Harry Styles Pays Tribute to Dolly Parton at MSG: Concert Review - Variety

Apart from the special “One Night Only” show he performed with an orchestra in Manchester, Harry Styles has played basically the same set since his “Together, Together” tour opened in Amsterdam 33 shows and nearly three months ago. But for the opening night of his unprecedented 30-show stand at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, he completely overhauled the set, drastically re-ordering the songs, rearranging several older ones, and playing several rarely performed deep cuts.

He also took a moment to pay brief but loving tribute to Dolly Parton, whose death was announced on Tuesday, pausing for a moment late in the show to say, “I just wanna give a proper thank you to all the musicians who have inspired me over the years — Dolly, we love you. Thank you so much.” Then her recording of “I Will Always Love You” — of course, her best-known song and one of the biggest hits in history when covered by Whitney Houston — played over the P.A. for a minute before he carried on the show.

It was clear from the show’s opening notes that this one would be different: Styles took the stage to “Dance No More,” replacing the previous opener “Are You Listening Yet?,” and then launched into “Carolina,” a deep from his solo debut, which he hadn’t performed live since that first solo tour. From there, songs that were previously played late in the set were performed early (and vice versa), and mid-set, “The Waiting Game” from his latest album, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,” was performed live for the second time ever.

Not suprisingly, the fans were up for the ride: Once it became clear that the show had completely deviated from expectations, the start of every song was met with cheers of joy and surprise. No one knew what was coming next, and Styles was loving every second of it. When he rolled out “Kiwi” for the first time in three years, the floor shook for the duration of the song.

Early in the show, Styles thanked opening act Jamie XX and then took a moment to acknowledge a full-circle moment on this opening night. “I was told a story when I got here today,” he said. “I had the great privilege of playing this building for the first time when I was 18 years old,” he said, referencing One Direction’s debut at the venue in 2012. “There’s a gentleman who was working here then, who shared with me that when I got out of the car that day, I kissed the floor and said, ‘I’ve made it to Madison Square Garden!’” The crowd erupted in cheers.

Harry Styles tells a story about how he kissed the floor right before his first-ever performance at Madison Square Garden. He was 18 years old.

Tonight, the artist is kicking off Night 1 of his sold-out 30-show “Together, Together” residency at the iconic New York venue. pic.twitter.com/eT9ItgBETb