Harry Styles launches new album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally in style with Manchester one-night-only show
Harry Styles launched his new album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally with a spectacular one-off show in Manchester - by Jenna Flannes.
Following a three-year break from the music industry, Harry Styles has returned with his fourth solo album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. Along with this, he will be doing a stadium residency tour across 7 cities in 2026 that will be called the “Together, Together” tour. And one thing that can be said about Harry Styles is that he loves himself a one-night-only show to commemorate an album release. This can be seen by previous ONO (one night only) shows in LA and London for his respective albums, Fine Line and Harry’s House.
That being said, Manchester’s one-night-only show felt different than those before it. Maybe it was because it was Styles’s first show in years in which he was performing in a city merely minutes from his hometown, maybe it’s because tickets went for the same price of £20 for all fans no matter the seat location, maybe it’s because of the no-filming policy in which fans were asked to keep their phones in bags and instead use disposable cameras provided upon entry to capture the night, or maybe it can be attributed to the fact that the concert was being filmed for a Netflix special. Who’s really to say?
What I can say about the night is that I haven’t felt that sense of community at a live show in a long time, and it reminded me of what it is that makes a Harry Styles show so special – it's the fans. The energy. The love and passion being reciprocated to and by strangers is something truly rewarding to witness and experience, and it’s something I don’t observe in many other settings these days to be quite honest.
Styles himself noted that the one-night-only show is different from any other show on tour because it’s the only time the songs are performed in that fashion. Meaning the entire album is performed from track 1 to track 12. Accordingly, in the case of this album, the night began with Aperture, the single off the album in which Styles keeps the vocal restrained, almost conversational, allowing the production to breathe while subtle disco textures unfold underneath. The song has a gradual, but consuming build-up that resulted in the entire crowd jumping and dancing by the time the chorus hit. After the opening number happened, it felt like it was the only right way for the show to commence, nothing else could have been more effective.
Styles continued down the album list with more upbeat, dance tracks like American Girls, and a personal standout to me, Ready, Steady, Go!. It was during this song that you could really see Styles letting go on stage and dancing with the crowd. It is a heartwarming experience to watch a performer remember why they do what they do in real time, and watching Styles perform this track, felt like that moment.
The show continued and despite the album being released merely a few hours before, the audience danced and connected with the music in such a way that you would believe this album had been around forever. Styles was joined by the House Gospel Choir who added a soulful lift to several songs, while his band’s tight, groove-heavy backing kept the energy high even during slower moments.
About halfway through the album, Styles took some time to thank his fans for continuing to show up for him, and he also briefly touched on the current chaotic state of the world. He urged kindness and unity especially through these times that can feel unknown and frightening. It was a small moment, but a meaningful one that brought the crowd together even more than they had been.
In terms of pure energy, a standout song to me has to be Dance No More in which the disco elements are embedded throughout the entire song and you can't help but want to move when the chorus “"DJs don't dance no more", they said, DJs don't dance no more (Ah), We wanna dance with all our friends” repeats itself. The track ends with Styles yelling at the crowd to “Respect your mother” as the beat begins to fade out, and really, what more can you ask for? Styles finished performing the album with my personal favorite track entitled Carla’s Song, a slow-burning standout, pairing warm guitar lines with a quietly emotional vocal that feels more like a confession than a performance. In the song, Styles reminds his subject, “It’s all waiting there for you” throughout the track which is a simple lyric, but one that seems to be resonating with a lot of fans by providing hope and reassurance.
Many assumed this is where the show would end, but Styles gave the fans the encore they wanted by performing Golden and Watermelon Sugar from his second album Fine Line, As It Was from his third album, Harry’s House, and Sign of the Times from his first self-titled album. The shock of the night came when Styles performed another old track, a song from his first album entitled From the Dining Table, a track that is not super well known in comparison to others from his discography and one that hasn’t been performed in years. It was definitely a special moment for fans who have been around for a long time. The night ended with an encore of Aperture which felt like the perfect celebratory ending of the night as the wait until tour begins.
All in all, Harry Styles' one-night-only show in Manchester was a show unlike any others I’ve been to in a long time and it was a true testament for how magical live music can be when it comes to bringing community together, especially when social media and phones are taken out of the equation, and people come together with their sole purpose being to disco (occasionally).
SET LIST:
Aperture
American Girls
Ready, Steady, Go!
Are you Listening Yet?
Taste Back
Season 2 Weight Loss
Coming up Roses
Pop
Dance No More
Paint by Numbers
The Waiting Game
Carla’s Song
From the Dining Table
Golden
Watermelon Sugar
As It Was
Sign of the Times
Aperture (2)
Written by Jenna Flannes, a San Diego State University student currently working at BANG Showbiz.
