Louis Tomlinson Attended Zayn Malik’s L.A. Show in First Public Reunion Since Liam Payne Funeral

Former One Direction band mates Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik had an unexpected reunion, sort of, during Zayn’s Stairway to the Sky show at Los Angeles’ Shrine Expo Hall on Wednesday night (Jan. 29). In video of the sweet moment caught posted by Pop Crave, Malik told the crowd, “tonight is kind of special. An old friend of mine is here supporting me tonight.”

As the screams reached a roar, Malik looked up to the balcony and said, “He’s sitting somewhere here. I don’t want to give his location away, but Louis is here tonight.” In a second video, the camera swings up to Tomlinson in his box seat, catching the “Bigger Than Me” singer tapping his heart after the shout-out. According to fans, Malik later dedicated the songs “What I Am” and “Alienated” to Tomlinson.

As far as fans were aware, it was the first (kind of) joint public appearance by the two since they both attended the funeral of their late 1D mate Liam Payne in November; Payne died on Oct. 16 after falling from the third-floor balcony of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In a touching tribute to their bond, all of the permanently on-hiatus boy band’s members attended the funeral in Buckinghamshire, England in November, including Niall Horan and Harry Styles.

Malik rescheduled the tour — his first solo outing to date — after postponing the U.S. portion of the outing following Payne’s death. He launched the tour on Jan. 21 with a show at the Anthem in Washington, D.C. His next scheduled gig is on Friday night (Jan. 31) is a third and final show at the Shrine in L.A.