Zayn Malik Pays Tribute to Former Bandmate Liam Payne During the First Night of Their UK Tour

A little over a month ago, on October 16, 2024, pop musician and former-One-Direction member Liam Payne passed away at the age of 31. Shortly after, One Direction’s abandoned Instagram page posted for the first time in four years with a message sharing condolences for any family, friends or fans grieving in that time. The post is accredited to the band’s other previous members: Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Harry Styles.

Each of them also posted their own responses upon learning the news. It made sense for them all to share memories of a man they grew up with, yet many were surprised nonetheless when a response was given from Zayn Malik, who had spent the greater part of nine years separating himself from One Direction and the people connected to it. Clearly, even if he held resentment for the band, he didn’t hold resentment for his fellow members. At the very least, he was impacted enough to say something, for in his post-mortem address, he states, “I can’t help but think, selfishly, that there were so many more conversations for us to have in our lives.”

According to NME, Malik originally had two shows planned for Scotland on November 20, as a part of his Stairway to the Sky tour. The shows were rescheduled for unspecified reasons, though, considering Malik was allegedly in attendance of Liam Payne’s funeral in Amersham, Buckinghamshire on November 20, one can make natural assumptions.

The tour has resumed since then, with his next show taking place in Leeds, West Yorkshire, on November 23. At the end of this show, Malik displayed a heartfelt tribute to Payne on the stage’s back wall, with the written message, “Liam Payne / 1993-2024 / Love you bro,” along with a heart emoji at the bottom. The show’s tracklist was seemingly the same as what was rehearsed, but the final message suggests that Malik’s performance was in honor of Payne.

Several other artists have given performances in honor of Payne, including Maggie Rogers and Rita Ora. Something about Malik paying tribute to someone he was once so close to hurts in a certain kind of way, though. Considering the continued success of One Direction’s other members, it’ll be interesting to see if Tomlinson, Horan or Styles do something similar in the future.