Harry Styles postpones first concert at United Center in Chicago

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Harry Styles has postponed his first concert in Chicago at the United Center, according to posts on social media, due to illness among the band and crew.

A tweet by the United Center shortly before 3 p.m. advised: “Out of an abundance of caution, tonight’s Harry Styles show on Thursday, October 6, 2022 at United Center has been rescheduled to Monday, October 10, 2022 due to band/crew illness. ... All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new date. All additional show dates will play as scheduled. An email from Ticketmaster will be sent directly to ticket holders with more info.”

The heavily anticipated, sold-out concerts by Styles on his Love on Tour had been slated to run Oct. 6 through Oct. 15, playing six concerts. The new run will be Oct. 8-15.

Fans had been camping out for hours — some for days — outside the United Center awaiting the concert Thursday, in the hopes of getting a lower-number wristband for their general admission tickets, allowing them access closer to the stage.

Tammy Swinford of Marion, Kentucky, traveled to Chicago with her daughter Abbey, 17, and her daughter’s friend just to see the concert — they arrived by Amtrak this afternoon and have tickets back home tomorrow. When they were first informed of the postponement, “it was pretty emotional,” she said. “Mascara running, this kind of thing.”

At the moment, they were inside the United Center where they had been shopping for Harry Styles merchandise, and Swinford said her daughter was in line to leave a recorded message for Styles in a special telephone booth. Ticketmaster has already issued them replacement tickets for Monday, she said. The plan is for the girls to come back up with another parent and see the concert.

“I would have liked to see him myself,” she laughed. “I bought a T-shirt, anyway. It’s sad for me, but not a tenth of what it would be for them.”

Styles’ tour has a number of multi-night engagements in larger cities. The Chicago run follows six shows in Austin, Texas, and he played 15 shows in New York at Madison Square Garden from late August into September.

Styles last performed in Chicago at the United Center in Sept. 2021. The British-born singer and songwriter, as well as actor, launched his music career on the British music competition “The X Factor” in 2010, then joined the boy band One Direction. Styles also currently is on the big screen in “Don’t Worry Darling,” a 1950s-set thriller directed by Olivia Wilde.

dgeorge@chicagotribune.com