Theres A Devil In Your Smile Thats Chasing Me..

He’s such a big star, and he took such a big risk. All credit to him for being so brave and never backing away from what he wanted to do, from essentially saying, ‘If it becomes huge, great—but even if it doesn’t, I really have to be true to myself.’ A producer could not ask for more from an artist, especially in this day and age.

The last time Styles performed in the Boston area was two-ish years ago with One Direction; the group, its members shaved down from five to four, headlined Gillette Stadium in an energy-packed blowout. Styles’s first Boston concert as a solo artist was in a very different setting (the relatively intimate Wang Theatre), but his vivacity and magnetism were still arena-sized. He ran through all of his solo album with winking bravado, throwing himself into the sinewy “Carolina” and the meditative “Meet Me in the Hallway” while blowing kisses and casting asides at the audience. He also threw a few covers into the set for good measure. He made over “Just a Little Bit of Your Heart,” which he wrote for Ariana Grande’s 2014 album “My Everything,” into a midtempo rocker; he sang the Lindsey Buckingham parts on Fleetwood Mac’s embittered “Rumors” smash “The Chain” with gusto.