Niall Horan Honors Liam Payne by Playing Late One Direction Bandmate’s Voice Onstage for End of an Era

Niall Horan brought Liam Payne’s voice 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,” which is the closing track from Horan’s fourth solo album, Dinner Party. The addition gave the song, written as a tribute to Horan’s late One Direction bandmate, a poignant ending.

Footage shared from the show features Payne reflecting on the 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 plays as “End of an Era” finishes. Horan began writing the track years ago and rewrote it following Payne’s death in October 2024. Horan previously described the process of transforming the song into a tribute as therapeutic.

“End of an Era” appears on Dinner Party, which arrived on June 5. The record debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, marking Horan’s fourth consecutive top 10 album on the chart, with Flicker having topped the chart in 2017.

The song title carries significance regarding Horan and Payne’s history. One Direction formed in 2010 after Horan, Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik came together on the U.K. edition of The X Factor. The group earned four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and six top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 before taking a hiatus in 2016.

Payne died at age 31 in October 2024.

Watch the tribute below.