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The show must go on! Liam Payne puts on a brave face as he performs with One Direction for the first time since splitting from girlfriend Sophia Smith

By Kate Thomas And Lucy Mapstone For Mailonline

Published: 10:10 EST, 26 October 2015 | Updated: 14:19 EST, 26 October 2015

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He's alleged to be devastated after splitting from his long-term girlfriend Sophia Smith.

And just hours after the news broke, Liam Payne took to the stage with his One Direction bandmates to perform at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle on Sunday night.

The 22-year-old singer put on a brave face for the fans, ensuring everyone enjoyed themselves during one of the boys' final dates on their mammoth On The Road Again tour.

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Total professional: One Direction singer Liam Payne put his heartbreak behind him and focused on delivering a great performance at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle on Sunday night

Liam gave a lively performance, seemingly back to his old self following his mystery illness which forced 1D to cancel one of their Belfast gigs at the last minute last week.

The pop hunk - who was recently crowned Attitude magazine's Sexiest Man Of The Year - was dressed down in his usual concert uniform, skinny jeans, a denim shirt and a plain T-shirt.

He didn't falter as he serenaded the crowd with tracks from their latest album Four alongside bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan.

Lively set: The 22-year-old singer seemed back to his old self following his mystery illness which forced 1D to cancel one of their Belfast gigs

Perfect: Liam joked around with his bandmate Louis Tomlinson as they made the most of one of their final dates on their mammoth On The Road Again tour

Nobody can drag him down: The singer, joined by Niall Horan, gave it his all in spite of his break-up

The boys' concert came shortly after it emerged Liam had split from girlfriend Sophia Smith after two years of dating.

A source close to the Kiss You singer confirmed to MailOnline: 'Liam and Sophia have split.

'Liam is incredibly sad, but is going to keep busy. He really hopes that everybody will respect both his and Sophia's privacy and stop speculating,' the insider added.

Sad times: A source confirmed to MailOnline over the weekend that Liam had split from his long-term girlfriend Sophia Smith after two years of dating

The break-up rumours were thrown into confusion at first, as a fake Instagram account under Sophia's name seemed to deny everything.

Along with a photo of the pair together, a caption read: 'i love you more and more every day. #stop #the #rumours'.

On Saturday, Liam posted a cryptic message on his Twitter page, mirroring the sad news.

Dramas: Last week, Liam fell ill and One Direction were forced to cancel their Tuesday night gig in Belfast at the very last minute

'I love how music is always there for you when you need it most x,' he wrote in the post, which has now been retweeted well over 150,000 times by his adoring fans.

Liam and Sophia - who started dating in 2013 after having been friends since their schooldays in Wolverhampton - had seemed like the strongest of the 1D couples.

After Louis Tomlinson split from his long-term girlfriend Eleanor Calder earlier this year, and after ex-One Direction member Zayn Malik called off his engagement to Perrie Edwards, it appeared Liam and Sophia were a romantic force with which to be reckoned.

Cryptic? Liam posted that 'music is always there for you' on Twitter on Saturday, as the split reports emerged

Strong bond: Liam and Sophia had dated since 2013, but had actually known each other from their schooldays back in Wolverhampton

Through thick and thin, world tours and endless rumours and scrutiny, Liam and Sophia had stuck by each other.

And the break-up news comes just weeks after the boyband hunk admitted that the pair were talking about marriage.

In an interview with Attitude magazine, he said: 'We have talked about marriage, but 22 seems a bit young for us. Sophia needs to go off and do what she wants to do.

'I don’t want her to be one of those stay-at-home girlfriends who doesn’t really do much.'

'He is incredibly sad': A source close to the 1D star has confirmed he's feeling the pain, but will keep himself busy

On Tuesday, Liam was deemed too unwell for One Direction to take to the stage in Belfast, with the announcement being made to thousands of fans just 30 minutes before they were due to appear.

A statement confirmed the following day that it was due to him being unwell and unable to perform that night, although on Wednesday he was back on top form as he rejoined by three fellow bandmates to continue their On The Road Again tour in the Northern Irish city.

The day after the cancelled gig - which was rescheduled for Friday - Liam took to Twitter to apologise to fans, who were left disappointed after Tuesday's cancellation.

However, there was little explanation over his sudden sickness.

He wrote: 'I'm so sorry to everybody I disappointed last night. I'm feeling better now. I really hope everyone can make the rescheduled date on Friday.

Talking about marriage: In a recent interview in Attitude magazine, Liam revealed he and Sophia were discussing tying the knot, but admitted they were too young

'Thank you so much for all the trends and lovely messages you guys did for me it really shows how amazing u guys actually are.'

He continued: 'As I said I'm feeling much better now and I really can't wait to perform and make it up to everyone later.'

While it was claimed that Liam had a 'mystery illness', The Sun - on Thursday - reported that the real reason behind his no show was because the singer had suffered a meltdown after being unable to cope with the pressures of fame.

A source told the paper: 'The pressure of fame and being on the road for two years have made Liam ill.'

They added: 'He wasn't physically able to get on stage. He had a complete meltdown.'

Liam and his fellow bandmates - Louis, Niall Horan and Harry Styles - are to take a break from One Direction in March, after completing their On The Road Tour and releasing their fifth studio album, Made In The A.M.