Niall Horan Surprises Manchester Crowd with Blossoms’ Tom Ogden for ‘Charlemagne’ Duet

Niall Horan welcomed a special guest to his “Dinner Party Live On Tour” stop at Manchester’s Co-op Live on September 25, inviting Blossoms frontman Tom Ogden to join him for a rendition of the band’s breakout single, “Charlemagne.”

The collaboration arrived seven songs into Horan’s set, uniting two of the UK’s most prominent contemporary acts. Footage from the arena captures Horan and Ogden trading vocals while the capacity crowd sings along to the 2015 track, which originally anchored Blossoms’ self-titled, UK number-one debut album the following year.

The performance carries added weight for Blossoms, who celebrated the tenth anniversary of their debut album last month with an intimate run-through at Manchester’s Deaf Institute. During that show, the band opened with “Charlemagne”—a song typically reserved for their encore.

Speaking to NME around the anniversary, Ogden reflected on the track’s enduring resonance. “I think if we put out ‘Charlemagne’ tomorrow, people would still jump on it,” he said. “Maybe not – maybe we’d stay at The Deaf Institute and never evolve! It’s hard to say, but I’m going to back myself.”

Blossoms are now gearing up for their sixth studio album, Songs From The Wedding Cake, due October 2. The record features “Additional Driver,” a collaboration with Declan McKenna premiered at the Deaf Institute show. The band will follow the release with their largest headline tour to date, including two nights at Co-op Live on November 28 and December 11.

For Horan, the Manchester date marked the opening week of his tour, which kicked off in Birmingham on September 22. In a prior interview with NME, the former One Direction member explained his decision to incorporate his band’s catalog into his solo sets, noting it would be a “disservice” not to play those songs.

“You want to play great songs, and I was in that band, so that’s helpful,” he said, specifically citing “Steal My Girl” as a track “robbed of its day in the sun.”

Horan’s trek continues at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on September 28, followed by Sheffield’s Utilita Arena and London’s The O2, before moving across Europe. The run concludes with two shows at Dublin’s 3Arena on November 9 and 10 and a final date at Belfast’s SSE Arena on November 15.

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