Art Series by Laura May Grogan
The kids aren’t just alright, they are kind, and they’re silly, and they’re passionate.
Ramona sent me along to try and capture some of the tear-inducing, squeal-inspiring, soul-shaking sugar high that Harry Styles music (or rather just Harry Styles) conjures in his fans.
This was Friday night at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, the first of up to 6 shows for some.
What I learnt? The fans are diverse, in age, in socio-economics statuses, in extroversion. It didn’t feel to me that they were there to be seen to be there. This wasn’t about making videos for tiktok views, but more making videos to look back on, as testimony to the effort and conviction of being there.
Harry Styles makes them feel ‘safe’, makes them feel ‘joy’, makes them feel ‘loved’. I want to be clear here, it didn’t seem to be as much about Harry Style’s music, as it is about Harry. The music is the conduit that brings them closer to him.
And it was beautiful.
Fuck these condescending judgements young people (mostly women) have had thrown at them since Elvis’s pelvis first stirred something in throngs of screaming audience members. The idea that fandom is in some way naive or juvenile misses the point completely. We need to gather, we need to feel that collective connective tissue, and if it’s a British man in a bedazzled T-shirt with red leather pants, so be it.
Here’s to more moments in life that inspire you to crotchet your friends a strawberry top, to ever so carefully cut out a H&S for your Jean pockets, to pick up extra shifts to travel across the country to feel something.
