Zayn Malik Pushes Start of ‘Stairway to the Sky’ Tour’s European Leg
Zayn Malik has postponed the first two shows of his Stairway to the Sky tour, which will now begin next week in the U.K.
While the “heartbreaking” death of former One Direction band mate Liam Payne moved Malik to push his first-ever U.S. tour to 2025, “unforeseen circumstances” forced the postponement of a pair of Edinburgh, Scotland gigs, the singer announced on Instagram.
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The U.K. leg of the Stairway to the Sky tour was scheduled to begin November 20 and 21 in Edinburgh; those shows will now take place December 8 and 9. The 11-gig U.K. trek will now start November 23 in Leeds, and conclude with the Edinburgh concerts.
The American leg of the tour, Malik’s first-ever U.S. trek as a solo artist, was scheduled to begin October 23, but “given the heartbreaking loss experienced this week” — Payne’s death on October 16 — the rescheduled U.S. concerts will now take place in January and February 2025.
Following Payne’s Oct. 16 death from injuries sustained after falling from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony, Malik — as well as his former 1D bandmates — remembered the singer in a lengthy statement.
“Liam, I have found myself talking out loud to you, hoping you can hear me, I can’t help but think selfishly that there were so many more conversations for us to have in our lives,” Malik wrote. “I never got to thank you for supporting me through some of the most difficult times in my life. When I was missing home as a 17-year-old kid you would always be there with a positive outlook and reassuring smile and let me know you were my friend and that I was loved.
“Even though you were younger than me you were always more sensible than me, you were headstrong, opinionated, and gave no fucks about telling people when they were wrong,” Malik added. “Even though we butted heads because of this a few times, I always secretly respected you for it.”
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