Jalen Brunson walked onto the Madison Square Garden stage on Halloween night and handed Harry Styles a banner, and the Garden crowd answered the New York Knicks guard with chants of “MVP” in the middle of a pop concert.
The moment came on Saturday, October 31, the 30th and final night of Styles’ Together, Together residency at the arena, a run that began on August 26 and sold out every date. Brunson, the Finals MVP who led the Knicks to their first championship in 53 years in June, presented the singer with a commemorative banner marking the 30-show stretch.
He arrived wearing a hat printed with the words “Techno Is My Boyfriend,” a cap Styles himself has worn on stage.
“Can you just make a note, we’re almost as tall as each other,” Styles joked as the two met at center stage.
“And, yes, I will return your hat,” Brunson replied.
Third visit, first time on stage
This was not Brunson’s first night at the residency. He had already sat in the crowd twice, and on September 12, night nine of the run, Styles stopped the show to point him out on the big screen.
“We may or may not have the king of New York in the house tonight. Mr. Jalen Brunson,” Styles told the arena that night, adding that a Knicks star trying to go unnoticed in New York was like Mickey Mouse trying to slip through Disneyland.
Brunson put a hand over his heart; Styles bowed back. Seven weeks later the roles flipped, with the basketball player doing the presenting and the singer taking the tribute.
Why the banner matters at this building
A banner is the Garden’s own currency. The Knicks raised their championship banner into the rafters on opening night in October, and Styles has been building his own Garden count for years: two shows in 2018, five in 2021, 15 in 2022, and now 30 in 2026, for 52 appearances at the arena in total.
The final weekend doubled as Harryween, Styles’ annual Halloween event, with Jamie xx on the bill for the closing night. On Friday, October 30, the singer opened the first Harryween show dressed as Elvis Presley, then changed into a recreation of his 2010 X Factor audition outfit and sang Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely,” the song he auditioned with. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal declared that Friday “Harry Styles Appreciation Day” in the borough, calling the singer “a once-in-a-generation musical talent.”
What comes next for both of them
Brunson’s year away from the court has been unusually loud: he hosted the season premiere of Saturday Night Live in September and appeared in the Emmys opening number. His next Garden date is a Knicks game against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, November 2.
Styles leaves New York with a stadium tour on the calendar. His 2027 North American run opens on April 2 in Glendale, Arizona.
Image: erintheredmc, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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