Praise for Horan's virtual Royal Albert Hall concert

Over 120,000 tickets sold worldwide across 151 countries for Niall Horan's virtual concert in the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday night.

The One Direction singer was raising funds for his crew who have been out of work since the pandemic started, as well as for the #WeNeedCrew initiative.

The 27-year-old Mullingar star performed material from his two studio records, with hits such as Small Talk, Nice To Meet Ya, Slow Hands and Black and White going down a treat with fans.

It was a strangely good experience, seeing Horan for an hour-long concert in the vast empty venue, and while he acknowledged the strangeness of it all himself, it did not take from the performance of a lifetime.

Horan also had a surprise up his sleeve with American singer Ashlyn Rae Willson, aka Ashe, making an appearance. She quarantined for two weeks to duet with Niall on her hit, Moral of The Story.

"Even more importantly we raised a hell of a lot of money for our touring crew and WeNeedCrew (initiative) all thanks to you guys. Thank you to the Royal Albert Hall for having us, it looked beautiful," Horan said following the concert. "Hopefully we can all get back to work properly at some point and back on the road."

Home for Christmas

Meanwhile, talking to Ryan Tubridy for Friday's Late Late Show, Niall said that he would "love to get home for Christmas" as he explained that he misses his granny and hasn't been home all year.

"For obvious reasons, it would be weird to get home. I usually get home five or six times a year at least, but this year has been a weird one.

"There's going to be a lot of people that won't make it home for Christmas which is so sad really, especially if you are Irish, there's something about going home for Christmas, it's nearly a sin if you don't go home.

"Hopefully, I can get home for Christmas, it will be an awful shame if not."

When talking about his granny he revealed that: "She turned 90 there in August, she's flying, nobody would think she's 90"

Niall also referenced Bruce Springsteen's recent The Late Late Show interview, and agreed that he too thinks it will be a long time before he himself is gigging in front of large audiences again.

"You definitely get a buzz off the crowd, there's no better feeling than getting out in front of thousands of people every night and just getting a reaction to songs that you have sat for hours writing.

"We all get that same reaction whether we are crew or a band member or whatever.

"As Bruce said to you, I can't see it happening for a long time, it's a long way away. I can't see thousands getting into big venues for a while."