Filipinos impressed Irish singer-songwriter Niall Horan so much that he repeatedly praised them during his return to the Philippines after six years.
The former One Direction member was back in Manila for the third time — his first being with the group in 2015, then his solo concert three years later — to bring his “The Show” tour to the Mall of Asia Arena, presented by Live Nation Philippines.
Horan promptly began his concert with “Nice To Meet Ya,” a mix of “Small Talk” and Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen,” “On a Night Like Tonight,” and “On The Loose.”
“Welcome to ‘The Show: Live on Tour’ baby! It’s so good to be back in the Philippines, in Manila,” Niall greeted. “Thank you so much for filling this place up for me, we were here six years ago nearly to the day… I’ve missed you guys!”
The artist then dared the crowd to sing as loud as they could for the rest of the night, continuing his set with “The Show,” “Since We’re Alone,” “If You Leave Me,” and “Black and White.”
Things slowed down during an acoustic set when Horan positioned himself on a small catwalk for tearjerkers “Flicker,” “This Town,” and “You Could Start a Cult.”
Making the segment much more intimate was the accompaniment of a violin played by Emily Kohavi.
In the middle of the night, Horan took some time to read banners and reiterated how amazed he was with the crowd, noting he was over 30 shows into the tour but the Manila audience was already among the loudest he’s been to this year.
Horan continued with songs like “Heaven,” “Everywhere,” “Night Changes,” — the only One Direction song he performed — “Meltdown,” and “Still” to end the main concert.
While the stage was empty there was a chorus of “Stockholm Syndrome” as the audience clamored for the crowd favorite One Direction song to be included in the encore, but instead Horan came back with “Save My Life.”
Before closing out the night, Horan praised the crowd yet again as incredible and amazing, even calling the Manila leg one of his favorite nights on the tour yet.
“I don’t think we should make [the wait] six years again, we have to make a deal. Not six years… seven! Alright, eight!” Horan quipped. “I want to thank every single one of you for spending the night here.”
After shouting out again the Manila Lovers — his Filipino fanbase — and everyone else in the Mall of Asia Arena, Horan closed his concert with “Slow Hands,” waving around a Philippine flag to end the evening.
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