Harry Styles closed out a 30-night run at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night with an unexpected co-star: Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, who walked onstage to hand the singer a commemorative banner as the arena roared with chants of “MVP.” The moment capped Styles' Together, Together residency on a night already stacked with Halloween theatrics, and it gave New York basketball fans one more reason to claim the pop star as one of their own.
Brunson's appearance came during the second of Styles' back-to-back Harryween shows, according to Rolling Stone, which reported that the Knicks point guard took the stage to present Styles with a banner celebrating the consecutive stretch of shows. As ABC7 New York noted, Styles joked that the two of them were almost as tall as each other. Brunson, for his part, showed up wearing a hat emblazoned with “Techno Is My Boyfriend” — the same slogan Styles has been known to wear himself.
A Hat, a Promise, and a Running Bit
Per ABC7 New York's account, Brunson responded to the hat moment by telling Styles he would return it, keeping the inside joke alive between the two. It wasn't the Knicks guard's first time popping up at the residency, either; ABC7 New York reports Brunson had already attended two of Styles' previous shows before taking the stage himself. The rapport between the singer and the newly minted NBA champion goes back further still — Styles shouted out Brunson from the stage at a show on Sept. 12, joking, per ABC7 New York, that Brunson was trying to have a quiet night out, but not in this city.
The crowd's reaction left little doubt about how Madison Square Garden feels about its guard. ESPN described Brunson being received with uproarious MVP chants from the home crowd, a fitting sendoff given the venue's basketball pedigree. Brunson doesn't have to wait long to hear that chant again in its more natural setting — ABC7 New York reports he'll be back at the Garden on Monday when the Knicks host the Brooklyn Nets.
Pizza Rat, Psycho Killer, and a Banner to the Rafters
Brunson's cameo wasn't the only spectacle of the night. Styles himself appeared as Pizza Rat, the costume nodding to the notorious 2015 New York City meme, according to Variety. The outlet also reported that Styles delivered a cover of Talking Heads' “Psycho Killer” during the show, rounding out a Halloween set heavy on costume changes and surprises.
Madison Square Garden marked the occasion in more permanent fashion. The venue raised a banner to the rafters and unveiled a new Defining Moments exhibit featuring memorabilia from the residency, according to a release cited by StockTitan. The same report noted that more than half a million fans from every U.S. state and 79 countries attended shows during the 30-night run, underscoring just how far the residency's pull extended beyond New York.
A Tradition Years in the Making
Styles' Halloween-night concert tradition didn't start this year. He launched Harryween back in 2021 during a 15-day Madison Square Garden residency, according to Stereogum. The Garden has honored him with a rafters banner before, too — in 2022, following a Love On Tour stand that ran from Aug. 20 through Sept. 21, the arena raised a banner commemorating that earlier run, per MSG Entertainment.
This time around, Styles is far from finished. The Together, Together tour is scheduled to head to Australia later this month before the trek returns to the United States, with Variety reporting plans for the tour to resume stateside in April 2027 and wrap with three shows at London's Wembley Stadium that August. Those U.S. dates will mark new territory for the production: Yahoo Finance reports the tour will return to 12 cities in 2027 and play U.S. and Canadian stadiums for the first time. For now, though, the Garden gets to keep its newest banner — and Brunson gets to keep his hat, at least until he makes good on his promise to give it back.
