Niall Horan brings late bandmate Liam Payne's voice back to the stage as he leaves fans in tears with emotional  End Of An Era tribute in Birmingham

Niall Horan left fans in tears after he paid a heartfelt tribute to his late bandmate Liam Payne by playing a recording of his voice at his concert in Birmingham on Tuesday night.

Liam tragically died aged just 31 in October 2024, after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Niall has spoken about how his song End Of An Era is about his late friend and bandmate and as he performed the track during the opening night of his Dinner Party Live on Tour the star played along to an audio of Liam speaking. 

As Niall played the guitar during an instrumental section, Liam's voice filled the arena in an audio taken from a previous interview. 

He said: 'We thought something might happen but never anything like this.

'I always try to remind myself of where I've come from and where I've managed to get to in my life. It's amazing, really.'

As the recording played, the stage lights darkened and Niall looked solemn, standing with his hands on his hips as he looked out into the crowd in an apparent moment of reflection.

Taking to X fans were left in tears as they penned: 'I cannot describe in words what I felt when I heard Liam's warm voice. But I have been crying since that moment.'

Others wrote: 'Now I have to listen to One Direction and cry'; 'hearing liam there would've broken me'; 'And now we’re all crying'; 

'That must have been such a tender moment—Liam’s voice still carrying through the night'; 'Liam is so missed'. 

The lyrics for End Of An Era reminisce on their One Direction days. 

The song goes 'We had it / Pure magic / Remember what it was like / Time passes / So fast and / I couldn't tell you goodbye.'

Back in March, the singer opened up about the aftermath of Liam's death in an interview with GQ. 

In the interview he explained how he 'went into hiding a little bit' after Liam's funeral – which was attended by all of their other bandmates: Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson.

As fans paid tribute around the world, he recalled seeing 'lots of photos and videos and things of us growing up together. And being nostalgic about it straightaway, along with fear and sadness and all the stuff that comes with grief.'

On getting the news of his passing, he added: 'I just remember getting a message, and I was just like, What?... I just didn't think it was real.

'Someone so young, you're not expecting to hear that they've passed, especially someone that you've just seen. I just went back from shock to sadness to anger.'

He also recalled one of his most prominent memories of Liam – saying it was when they shared a room together at X Factor bootcamp.

Niall also spoke about seeing Liam in Argentina shortly before his death and said he 'seemed in good form'.

He added that although they hadn't seen each other for a while when they met they immediately 'fell back into' their familiar friendship.

Following the singer's tragic death almost two years ago, Niall took to Instagram and wrote: 'I'm absolutely devastated about the passing of my amazing friend, Liam.

'It just doesn't feel real. Liam had an energy for life and a passion for work that was infectious. He was the brightest in every room and always made everyone feel happy and secure.

'All the laughs we had over the years, sometimes about the simplest of things, keep coming in mind through the sadness. We got to live out our wildest dreams together and I will cherish every moment we had forever.

'The bond and friendship we had doesn't happen often in a lifetime.'

Niall also said that he'll always be grateful that his final memory of Liam is a 'happy' one.

He told the Sunday Times' Culture magazine: 'I'm glad of that, it means my last memory of him was happy. 'It still feels surreal. On day one I was, like, 'Nah, it didn't happen'.

'Our friendship was a bond that was there for ever even if we hadn't seen each other for a while and it's wild that one day, like the flick of a switch, he's gone.'