Niall Horan gig to help touring crew who ‘don’t get to do what they love’

Niall Horan has said he plans to pay the crew who would have toured with him this year and “don’t get to do what they love” by hosting a virtual gig.

The One Direction star will perform a special one-off live streamed show at the Royal Albert Hall on November 7.

The multi-camera event will see him perform with his full band, with the performance live-streamed to fans around the world and time-zoned to specific regions.

All the profits from the show will be shared between Horan’s touring crew, who are currently unable to work, and the #WeNeedCrew relief fund.

Horan told Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden: “I spent a year and a bit, a year and two months on the album, had a tour lined up with myself and Lewis Capaldi, we were going to be touring America together in April/May time so that would have been incredible, I would have been probably on my way back to the UK, to start touring.

“I was going to play Wembley Arena and things like that, that would have been incredible.

“But, listen, I’m not one of the ones whose come out the worst, I’ve had scenarios in my crew where lads – and no disrespect to these jobs either – it’s not their normal jobs, working on business sites, working in Tesco and Sainsbury’s and things like that, and it’s just a shame that they don’t get to do what they love, as hard as they work, you can absolutely tell from their faces every day that they love what they do.

“I was just like, I just want to do a gig, because I saw other people were doing these virtual gigs and if I was going to do one, how would I do it differently, and I was like, let’s pay the money we make on the night, let’s pay the crew that would have toured with me this year, the excess money we’ll pass on to ‘We Need Crew’ and get them paid basically.”

– Tickets for the show will be on sale from 9am on Friday October 16.