Niall Horan Says Playing at One Love Manchester Was One of the 'Most Surreal' Days

Niall Horan was one of the many famous performers at Ariana Grande‘s Manchester One Love Benefit concert.

Much like Ariana, who got a tattoo to mark the day, the experience had a profound effect on him.

“Playing the One Love Manchester concert was one of the most surreal days of my life,” he told Shortlist. “It was emotionally up and down. Backstage I was with Ariana Grande, and she was telling me stories of visiting the hospital, meeting families of the victims, and she was clearly really emotional about what was going to happen. It hit me that this was history being made, right before our eyes. Our generation’s Live 8.”

“Everywhere I looked, people were dancing and having a good laugh,” he continues. “Then I played ‘This Town’, and the mood changed. I caught a girl’s eyes in the crowd and she was just bawling her eyes out. During Justin Bieber‘s acoustic set, policemen were dancing with kids. I’d never seen anything like it.”

He was impressed and moved by how brave Manchester was in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack.

“You can’t let a terror attack alter your way of thinking. The concert was the same day as Michael Carrick‘s testimonial at Old Trafford. Seventy-five thousand people at Old Trafford, 200 yards down the road from this huge 50,000-strong crowd. This is the week after a terror attack. I walked through the crowd thinking, ‘These people aren’t scared. Something monstrous has happened, but they refuse to be scared by it.’ That was really powerful to experience.”