Zayn Malik pays tribute to Liam Payne on the opening night of the tour

Zayn Malik honored his former One Direction bandmate on the opening night of his “Stairway to the Sky” tour.

The tribute to the late Liam Payne came at the end of the show, held on November 23 at the O2 Academy Leeds in West Yorkshire, England.

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“I love you, bro,” read the words projected onto a blue-colored stage amid trees decorated with lights, next to a heart emoji, Payne’s name and the dates of his birth and death. According to fans in attendance, the message appeared when the speakers started playing Malik’s “Stardust,” with lyrics like “Feels like stardust / Falling all around us / Funny how it found us.”

In videos posted online, some concertgoers can be heard crying as they sing along to the song. “Thank you to the audience for their respect and singing along to all the lyrics. You made Zayn happy tonight. Thank you Zayn for honoring Liam. I am so incredibly proud and in tears,” one fan wrote on X.

Check out an image of the tribute below:

Produced by AEG and SJM, Malik’s headlining tour includes 11 dates in the UK and US. The tour was scheduled to kick off in San Francisco last month but was postponed following Payne’s death on October 16. The tour ends in the UK in December. 9, before making its way to the US in 2025 through February 3.

The opening night of “Stairway to the Sky” comes days after Payne’s funeral service, held at St Mary’s Church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, attended by former One Direction members Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson. Cheryl Cole, Simon Cowell and James Corden were also in attendance.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Argentine prosecutors had ruled out suicide as the cause of death and had charged three people in connection with the incident that led to Payne’s fatal fall from a Buenos Aires hotel room.

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