Review: Niall Horan goes in many directions for first Minnesota arena show

It took him one decade and three albums to do it, but Niall Horan finally proved to Twin Cities audiences that boy bands and girl groups actually can have more than one member with a successful solo career.

The former member of U.K. pop quintet One Direction played to a nearly sold-out and entirely smitten crowd of more than 15,000 fans Sunday night in St. Paul — thus becoming the second 1D member to fill the St. Paul arena on his own.

There was only one Michael in the Jackson 5, one Beyoncé in Destiny’s Child, one Justin Timberlake in *NSYNC. (Never mind that ticket sales to JT’s upcoming Xcel Center show are fizzling compared with the hot demand for Horan’s show.)

There’s only one Harry Styles, too. A smart move on Horan’s part, he presented himself as a very different performer on Sunday night than his former bandmate, albeit while still playing a similar brand of ‘80s-inspired synth-pop tunes and breathy ballads.

The resident Irishman in One Direction — he had a fiddle player in his band to prove it — Horan eschewed the flashy, designer-made clothing and elaborate, choreographed stage production that has been Styles’ brand. Instead, the 30-year-old singer took the stage dressed in a mauve vest and matching pants that looked like it came out of Eric Clapton’s 1980s wardrobe.

Horan’s goofy dancing definitely wasn’t up to Styles’ standards, either. Think: “Peanuts” cartoon characters. His talking between songs amounted to just a lot of “Thank you for being here” and “I can’t believe this” comments about the venue being filled to capacity. His aw-shucks attitude was very believable, though, as the same nice-bloke demeanor he showed as a recent coach on NBC’s “The Voice” shined as bright as his smile throughout the concert.

The music came off similarly affable and softly charming. He started off the 90-minute set with two of his heavier, more urgent-sounding tracks, “Nice to Meet Ya” and “Small Talk,” both off his pandemic-stymied 2020 sophomore album “Heartbreak Weather.”

Ironically, the crowd got a lot more vocal and excited once Horan settled into some of the mellower and more romantic fare off his warmly received new album, “The Show,” starting with the Tears for Fears-echoing third song “On a Night Like Tonight.”

A lot of the newer fare edged on yacht-rock breeziness, including the title track, for which the singer sat at the piano while the whole crowd remained standing and in quite a giddy state. That mild-mannered excitement peaked a few songs later when he picked up an acoustic guitar and softly plucked out his older hit “Black and White.”

Horan’s singing was the smoothest and winningest part of the concert, with a dainty and elegant but dramatic voice that could probably even make a Hell’s Angels gang member swoon just a little bit. He sounded brightest and prettiest as he sat down on a thrust stage with his band for a mid-show acoustic segment, highlighted by “This Town” — which might’ve been heard all across town as the audience sang along loudly.

One thing Horan does have in common with Styles: He typically only plays one of One Direction’s songs in concert. On Sunday, it was the heartache-y “Night Changes,” after which he harked back to his old band’s original run by commenting, “Thank you for the massive energy over the last 14 years.”

Horan’s performance never quite reached 1D-level energy, but the music built up again after the acoustic segment to more of a rocking — or at least a midtempo bopping — level with the new hit “Meltdown” and the encore finale “Slow Hands.” All that “Peanuts”-style dancing seemed very appropriate by show’s end.