Niall Horan has left fans emotional after including a moving tribute to his late bandmate, Liam Payne, in the set of his current tour – just days before the second anniversary of his death
Niall Horan has shared a moving tribute to Liam Payne, just days before the anniversary of his death. The late musician tragically died aged just 31 on October 16, 2024. The musician fell from the third floor of his hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and sustained injuries incompatible with life.
Horan, 33, and Liam found fame on The X Factor back in 2010 as one-fifth of One Direction and instantly became one of the biggest boy bands of all time. The group was formed by Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger after all five members of the band, who auditioned as solo artists, faced being sent home at the bootcamp round.
However, Nicole spotted something in the band, consisting of Niall, Liam, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik – and decided to create the chart-mauling group. Since Liam’s devastating death, Mullingar-born singer Niall has spoken openly about his memories with his late pal.
As the singer kicked off his Dinner Party: Live On Tour on Tuesday night at the Utilita Arena, Birmingham, one tear-jerking moment saw him honour Payne. The ninth track on his set list, End of an Era, which itself is a tribute to Liam, included a spoken outro from the Wolverhampton-born singer.
As the track came to a close, Liam could be heard reflecting on their success, saying: “We thought something might happen, but never anything like this. I’m always trying to remind myself of where I come from and where I’ve managed to get to in my life. It’s amazing, really.”
The moment instantly left fans overcome with emotion, with one writing on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Love that him and Lou still find ways to honour him whenever they get the chance.” “I’m already crying OMG, my concert is also on Oct 16, so I can’t imagine how emotional I’ll be,” said a second.
Meanwhile, a third penned: “This live version is so beautiful, and hearing Liam’s voice after BROKE ME.” A fourth went on to write: “OMG, I don’t know how they manage to get through those songs. How beautiful.” “Oh @niallofficial, thank you for honouring Liam. That was honestly so beautiful,” said another.
Niall previously disclosed that he had to “rewrite” End of an Era following Liam’s death. Weeks before Liam’s sad death, he spent time with Niall in the same month at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires, where Horan was playing a sold-out show. The pair shared backstage snaps, with Niall later revealing they had also met hours earlier at his hotel.
For his new record, Niall worked with John Ryan and Julian Bunetta, who also worked with them during their One Direction days. “We wrote ‘End of an Era’ about four times, because originally the song to me meant, ‘All right, we’re moving on.'”
He went on to tell Rolling Stone that the song looked towards the future and back on the past with nostalgia, celebrating the memories he had while also being excited for what’s to come. Niall continued: “We’d written that song a long time ago. And then it was like, ‘No, we need to return to this,’ after Liam passed.”
John and Julian had been Liam’s neighbours, with the four lads growing up together on the road. “For the three of us, it was actually quite a crazy experience to have to write a song like that, because you don’t ever expect to,” he explained.
Niall added that it was a “very weird experience” for the trio, but felt as though they “had to” rewrite it, not just for themselves but for listeners who may have lost a loved one, as well as for the fans and Liam’s loved ones. He said: “It felt like the right thing to do and something that we wanted to do — just terrible that we had to.”
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