Niall Horan found a way to bring Liam Payne back into the room during the opening night of his Dinner Party Live on Tour.
During Horan’s Birmingham show on Tuesday (Sept. 22), Payne’s voice filled the arena at the end of “End of an Era,” the closing track from Horan’s fourth solo album, Dinner Party. The unexpected addition gave the song, which was already written as a tribute to Horan’s late One Direction bandmate, a very poignant ending.
In footage shared from the show, Payne can be heard reflecting on the extraordinary rise he and his bandmates experienced with One Direction.
“We thought something might happen, but never anything like this,” Payne says in the recording. “I’m always trying to remind myself of where I came from and where I’ve managed to get to in my life. It’s amazing, really…”
Payne’s voice is played right as “End of an Era” finishes. Horan originally began writing the track years ago, but revised and rewrote it following Payne’s death in October 2024. Horan has previously described the process of transforming the song into a tribute as therapeutic.
“End of an Era” was released as part of Dinner Party, which arrived on June 5. The record debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, giving Horan his fourth consecutive top 10 album on the chart, with Flicker topping the chart in 2017.
The song’s title carries significance given Horan and Payne’s history. One Direction formed in 2010 after Horan, Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik were brought together on the U.K. edition of The X Factor. The group went on to score four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and six top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 before going on hiatus in 2016.
Payne died at age 31 in October 2024.
Watch the full tribute below.
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