Zayn Malik became the first former One Direction member to venture back on stage following the death of Liam Payne in October. No direct mention was made of his late bandmate during his set, but Zayn departed the stage to a projection displaying Liam’s name, the dates 1993-2024, and the simple message “Love you Bro” with a heart emoji. An audience of twenty-something women lingered on, hugging each other and singing along to the recorded version of Zayn’s song Stardust, investing a lot of emotion into a suddenly rather elegiac lyric: “Feels like stardust / Floatin’ all around us / Shootin’ right across a / Big black sky.” It was genuinely touching, and slightly at odds with the controlled hysteria of the rest of the occasion.
I am not saying I was the only man amongst 2,300 attendees at Leeds O2 Academy, but I honestly couldn’t see another around me, nor make out a male voice amidst the deafening roar that greeted Zayn’s arrival onstage. This was a partisan audience who have loved the 31-year-old singer and songwriter since he was the moody, doe-eyed one in the 21st century’s biggest boy band. They came to scream, and did so in all the appropriate places, listening reverently to Zayn’s fluid falsetto and sensual balladry, then signalling the end of every song by emitting a collective sound many decibels louder than the accomplished, all-female band itself.
Zayn seemed delighted and abashed. “F–k yeah!” were the first words that came out of his mouth. “What do I say? Amazing!” Bradford born and raised, his Yorkshire accent was thick with pleasure as he declared love for his home county. “It’s good to be back up north, can’t lie. Got a doner kebab yesterday. Miss that s–t!”