This was published 1 year ago
Harrymania: Why fans are queuing for hours the day before Styles show
By Carla Jaeger
Fans of music superstar Harry Styles looped around Marvel Stadium on Thursday to buy merchandise ahead of the Melbourne leg of the pop star’s world tour.
Fans took time off work, ditched school and travelled thousands of kilometres to sit in an hours-long line to buy T-shirts and tote bags before Styles’ Love On Tour performance at the stadium on Friday and Saturday nights.
Sophia, Mike, Rhiannon and Lauren Rogers from the Northern Territory line up for Harry Styles merchandise outside Marvel Stadium. Credit: Paul Rovere
The line was predominantly made up of young women, with a few men and parents dotted among them, who were ready to spend hundreds at the store.
Near the front of the queue was the Rogers family, who flew from Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory – nearly 3000 kilometres – to see the Grammy award-winning artist in the flesh.
Daughters Sophia, 15, and Rhiannon, 13, sobbed on Christmas Day when their parents, Lauren and Mike, surprised the girls with Harry Styles concert tickets.
“I love him because he speaks up for people, and says to treat people with kindness. He has a loving, nurturing personality,” Sophia said.
Lauren said her daughters converted her and Mike into Styles fans, just as they had done to the girls with the Foo Fighters.
The family, who arrived on Wednesday, will attend the concert on Friday and head home on Sunday.
“There’s a lot of honesty to his music,” Lauren said. “There’s diversity in the sound of his music, and he’s a great person for people to idolise.”
Andreana Gameras, 21, was at the front of the line, arriving at 8am on Thursday to get first pick of the merchandise.
It’s more than being a fan of the music for Gameras, who met her friends Jessica Foote, 16, and Alannah McMillan, 18, through their respective online fan accounts dedicated to Styles.
“We connected online and met up for the first time in person to watch Don’t Worry Darling together, which is Harry’s movie,” Gameras said.
All three women were planning to spend hundreds of dollars on tour merchandise: Gameras estimated she’d spend $800, McMillan reckoned $600, and Foote had saved $900.
The excitement of the concerts in Melbourne has been building for years. Styles’ tour had originally been scheduled to take place in Australia in 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Friends and front-of-the-line fans Emeli Gocev, 20, and Mia Diamantopoulous, 21, sported matching tattoos: the words ‘we’ll be alright’, a lyric from the namesake song of Styles’ sophomore album, Fine Line.
“So many people in this line will have this tattoo,” Gocev said. “It’s in [Styles’] handwriting.”
Gocev said Styles’ music changed her life, and she planned to spend about $450 on merchandise at the store.
At his first concert in Perth on Monday, fans lining up ahead of Styles’ concert in Perth described chaotic scenes.
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