Zayn Malik announces first ever solo live show in London

Zayn Malik has announced his first-ever solo live show in London in celebration of his upcoming album.

• READ MORE: Zayn Malik – ‘Nobody Is Listening’ review: ex-boybander crafts quietly purposeful pop

The ‘Pillowtalk’ singer will be making his debut live appearance at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on May 17 in celebration of the release of his fourth album ‘Room Under The Stairs‘.

He will be performing a selection of tracks from his new LP, and the gig follow the world premiere of his documentary Road Back To The Mic.

Tickets for the gig will only be available via a pre-sale. In order to access the chance to purchase a ticket, you must pre-order ‘Room Under The Stairs’ via Zayn’s official website by 3pm BST next Wednesday (May 8). Those who do so will receive an exclusive ticket pre-sale code to purchase tickets.

The code and ticket link will be sent by 11:59pm BST on Wednesday, and the pre-sale will commence on 10:00am BST Thursday (May 9) until 11:59pm BST that same day. Those who have already pre-ordered the album should expect to receive their code shortly.

The former One Direction singer has yet to perform live since launching his solo career back in 2016. He cancelled what was to be his debut appearance in June of that same year, citing “the worst anxiety of my career” as his reason for backing out on the date.

“I have been working over the last three months to overcome my extreme anxiety around major live solo performances,” Zayn wrote in a statement at the time.

“I feel I am making progress but I have today acknowledged that I do not feel sufficiently confident to move forward with the planned show in Dubai in October.”

Zayn’s last release – 2021’s  ‘Nobody Is Listening’ – earned a three-star review, with Dhruva Balram writing for NME: “‘Nobody is Listening’ has its flaws, but Zayn is clearly working out a few chinks in his armour, and this comes across as a step in a new and fresh direction for the enigmatic artist.”

In other news, Zayn recently revealed he’s been revisiting One Direction’s music and he would like a Miley Cyrus collaboration one day.

The musician reflected on his time with his former group fondly, saying: “I’ve been listening to a bit of One Direction music recently, reminiscing. Good times.” He added: “We made some good music as a band. We were pretty good.”

The singer also recalled saving his former bandmate Harry Styles from an accident onstage in 2013.

Elsewhere, he is one of the many artists who have signed an open letter warning against the “predatory” use of artificial intelligence (AI) in music, and pushed for the government to take a stronger approach to the issue.