I saw Louis Tomlinson play Madison Square Garden on July 8, 2026!
Quite a few times over the past couple years, whenever I saw a concert at MSG, I would comment on how incredible it would be to see Louis Tomlinson there. Of course, I thought it would never happen. Then Louis announced his How Did We Get Here? tour and MSG was happening! I got tickets right away. Really far back tickets. A few months later, I checked Ticketmaster and they had closer seats, so I got those! The seats were in the lower bowl right at the edge of his stage catwalk. Really good seats!
Getting There!
My oldest daughter and I booked a hotel and train tickets and we were off to see Louis Tomlinson headline Madison Square Garden. It still feels so unreal to say that. We got to the venue early and walked around. Saw bus 1 (Louis' bus) parked right inside the MSG parking lot and took some pictures with the MSG Louis Tomlinson banner in back of us!
Walked over to the front of the venue to see if there was early merch. Lots of times, MSG does sell early merch for whoever is playing there that day! There was no early merch that day unfortunately. I had my heart set on getting all of the city specific items so I was hoping there would still be some left when I got there later after doors opened.
In the meantime, my daughter and I went to lunch at the Skylight Diner at 402 West 34th street. That's one of our go to places to eat when we go to concerts at Madison Square Garden. That started when we saw Greta Van Fleet at MSG and were really hungry and found that diner. Great service. Great food! Definitely eat there if you are hungry when going to MSG!
After eating, we checked into our hotel that was only a few blocks from MSG and rested a bit before heading over to the venue!
The Show
Headed over to the venue when doors opened and got in line for merch. Unfortunately, the NYC keychain was sold out but I was able to get the other city specific merch so that was fun. When we went up to our section, there was s smaller merch stand and I asked if they had the NYC keychain. They had 2 left so I got both! YAY!
The openers, Picture Parlour and the Beaches, were so good! I had never seen or heard Picture Parlour before and I was so impressed. They have an old rock sound to them that is so good. They're also a female fronted band and have a very strong female vibe, Really loved them. You definitely need to check them out.
I've been a fan of The Beaches for a few years and saw them open for Greta Van Fleet a few years ago. I also saw them at All Things Go and they are always really good live. Seeing them perform at Madison Square Garden was incredible and I am so happy for all the success they are having. Louis' fan base is so perfect for them. It was definitely a great pairing to have them tour with him.
Then Louis took stage and he sounded so good. It was so surreal to see him there on that stage, solo, at MSG! The whole night I was just trying to be as present as possible and really take it in. Everyone was singing along loudly and dancing most of the night.
Louis had tweeted before the show that he would be performing the song Side By Side at MSG. Louis has said he wrote Side By Side for his fans and it was an incredible moment for everyone to sing it together with him. Louis was very emotional throughout the night and spoke to his fans quite a bit about how thankful he is for all of us. Those speeches were incredible.
There was a fan project during the song Lucid that turned out so beautiful.
Setlist
Lemonade
On Fire
Written All Over Your Face
Out Of My System
Saturdays
Dark To Light
Side By Side
Broken Bones
Defenceless
Night Changes
Lazy
Sunflowers
Lucid
Jump the Gun
Imposter
Sanity
Last Night
Kill My Mind
Face The Music
Silver Tongues
the Observer
Encore:
The Answer
Miss You
Send Me Under
Palaces