Niall Horan Performed Sort Of Live At Royal Albert Hall, Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The Concert

Posted On November 8, 2020

Samantha Colleran, November 2020

Hi lovely readers! In lieu of a Sunday Sounds post, I’m reviewing Niall Horan’s livestream concert from Royal Albert Hall in London! I haven’t seen Niall live since Halloween 2017, so finally having the chance to see him in some sort of concert setting after years of missing him was such a wonderful way to end what felt like a never ending week. The concert was streamed to about 150 different countries around the world, with 120,000(+) tickets purchased. Tickets were sold for $14 with an optional extra donation price of your choice at the time of purchase. The money from ticket sales was going directly to We Need Crew, a UK charity funding touring crew who are currently out of work due to COVID-19. 

Lasting about an hour, Niall covered a lot of ground and did so with ease. He brought the emotion with a piano version of “Dear Patience” and ballad “Put A Little Love On Me”, which sounds almost identical to the studio version when sung live, proving how raw and emotional this song is. He also sang the closing track of Heartbreak Weather titled “Still”, the crescendo near the end giving me chills and sounding really, really beautiful live. Despite the fact there wasn’t an audience, you could feel the energy in the room as Niall belted out “Heartbreak Weather” and my personal favorite song of his, “Everywhere”. (Note: he hit the high note perfectly and I had to hold back my concert scream, which probably would have shook my entire house). 

A Niall concert wouldn’t be complete without covering tracks from his debut solo album Flicker, including his first ever solo single “This Town” and smash hit “Slow Hands”, both of which sounded fantastic. He and his band also served some incredibly sexy sounding musical moments, such as the intro to “Cross Your Mind” and what I felt to be a Prince-esque presentation of “Small Talk”. Other wonderful musical moments include the “Nice To Meet Ya” intro and slightly slowed version of “On The Loose”, both of which felt very classic rock inspired and are moments I appreciated very much.

Niall described the empty venue as “eerie” without people cheering and singing along with him, but expressed how grateful he was to be able to be back onstage and doing what he loves with his band and the tour crew. Niall also surprised fans by having Ashe come on stage, who he collaborated with on a rework of her single “Moral Of The Story”, which they performed live for the first time together last night. It was pleasant to see the two interact and compliment each other musically, both hitting incredible notes and their voices blending incredibly well during the chorus. 

The final song of the night, “Flicker, was the most emotional part of the entire show. As Niall was singing, just him and his acoustic guitar, you can see the crew packing up the stage behind him. I’m filling up as I’m writing about this part, but I can’t help it. There was something so heartbreakingly beautiful about Niall singing to an empty arena, the crew doing their job as he belts out lyrics “And I want this to pass/ And I hope this wont last/ Last too long”. It was such a powerful moment and it’s certainly something that will stick with me. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I wiped tears off of my cheeks, almost as if I was experiencing this moment in the actual venue.

Dear concerts, “please don’t leave”. This event was a reminder that it’s not just the artist who makes shows special, it’s those who are there days before setting up and staying behind once everyone has filed out of the building taking apart event after event, working the lighting and soundboards to make sure everything is perfect so we can have some of the greatest nights of our lives. They’re just as important as the artists and the bands, and Niall shedding some light on these people who are “the engine room of the music industry” as he so wonderfully put it, is just a reminder that next time we attend live shows, we should be extra grateful for those who work so hard to put on these shows.