With One Direction, Harry Styles played in stadiums packed with tens of thousands of screaming fans. For his first solo tour, Styles decided to scale things back with intimate theater shows. The result was a Styles concert experience that will likely never be seen again.

The tour kicked off in 2017, much to the appeasement of fans who were still reeling from the breakup of One Direction. The tour was in support of Styles’ first, singer/songwriter-tinged album. He tapped the likes of Leon Bridges and Kacey Musgraves for tour support.

“I’ve gone into it not knowing what I’m doing [and] learning on the job,” Styles said around the tour’s opening. “We’re all sort of approaching it with a fresh perspective because we haven’t done it before, but it [has us] keeping with what the record’s about.”

Settings like Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Atlanta’s Roxy Theatre, and New York City’s Radio City Music Hall were the perfect pairing with Styles’ introspective, rock-influenced musicality. Songs like “Meet Me in the Hallway,” “Two Ghosts,” and “Ever Since New York” hit even harder when showcased in a smaller venue.

The space between Styles and his fans was made drastically smaller than the last time they’d seen him. Given his unprecedented fame now, we venture to guess it’s an experience no Styles fans (or at least very few) will be able to boast moving forward.

Styles then went back to many of the same cities to play larger venues after wrapping up his initial dates. The fervor from his fans forced him to quickly graduate to arenas and even stadiums. Nevertheless we commend Styles for trying to enter into his solo career like many other musicians: from the ground floor.

(Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images for ARIA)