Niall Horan Performs Moving Rendition of One Direction's 'Night Changes' at His Biggest Solo Concert to Date
The Irish singer is currently on 'The Show': Live on Tour, his first tour since 2018
Niall Horan has been reflecting on “just how fast the night changes” on his latest tour.
The former One Direction member, 30, is currently out on his The Show: Live on Tour run, his first solo tour since 2018’s Flicker World Tour, and he just played his biggest solo show to date at the 21,000-capacity AO Arena in Manchester, England. Select songs from 1D’s catalog have made the setlist throughout his tour, and at his Tuesday show in Manchester, he gave a moving performance of “Night Changes.”
Fans captured videos — some of which have gone viral — of the Irish artist’s performance, which they shared on social media.
Based on the fan-recorded footage, Horan sang the song off 2014’s Four while strumming an acoustic guitar and appearing under a disco ball. He and his band seemingly altered the arrangement of the hit ballad, transforming it into even more of a folky tune.
The “This Town” singer invited fans to join in on the chorus, although it appeared as though thousands chimed in as soon as he played the first note and knew the lyrics word-for-word.
Several concertgoers posted on social media how thrilled they were that Horan played the romantic 1D fan-favorite. “niall horan playing night changes tonight…my voice will never recover i fear,” one fan posted on X (formerly Twitter) after the Manchester show.
“Niall Horan singing night changes in 2024 is absolutely everything to me,” another fan wrote on the platform.
Horan has played “Night Changes” at various stops throughout the U.K./European leg of The Show: Live on Tour, according to Setlist.FM. For several nights, including shows in London and Dublin, he swapped the song out of the setlist to instead play a different Four track: “Stockholm Syndrome.”
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During his Friday concert at London’s OVO Arena Wembley, the former coach on The Voice even took a moment to look back on his career in the beloved boy band, which dissolved in 2015. Audience members captured video of the musician reminiscing about being on the same stage while filming The X Factor, where the group featuring Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson was formed.
“When I was stood practically where I am right now about 14 years ago this July, no way did I ever think that my life would change that drastically, first of all,” Horan said on stage. “And the fact that I never thought 14 years later I’d still be standing here. Some magic things have happened in this building. I’m so glad to be back on the stage. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all of you.”
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The “Slow Hands” performer, along with Styles, 30, and Tomlinson, 32, have been known to add 1D songs into their setlist over the years. On his last tour, Horan often played “Fool’s Gold” and “Drag Me Down,” which Tomlinson now integrates into his set. Styles, meanwhile, most often plays their breakout hit “What Makes You Beautiful.”
Related: Celebrate One Direction's 10-Year-Anniversary with Their Most Iconic Throwback Photos
Horan is currently on tour in support of his 2023 album The Show. Coming off the massive Manchester concert, he’ll soon play to an even larger audience at the 23,000-capacity Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium as he continues to play across Europe.
After the international leg carries on through the spring in Australia, New Zealand and Asia, the folk-pop star will begin a U.S. tour that kicks off in late May and goes through early August.
The Heartbreak Weather artist’s live show has been highly anticipated, since he hadn’t toured since the release of his debut solo album Flicker. When Horan announced The Show: Live on Tour, he shared a statement in a press release about his excitement to get back on the road.
"There's nothing better than watching the crowd sing back to you with all that emotion on their faces and knowing that they're attaching the song to something meaningful in their own lives," he said. "To me, that's always the greatest thing that can ever come from songwriting."
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