{"id":645215,"date":"2026-06-18T11:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645215\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:53:12","slug":"harry-styles-gets-standing-ovation-after-stunning-simon-garfunkel-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645215\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Styles gets standing ovation after \u2018stunning\u2019 Simon & Garfunkel cover"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Harry Styles<\/a> received a standing ovation after his moving performance at Meltdown Festival, where he was backed by a full orchestra led by conductor Jules Buckley. <\/p>\n

The pop star curated this year\u2019s festival at the Southbank Centre<\/a> in London, with shows from artists including Kamasi Washington<\/a>, Yussef Dayes, Warpaint, and Beverley Glenn-Copeland. <\/p>\n

His own performance took place on Tuesday (16 June), an intimate gig that lands in the middle of his record-breaking 12-night residency at Wembley Stadium<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Styles joked \u201cgood evening Wembley\u201d at one point during the evening, as he went on to describe the invitation to curate Meltdown as an \u201chonour\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels strange [to be] so aware you\u2019re in the middle of your career highlight,\u201d he said, NME<\/a> reports. \u201cThis is an incredibly special week for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Styles, 32, moved between the piano and his guitar as he played a set largely comprising songs from his latest albums, his Grammy-winning 2022 record Harry\u2019s House,<\/a> and this year\u2019s Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"HarryHarry Styles performs with the Jules Buckley Orchestra at Meltdown Festival (Julian Basjel)<\/p>\n

There were orchestral pieces, including \u201cMatter Red\u201d and \u201cHummingbird\u201d by Buckley, and \u201cHommage\u201d by Patrick Watson, the latter whom Styles described as an influence when it came to his collaborations with Buckley.<\/p>\n

The conductor features on Styles\u2019s latest album, having arranged the strings for \u201cComing Up Roses\u201d and for the orchestral segment of his ongoing Together, Together tour.<\/p>\n

He closed the set with a cover of \u201cBridge Over Troubled Water\u201d by Simon & Garfunkel<\/a>, from their 1970 album of the same name.<\/p>\n

Styles is a known fan of the song, and has been playing it just before coming onstage during his current tour. <\/p>\n

\"StylesStyles worked in a number of covers to his Meltdown set (Julien Basjel)<\/p>\n

Rolling Stone UK<\/a> reports that Styles said his own track, \u201cCarla\u2019s Song\u201d, was inspired by the experience of seeing a friend hear \u201cBridge Over Troubled Water\u201d for the first time, comparing it to seeing someone witness a magic trick.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic is magic and I feel so lucky to get to be a part of it in just a small way,\u201d said Styles. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think hearing songs like that is a reminder of this thing that is so much bigger than any one artist that you like. Any one song is this thing that every musician is kind of investing in, and just trying to add a little piece of themselves to.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese things are around for so much longer than any of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The publication described Styles\u2019s cover of the track as \u201cstunning\u201d, and branded the evening \u201cthe greatest performance of his solo career\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a four-star review of Styles\u2019s first night at Wembley, The Independent <\/a>called him the “consummate entertainer, a charisma factory who lights the place up better than any pyrotechnics\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no mean feat to turn a cold concrete stadium into a warm, communal space, but Styles does it,\u201d the review noted. \u201cThat\u2019s just how good he is.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-645215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}