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Louis Tomlinson pays homage to One Direction at his first solo Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball

7 December 2025, 20:35 | Updated: 8 December 2025, 00:23

Louis Tomlinson paid homage to One Direction at his first solo Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball. Picture: Global/Shutterstock

By Capital FM

Louis Tomlinson returned to Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball after 13 years for his first solo appearance.

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Louis Tomlinson's return to Capital Jingle Bell Ball was always going to be a special moment as it's been 13 years since he last performed at one. And, all those years ago he was performing alongside his One Direction bandmates.

Performing at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard for the first time as a solo artist, Louis sang two songs from his upcoming album How Did I Get Here?, 'Lemonade' and 'Palaces'.

He also sang his heart out to the fan-fave track 'Back to You'. But, it was the One Direction tribute in the middle of his set that was most special.

Read more: RAYE's sisters join her on stage in emotional moment at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball

Louis Tomlinson performed One Direction's 'Drag Me Down' at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball. Picture: Global/Shutterstock

After singing 'Lemonade' and 'Back To You' to the crowd of more than 16,000 fans, Louis performed One Direction's 'Drag Me Down'.

As soon as the intro to the song played he said to the crowd: "You can sing this one with me."

The crowd was certainly filled with Directioners as people were seen singing the track word-for-word all around the arena.

One Direction performed at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball in 2011 and 2012, right at the start of their historical career which saw then become one of the biggest boy bands in the world.

Louis Tomlinson performing at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball. Picture: Global/Shutterstock

Ahead of his Jingle Bell Ball performance, Louis reflected on the possibility of a One Direction reunion after the tragic passing of Liam Payne.

"Right now, I can’t foresee a time where I would actually feel comfortable doing that," he said in a Rolling Stones interview.

He added: "Before Liam passed, I kind of always had it in the back of my mind. Like, ‘I’m sure we’ll do something, even if it’s just one big show.’ But now I’d be really surprised. I also kind of love that the last time that we were on stage together, Liam was there. That’s just so perfect."

The musician has also said, in conversation with out sister brand Capital Buzz, that there are certain One Direction songs he won't perform live because he never got to perform them with Liam.

Explaining this, he said: "There's a lot of those songs that we never performed from the last record [...] And for that reason, I feel like– Yeah, it's kind of cool like that. I wouldn't want to taint that."

One Direction during The BRIT Awards 2012. Picture: Getty

And as well as there being songs that he won't perform, Louis recently revealed to us that there is a favourite 1D song of his that never saw the light of day!

He told us: "There is a song, I think we wrote it for the last One Direction record/album, or the one before. And we have a tour called Where We Are and there was a song also - I think it got leaked actually - it was a song called 'Where We Are'.

"I always really loved that song, I was fighting for that song to make the record, it never did."

Fans have been begging the band to release this song, even after all these years. While Louis might not have included 'Where We Are' in his #CapitalJBB setlist, his performance was an absolute 10/10.