Niall Horan included a tribute to Liam Payne during the opening night of his Dinner Party Live on Tour in Birmingham, England, on September 22. Footage from the concert shows Payne’s recorded voice playing immediately after Horan performed End of an Era.
During the Birmingham performance, the recording featured Payne reflecting on One Direction’s unexpected rise and the distance he had traveled in his life and career. The moment followed the final notes of the song, giving the concert version a direct connection to Horan’s former bandmate.
End of an Era appears on Horan’s fourth solo album, Dinner Party, released in June. Horan began working on the song years earlier but later rewrote it following Payne’s death in October 2024, shaping the track into a tribute.
Horan and Payne were members of One Direction alongside Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. The group formed on The X Factor in 2010 and became one of the decade’s biggest pop acts before beginning an extended hiatus in 2016.
Payne died in Buenos Aires in October 2024 at age 31.