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NIALL HORAN SETLIST
walk-on music – “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac” Set 1: Acoustic Set 2: Encore: walk-off music “Summer of ‘69” by Bryan Adams DEL WATER GAP SETLIST Coping On Unemployment
Better Than I Know Myself Doll House High Tops Don't Say Nothing Perfume All We Ever Do Is Talk Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat NIALL HORAN TOUR DATES
JUL 17 WALMART AMP ROGERS, AR
JUL 19 BALL ARENA DENVER, CO JUL 20 USANA AMPHITHEATRE WEST VALLEY CITY, UT JUL 23 WHITE RIVER AMPHITHEATRE AUBURN, WA JUL 24 RV INN STYLE RESORTS AMPH RIDGEFIELD, WA JUL 26 SHORELINE AMPHITHEATRE MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA JUL 27 THE KIA FORUM INGLEWOOD, CA JUL 28 THE KIA FORUM INGLEWOOD, CA JUL 30 NORTH ISL CREDIT UNION AMPH CHULA VISTA, CA JUL 31 TALKING STICK RESORT PHOENIX, AZ AUG 2 DOS EQUIS PAVILION DALLAS, TX AUG 3 MOODY CENTER AUSTIN, TX AUG 23 ROYAL HOSPITAL KILMAINHAM DUBLIN, IRELAND AUG 24 ROYAL HOSPITAL KILMAINHAM DUBLIN, IRELAND AUG 27 CO-OP LIVE MANCHESTER, ENGLAND AUG 28 FIRST DIRECT ARENA LEEDS, ENGLAND AUG 30 UTILITA ARENA NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND AUG 31 P&J LIVE ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND SEP 3 THE O2 LONDON, ENGLAND SEP 7 SUPERBLOOM 2024 MUNICH, GERMANY SEP 8 LOLLAPALOOZA BERLIN, GERMANY SEP 20 PALACIO DE LOS DEPORTES MEXICO CITY, MEXICO SEP 21 PALACIO DE LOS DEPORTES MEXICO CITY, MEXICO SEP 23 ARENA VFG GUADALAJARA, MEXICO SEP 25 ARENA MONTERREY MONTERREY, MEXICO SEP 28 PARQUE IBIRAPUERA SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL SEP 29 RIOARENA RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL OCT 2 MOVISTAR ARENA BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA OCT 4 MOVISTAR ARENA SANTIAGO, CHILE OCT 6 TRIBUNA NORTE ESTADIO NACIONAL LIMA, PERU OCT 9 MOVISTAR ARENA BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA Read More
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To say this concert was highly-anticipated, is a big understatement--
With tickets going on-sale a full thirteen months in advance, and playing in one of the most intimate venues on The Show- North American Tour, it’s no surprise it was a quick sellout and then a long, but ultimately satisfying wait, to finally see Niall Horan return to Kansas City.
The evening began with an energetic forty-minute opening set from Del Water Gap, the indie pop solo project of Brooklyn’s Sam Holden Jaffe, a young musician and record producer, playing his own blend of existentialist pop in support of second full-length, I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet, out last September.
Most of the newest record is about Jaffe’s inner difficulties of communicating; but live, he seemed to have no problem. Dressed in an Angus Young-like schoolboy wool suit and tie, he often switched guitars as the audience sang his lyrics right back while he shuffled from one stage end to the other (his guitarist seemed really far from the others).
Before the melodic “Doll House” Jaffe expressed his appreciation for Horan’s fans that came out early to see him and actually were listening to his music, also noting the heat meant he likely couldn’t keep his jacket on for much longer, much to the joyful shriek of his fans.
Jaffee jokingly promised if everyone stood and jumped for the end of “Perfume”, he’d reveal Horan’s phone number (he didn’t, but it worked) and the set closed with “Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat”, a confessional of things he wanted to say in a situation but couldn’t at the time.
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With now fourteen years as a household name, and a well-seasoned tour that began with rehearsals in January and a first show in Belfast in February, Niall Horan and band returned to Starlight Theater after six years, to deliver a well-rounded, entertaining, and polished ninety-five-minute performance, spotlighting songs from all three of his solo albums.
Horan has sold over 80 million records (many as a member of boy band One Direction) but has managed to become a solo star in his own right, with many US fans also knowing him from his judge role on NBC’s The Voice.
We always thought of the Irishman as the most musically talented of the renowned singing group, as the other members sang, danced and looked sexy, while Horan was often playing guitar or piano (not that he wasn’t doing those other things).
He showed that musical dexterity on this night as well. Add to that, his natural Irish storytelling ability in song, and it made for a fun night of anthemic pop songs, heart-tugging ballads, and Horan’s “aw shucks” genuinely grateful stage demeanor.
The stage set was multi-leveled with band members stationed on the sides of each level with rear screens, a top marquee, and surrounded by an elegant, scalloped curtain (which would also serve as a screen for the acoustic set) that would rise and fall, to various lengths.
Smiling throughout most of the show, Horan began things with the most appropriate opener, “Nice to Meet Ya” and followed with “Small Talk” (both from 2020 sophomore album Heartbreak Weather) which became seamlessly mashed up with verses from Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen”.
Cell phone lights dotted the evening skyline on the slower ballads and Horan’s plea of “If you’re not dancin’, you’re at the wrong show!” was heeded, as the mostly female crowd jumped and screamed from their seats during the more upbeat songs.
The lone One Direction song of the evening, “Night Changes” ended up enlarging into an 8.000-person sing-along and the collective singing continued with his 2020 single, “Black and “White” which ended the first set.
Keeping with his second album, the first of three acoustic set songs was “Dear Patience”, followed by the campfire crowd sing-along of “This Town”. Things stayed acoustic as Horan left the musician circle and strapped on a harmonica to show off his inner Dylan on the new “You Could Start a Cult”.
With a building musical lead up, The Show’s lead single “Heaven” began the second set with the crowd singing the chorus back at a still-smiling Horan. The Laurel Canyon-sounding “Fire Away” was played later in the set than usual, and after new hit, “Meltdown”, Horan took time to read and appreciate all the handmade signs held high in the audience, even grabbing and talking to a doll of his younger self.
The second set ended with a slow song, 2020’s “Still” and the scalloped curtain coming down right as the last note was played, and as the stage lights went black. The encore began with streaks of lightning across the rear screens for the title track of his second album, Heartbreak Weather (similar to that morning’s real thunderstorms in the area) and the night would end with the clap along of 2017’s mid-tempo hit, “Slow Hands”.
“Kansas City- You keep havin’ me back, and I’ll keep comin’!” Niall Horan exclaimed in his comforting Irish accent before the final song; and the crowd responded by screaming back in kind, just hoping it wouldn’t be another six-year wait.
(Note: No outside photography permitted for Niall Horan- Photos provided by the artist
Click on any image to enlarge and see in full)
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| JohnC ♥ johnc@weheartmusic.com ♥ X / twitter.com |
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