Zayn Malik to play his first ever live show in London
He'll launch his solo career with a one-off date at London's O2 Shepherds Bush Empire.
By Nick Reilly
Zayn Malik has announced he will play his first-ever solo live show in London to celebrate his upcoming album.
The singer will make his debut live appearance at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on May 17 to mark the release of his upcoming fourth album Room Under The Stairs.
Zayn will play a handful of tracks from his latest album at the gig, with the show following the premiere of his documentary Road Back To The Mic.
Tickets for the gig are only available via a pre-sale. In order to access the chance to purchase a ticket, fans must pre-order ‘Room Under The Stairs’ via Zayn’s official website by 3pm BST next Wednesday (May 8). An exclusive ticket pre-sale code to purchase tickets will then be sent to fans by 11:59pm BST on Wednesday, and a pre-sale will kick off on 10:00am BST Thursday (May 9) until 11:59pm BST the same day.
Zayn, who tackled stadiums across the world with One Direction, is yet to perform live since launching his solo career in 2016 after experiencing what he described as “the worst anxiety of my career”.
Rolling Stone previously confirmed the impending release of the album, which was co-produced by Dave Cobb and was written over the course of several years at Malik’s home in rural Pennsylvania. “That’s why it’s raw,” the singer added. “It’s just me writing this I didn’t want anybody else to be in between me and the music and the music and the people listening to it.”
Room Under the Stairs marks Malik’s first album with his new label Mercury Records. “What got me about Zayn was his voice, you can hear love, loss, pain, triumph, and humanity in it. I feel as if this record is removing the glass from his spirit directly to his fans,” Cobb — who previously worked with Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlisle, Lady Gaga and Jason Isbell — said in the teaser. “Zayn has really created his own universe on this record, he really has no fear and is speaking straight from his soul.”
Malik’s last album, Nobody Is Listening, was released in 2021. Since then, he’s shared a couple of scattered singles, including ‘To Begin Again’ with Ingrid Michaelson, a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Angel’ and last year’s ‘Love Like This’. In January, he collaborated with the up-and-coming Pakistani group Aur on a reimagining of their hit single ‘Tu Hai Kahan’.