styles, self-titled.
And during Woman, he had a bathroom break, which, I understand, you gotta go, you gotta go. But what was really cool about it was his band, like, Improved. I'm not sure if it was Improved, like, I don't know if they just have it for whatever he needs to go. Whatever he needs to go off stage.
But it felt like Improved. And they just started playing, like just a random tune. And it was so cool because his band's awesome. So I'll tell you who they are.
First Mitch Rowland, Mitch Rowland, who plays the guitar solo and she, he's Harry's best friend. He's been with Harry since, like he's been working with Harry since Harry first released his solo album, like Mitch helped create songs. And he went on tour with Harry for the solo album and he helped with Fine Line. He's touring with Harry now.
And the other person who has been with Harry that equal amount of time, maybe a little bit longer, is Mrs. Sarah Jones, who is married to Mitch. And they have a kid and it's so exciting. I love both of them.
They're so outstanding. And Sarah is such a powerhouse. She plays the drums and she also does vocals. And she's so insane to me down to it.
And I love her and I wanted to give her a hug. And then next to Sarah on the stage is Nia, who does keyboard, vocals, and guitar. And she's awesome. She has a really cool mullet.
And I wish I could pull it off. No, I actually don't like mullets, but I think she looks really good with one. And then across from Nia is Ewan Sandberg, who plays the bass and she also has vocals. And she's such a little cutie.
She always does a smart one face. She's always waving at the audience. She's such a titty-pitty. And next to Ewan is Polly Lovegood, who is such a powerhouse.
He's so energetic. And if you ever see him, if you ever see a video of him, you know that he is so energetic. He jumps so high when he's dancing. And it's so energetic.
And his dancing can be a concert in itself for real. He's so energetic and it's so funny. And next to Polly is Nijiana Lea, who I also mentioned earlier. And Nijiana Lea does the keyboard.
And Nijiana is so cool. He's really tall, actually. That's something I did notice about him. He's really tall.
He's like crazy talented. He has like, one of the, I don't even know how to explain it. He has four keyboards. Like, set up in like, like, maybe four keyboards.
Like, set up in like, they, like, made a corner. Like, they were perpendicular to each other. And he was just playing different keyboards with different hands. And I was like, dude, how are you not, how are you playing that without looking?
Like, that's insane. I was very impressed to say the least. So, because I love him so much, I'm going to play part of the, like, woman improvisation part. So, now you know, that the band is incredibly talented.
So, after that here he went to the other platform, or Catwalk, and he sang Cherry, which is an incredibly vulnerable song. It's incredibly emotional. It's so, so, so beautiful. It's kind of about, well, it is about Harry's ex-girlfriend and how, after they broke up, she was moving on a lot faster than Harry was and what Harry was ready for.
And like, he was seeing all these stories of her, and like, seeing all these pictures of her, and like, her, like, just her moving on and Harry, like, not being ready to move on yet. Like, he was still kind of stuck in the relationship. And so, it's a very beautiful and powerful song. After that, he sang Lights Up, which is possibly one of my favorite songs that Harry has released.
It's all about, like, self-realization, self-discovery, and freedom. And, um, one of my favorite lyrics is, all the lights can put out the dark when you're through my heart. Lights Up, and they know who you are, know who you are, do you know who you are? And it's, I think that's so powerful.
Like, asking, do you know who you are? That really, like, if you hear that question, that really forces you into some, like, deep self-reflection, and like, you're bound to, like, realize something about yourself. And I think that this song is so powerful, and it's so cool and important, and it's my favorite, and I love it, and so I'm gonna play Clipper. After Lights Up, Harry went on to talk to the audience, which is so fun.
He's quite funny, very interesting, and so, um, basically during this part of the show, Harry, like, walks around, he reads signs, he discusses things with people. And so, I want to play Clipper, one of my favorite interactions that he had, this concert, and it's this girl who was asking if she should give her ex a second chance, and Harry had a really funny response. So, here's that clip. You have signs, should I give him a second chance?
I would say, you know, hang on, hang on, hang on, we don't know the details. The answer is probably, probably not. Is he nice? Without getting too close to the line, I'm assuming he wrote it before his turn.
Controlling, no, absolutely not. I missed the control, Harry. Very well, bye-bye, next. So, as you can tell, Harry's tiles is pretty funny.
Yeah, after that, he went on to tell us that if we needed to go to the bathroom, if we needed to drink water, if we needed food, now was not the time because we're about to have a 15 minute dance party. So, that started with Canyon Moon, which is a great song, Love It, So Much, and after that, he played After Canyon Moon, it was Treat People With Kindness, which is, again, one of my favorite songs he has released. It's so fun, so happy to make you wanna dance. And at the end of Treat People With Kindness, it transitions into what makes you beautiful, which is a One Direction song, possibly, if not their most famous One Direction song, is the first single they ever released.
And he played it, and it was awesome. So, I'm gonna play Clip of Treat People With Kindness transitioning into What Makes You Beautiful. So, after that song, Harry was getting all ready for the last song of this act before the encore, and it was called Fine Line, the title track. And while he was setting up, he was in the middle of a speech about how he was very grateful for all of us for being here, and then he read a sign, and was like, put it down, put it down, she'll see it.
And basically, the sign was saying, can you help me propose to my girlfriend? So, someone got proposed to at the concert, and it was super cute. Their names are Roxy and Maybe Kyle, because they're kind of far away from Harry, so he couldn't hear them properly, so he thinks their name is Kyle. We're not going to go out here, though, because whenever Harry would try and guess the name, Maybe Kyle was like, sure, let's go with that.
He was very agreeable, so we think it's Kyle, if it's not, sorry. But yeah, they got engaged, and it was super cute, it was adorable. They were on the big screen, and everyone was watching them, everyone was cheering, it was super cute. And then, after that, he went on to sing Fine Line, and he dedicated it to Roxy and Maybe Kyle, which was super cute.
I love that song, it's very vulnerable, and like, very nice. It has a very pleasing sound to it. And after that, he went off stage for a good, what, five minutes? And then he came back on for the encore, and he sang the times, and then he moved into singing Watermelon Sugar, which is his most popular song from his most recent album, Fine Line.
It was super fun, and so he took a couple of watermelon sugar. And it sounds like song, I want your belly, but it's not feeling good. So, after that song, Harry went straight into Kiwi, which is a song from his first album, and it's such a fun song, really gets your energy up. It makes you want to dance, it's such a good song.
I really, really, really enjoy it. That was like, when, so during One Direction, as a fan, Got A Moment was a fan One Direction, and after they separated, I kind of like stopped paying attention to the boys a little bit. That sounds bad, but like, I like, I didn't follow them, I didn't follow their music as closely, and then this song Kiwi, I heard my sister was playing it in the car, and it made me rediscover them, and rediscover my love for them. And so, yeah, this song got me right back into it.
Yeah, so Kiwi's super great, and here's a clip from that. So, that was the last song of the night, and it sadly was over after that, but it's okay because we had a great time, and I loved it so much. It was such a good concert. Harry is just a great performer, and he has a great band, he has a great crew, and it's just super fun.
Oh, also another thing that was fun was that Harry's concert, I mentioned earlier that Harry's very notorious for his outfits, and so people kind of took it upon themselves to make this concert into a little fashion event, so everyone had really cool costumes. There's like someone dressed up as an angel, there's someone dressed up as a devil, there's someone dressed up as a banana, there's someone dressed up as a watermelon, there's someone dressed up as a strawberry, there's someone dressed up as a strawberry, there's someone dressed up as. They had pantsuits on, they had sparkly skirts, really cool sunglasses, it was a whole fashion event, it was very cool. Yeah, this was such a good concert, one of my favorites I've ever been to.
It was super cool, I love Harry and his crew and stuff, they're so awesome. Yeah, thank you for listening, I'm Ellie, I'm your host for Broken Record, I'm on every Tuesday at 6 on KMAH89TheBridge, and if you miss an episode, that's Aokay, you can check a podcast streaming platform and search KMAH BrokenRecord, and you will find me in all the previous episodes, so you can listen to those, and yeah, thank you so much for listening to KMAH89TheBridge.