Hi my besties! Time for another new blog post, this time a concert review!
On July 26th I went to see Niall Horan in concert and I had the absolute best evening. I thought it would be fun to share my experience at the show, and really, I just wanted an excuse to rant about my love for Niall 🤣
Get comfy and cozy, grab a beverage and a snack, turn on your favorite Niall album or Niall playlist and let’s chat about The Show Live on Tour!
To say that I’d been waiting for this night would be severely downplaying it. Niall announced his tour in May of 2023 and the second tickets went on sale, I bought mine. To be completely honest, this concert has been the thing getting me through the long work days this summer, so I had very high hopes for the show, and all of them were exceeded.
Right from the start the vibe at the amphitheater was lovely. I got there about an hour and a half before the doors were supposed to open for VIP and there were people lined up. I chatted with the people around me, traded bracelets and key chains, and got to hear soundcheck while waiting. Going to a concert alone can sometimes be a little daunting (this is only the second time that I’ve done so) but it was so much fun. It was really easy to chat with people, and then one girl and I hung out together in the VIP Lounge for a few hours before heading into the venue. I may have gone to the concert by myself, but I didn’t feel like I was alone because everyone was so nice. The VIP Lounge was so cool and had lots of cute photo opportunities, and it was nice to get to chill before the show and not be in the heat.
For the US leg of the tour, Del Water Gap has been opening for Niall, and for my show we had another opener, Gina Miles, who was the winner of The Voice from Team Niall last year during Niall’s first season as a coach. While I didn’t fully watch The Voice while Niall was coaching, I followed his team both seasons, and absolutely loved Gina from the start. It also helped that she’s a California girl and her hometown is about 2 hours away from mine. I was so excited when it was announced that Gina would also be opening for my show.
Gina’s set was wonderful; she’s such a natural star. She did her cover of Wicked Game that I’ve been loving lately, and she sang two unreleased songs, both of which were great. I really can’t wait for her to release more music and follow her career. What was even more exciting and really helped make this night so perfect, was that during Del Water Gap’s set, Gina was headed into the audience and she was walking towards where I was sitting, so I pulled out one of my friendship bracelets and offered it to her. She was so sweet and gave me a hug, said the bracelet was so cute, pointed out that we had matching eye shadow, and asked me my name. Then I asked if we could take a photo and she said of course, so we took some pictures and then she said she hoped I enjoyed the show. Of course, I told her that her set was amazing and that I love her. It was such a lovely interaction and she was so genuine and so kind. It really made the night all the more special.
Del Water Gap’s set was so much fun! I listened to his music a bit before the show, as I always like to be familiar with the opener if I don’t already listen to them, and I liked his music quite a bit. The set was super high energy, and he did a great job of interacting with the crowd and getting us all hyped up for Niall. I really enjoyed it and will be adding Del Water Gap to my playlists that I’ve got in constant rotation.
Ahhhh, and then the moment we all were waiting for! I’ve seen Niall live twice before this, once with One Direction in 2015 and then during the Flicker World Tour in 2018 and each time his performance and stage presence has been incredible, but if you’ve been following this tour, then you know that his stage performances this tour have just been through the roof.
One of the best things about this tour is the aesthetic. He really leaned into the concept around “the show” and it is clear to see from the beginning. I love the curtain and the projects that start the show — it sets up the vibe for the whole night.
The curtain lifts and he’s there, with his band (oh his band, I love them so much) and starts the show with his first single from his second album (my favorite album) Heartbreak Weather, Nice to Meet Ya and it’s the perfect opener. You can’t deny the rush of excitement you get when you hear Niall say, “Nice to Meet Ya” followed by the name of your city. It’s the best feeling. Honestly, in my opinion, the opening run of Nice to Meet Ya, Small Talk (with the Edge of Seventeen inter-loop), On a Night Like Tonight, and On the Loose is an insanely perfect 4 song opener. All are high energy songs that are perfect to dance and sing along to and Niall BRINGS the energy. He was singing his heart out, dancing like crazy and making sure to interact with everyone on every side of the audience. He’s so great about interacting with the crowd and making you feel like you’re part of the show and not just a spectator.
Then he slows it down at his piano (that is decorated with cute little trinkets from some of the different cities they’ve been to, I especially love the Dolly Parton funko pop!) and plays the title song from his third album, The Show. This is when he sits down and does his first little chat of the evening, and you can feel the awe and appreciation radiating off of him as he really addresses the crowd for the first time in the night. We all were going wild and all he could say was, “Holy smokes” which really does encompass what that moment was like. The moment that he started playing the piano and everyone turned their phone lights on was so incredibly magical, I get chills just thinking about it. The whole amphitheater was singing along; it was a beautiful moment.
After The Show, Niall transitions to one of his rotating songs. You never know what song you’re going to get each night, which has been so much fun to follow this tour! I had a few songs that I was hoping to hear, but there was one that he did at soundcheck that I was really hoping he’d play, which is Never Grow Up from The Show and that was the song that he played. I LOST IT when we heard those first ethereal notes and they start singing “never never never never grow up”. If you haven’t experienced Never Grow Up live it’s so hard to describe the feeling that you get while listening to it, but it’s so personal. Singing back lyrics like “hope we grow old / but we never grow up” back to Niall when you’ve been a fan of his for the last 14 years, it’s just incredible. When he sang it for the first time on tour, he said that as he was singing it he realized that while he wrote it about one specific thing, as he was singing it he realized that it was actually about us, the relationship that he has with he and his fans and that’s exactly what you feel when hearing him sing it live, it was such a beautiful moment and one I will never forget.
He picks the energy back up with the huge crowd pleaser that is Save My Life. He was running around the stage, his band was absolutely killing it (as they did the whole show) and the vibe was just incredible. This was one of the numbers where I was going so hard the entire time, it was such a joyful moment. My favorite part of the number is the keytar solo by Dani McGinley who is on keys and background vocals; it’s such a fun moment and fits the number so well!
Every show Niall does a One Direction cover; he either does Night Changes or Stockholm Syndrome, both from One Direction’s fourth album Four. I love both songs but I had been hoping he’d sing Stockholm Syndrome. However, once that disco ball dropped I knew it was Night Changes time and you know, it was just as magical as I hoped it was. The crowd was probably the loudest during that song and…I have thoughts about that but I’ll keep them to myself. Niall sounded amazing and it was such a lovely moment.
Something I realized during the concert is that Niall has so many lyrics that are so cathartic to sing back to him, but none more so than the lyrics “I promise that I’ll love you for the rest of my life” from his song Black and White. Another song from his sophomore album, Black and White is so much fun live. It’s a perfect song to jump and sing along to and is pure joy.
Then we hit the acoustic set; this is a time when you, once again, don’t really know some of the songs you’re gonna get and it’s so exciting! He started the acoustic set with Flicker, the title song from his first album and I immediately started crying. Flicker is such a beautiful and emotional song and it was such a beautiful moment to hear it acoustically, especially with Emily Kohavi on the violin. Emily plays the guitar and violin and does background vocals. To me, the violin really makes the song and oh gosh, I had already been crying but hearing the violin really brought me to tears. It was so beautiful.
He then played his very first single This Town, and it truly does not matter how many times I hear This Town, every time I hear it feels like the first time. It just brings me back to my bedroom and seeing that notification from Niall that he had just released his first solo song. It’s another moment where getting to sing the lyrics “everything comes back to you” is such a beautiful thing to be a part of and I absolutely cried throughout the whole song.
After This Town, Emily, Dani and Jake Curran (on guitar) leave the stage and it’s just Niall, his acoustic guitar and his harmonica singing, in my opinion one of his best songs across all three of his albums, You Could Start a Cult from The Show. I always get chills when I listen to You Could Start a Cult and hearing it live was such a moment. It’s a beautiful song and his vocals on it are absolutely impeccable. He did a note change during the chorus at one point, that is done in the version of YCSAC with Lizzy McAlpine and ugh it gave me chills! I love watching him play the harmonica — additionally, Niall plays 4 instruments during the show, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano and harmonica, the man can do it all. While really every part of the show is my favorite part of the show, this was one song that I was really looking forward to and it was as beautiful as I thought it was going to be.
I also love that his image is projected onto the curtain during these numbers. It looks SO cool and is very theatrical.
Niall then brings the energy back up with his first single from The Show, Heaven. The vibe during Heaven is nothing short of fantastic! The lights during this number are especially great (the lighting during the entire concert is amazing), I love all the purples and pinks, you know me! Watching Niall dance around the stage is so much fun; you can see how comfortable he is on stage and how happy he is and as a fan, it makes you happy as well. The vibes are immaculate. He twirls around the stage, interacts with the audience, and of course, does his signature post on the lyrics “how I obsessively adore you” and it’s the best time.
Then he sings my favorite song, If You Leave Me, the second track on The Show and oh man, was I ecstatic. I’ve been obsessed with this song since the album came out last year; it’s been my most played song 5 out of the last 7 months of the year (I double checked, it is my most played song this month too). The energy, both from me and Niall tbh, during this number was unmatched. There was a time when this song wasn’t always on the set list, so I was really keeping my fingers crossed that he would sing it at my show and he did, therefore I was living my best life.
While we all figured he would sing his song San Francisco from Heartbreak Weather, I do think the entire crowd was waiting with bated breath for him to sing it. San Francisco is one of my favorite songs off Heartbreak Weather, and it was just as amazing live as I expected it to be. The crowd went absolutely wild when he started singing “take me back, take me back to San Francisco” and it was SO special. I love this song so much and feel so blessed to have heard it live. His reaction after the song was the CUTEST thing. He was all giggly and smiley and said “I had to do it! I’ve been waiting a long time to do that” and let me tell you, we’d been waiting a long time too!
Meltdown, the second single from The Show, has gotten me through a lot of stuff in the last year or so. It’s a song that I turn on whenever I’m feeling especially anxious and it always calms me. Hearing it live felt healing; that may sound dramatic, but that’s how it felt. I think that something we all can relate to, regardless of who your favorite artist is, is that when you’re going through something difficult, one of the most soothing things you can do is turn on your favorite artist and let their music comfort you. Both from the One Direction days and his solo work, Niall’s music has always calmed and comforted me, and Meltdown is high on that list of most comforting songs. Hearing your favorite artist sing “when it all melts down, I’ll be there” feels so personal, and Niall has a way of performing where, even though you know you’re not the only person he’s singing to in that moment, it feels like you are. I know I keep saying it, but hearing Meltdown live is another really special moment.
He follows up Meltdown with another one of his songs that helps me in moments of anxiety or stress, Mirrors, from his first album. These two songs back to back are kind of an attack to me personally, but I’m not mad about it, there’s just a lot of crying while I’m jumping up and down singing. I always love watching and listening to him play Mirrors, I think it’s a song that really shows off what a great guitar player he is, and as always, he’s serving impeccable vocals.
After Mirrors, the curtain comes back down and Niall is alone on stage singing the closing track from Heartbreak Weather, Still. Still is a song where I think Niall delivers some of his best vocals. He has a really strong upper register that I don’t think he shows off enough, and the chorus of this song is absolutely ethereal, it’s just so gorgeous. The best part of the entire song though is as we get into the bridge. As he sings “oh, it’ll be alright” the curtain rises, you hear Dani, Jake, John and Louis on background vocals and I have chills and tears in my eyes thinking about it. It is so stunning. There’s no other way to describe it; it is such a beautiful moment.
Then we get into the encore for the evening. We start with the title track from Heartbreak Weather and it’s so much fun. Heartbreak Weather is a song that was meant to be played live, danced along to, and sung at the top of your lungs. It’s another high energy moment, and singing “it feels different when you’re with me” and “you that’s what I’ve been missing” back to Niall is the best feeling. This is in my top 3 songs from Heartbreak Weather (my top 3 are Arms of a Stranger, Heartbreak Weather and San Francisco, but to be clear there is not one bad song on that album) and I’ve been waiting 4 years to hear it live, that wait was totally worth it.
And suddenly it’s time for the last song of the night, which of course, is his biggest hit, Slow Hands. It wouldn’t be a Niall concert without Slow Hands! His mic went out at the top of the number, but the crowd made up for it because we were LOUD. As he waited for a new mic, he conducted us, which was just adorable. He got his new mic quickly and as always with Slow Hands was serving major vocals. It was the perfect way to end the concert.
I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my life, and a lot of concerts at this venue, and I’m not lying when I say this was the best concert I’ve ever been to. From the performances on stage to the crowd around me, everything was perfect.
I have never felt more genuine love and appreciation for fans than I did at this show. Niall is so great about taking time to thank the fans, and you know that he truly means it. You can feel how deeply he means the words that he’s saying and he’s not just saying them because he thinks he needs to. He takes many moments throughout the show to thank the fans. He says that he wishes he could shake the hand of every person in the audience, and you know that’s true; he really does. You can feel the love and appreciation radiating off of him. When he stands there in awe of the crowd and the applause you know that that awe is his honest reaction. When he encourages the audience to keep clapping and cheering you know it’s not for his ego; he wants the crowd to cheer for the band and the crew — he makes a special point to thank the crew who sets up and tears down the stage every night, he cheers on and celebrates his band many times throughout the show. He wants the audience to keep clapping so that we can soak in the moment of all being together at this show. He thanks us for spending our hard earned money on coming to see him play and all of the things that come along with that; travel, parking, food, merch, etc. he knows that it’s not easy to go to a concert these days (he says those words himself) so he makes sure that we know how much he appreciates us being there. It’s so beautiful; you can really see what a genuine and kind person he is when he’s on stage.
I could go on and on and gush even more than I already have about Niall and about the concert, but then this post would never end so I’ll stop there. The Show Live on Tour really was one of the best nights of my life and without a doubt the best concert I’ve ever been to. If you haven’t gotten a chance to see Niall live, I’m telling you, you’ve got to make it happen and you won’t regret it! It’s been 3 days since my show ended and I already can’t wait until I get to see him again.
Tell me about the last concert you went to, or the next concert you’re going to in the comments, and I’ll catch you next time! 💜
