As the former One Direction singer, Louis Tomlinson took to the stage at Leeds First Direct Arena; the confetti cannons exploded in a sea of yellow as he, along with the rest of the band, arrived on stage to perform Lemonade – a track from his latest album, How Did We Get Here.

That is a question which finding the answer to is not that easy. For an artist who spent the early years of his success in One Direction performing in front of millions, the one thing that became apparent during the first half of his set was that Tomlinson had little stage presence – as he stood there rigidly with his hands grasped around the top of his microphone stand, the thought of him moving around the stage seemed as remote as One Direction reforming.

His five-piece band was thankfully far more energetic, providing a rocking sound to his numerous songs. His musical palate is a mix of Coldplay meets Ed Sheeran with a dash of Oasis and The Charlatans, no doubt influenced by the times when, pre-One Direction, he used to attend the Leeds Festival.

Those opening rockier numbers such as Written All Over Your Face and Out of My System would have benefited if Doncaster-born Tomlinson had given them the full-on performance that they deserved as opposed to standing there motionless as his mainly female fans filmed on their phones before Tomlinson finally talked to his audience.

"It's good to be back in Leeds," he offered in what up to that point had been a slightly confusing affair.

Things began to improve as he and the band moved to a smaller stage to perform an acoustic set with Just Hold On – the electronic dance hit he recorded with Steve Aoki now being reborn as a slowed-down ballad. As Lazy then Sunflowers followed the pieces of what had been up to now an unfinished jigsaw began to fit together.

As Tomlinson and his band moved back to the main stage, the second half of the night was a completely different affair from the first: now animated and moving around the stage, it all felt like you were at a different concert altogether from what had gone before. Kill My Mind came with flashing images of Yorkshire landmarks like the Ribblehead Viaduct and Huddersfield’s Castle Hill – a nod to his Yorkshire roots.

“I can feel the vibes in here tonight” seemed a correct assertion from Tomlinson as he and his band were now in full effect with the singer now jumping from the stage to meet and hug his fans at the front of the stage with the atmosphere at fever pitch – if only he had been as dynamic as this earlier, tonight would not have been a set of two very different halves.

With the confetti cannons once again in full flow as Palaces closed the night, Tomlinson’s crown might have slipped earlier, though by the end of the evening it was back firmly in place.