X Factor stars One Direction have announced they will play a warm up concert in Watford in preparation for their UK tour.

The intimate concert, which is one of two warm up shows announced on Monday, will take place at Watford Colosseum on Sunday, December 18.

The two shows will see the group performing songs from their debut album, alongside some of their favourite covers and a few surprises.

Staff at HQ Theatres, the company who manage events at Watford Colosseum, have already been inundated with calls about tickets, which go on sale on Saturday.

Jeanette Larkin, sales and marketing manager, said: “We expect that there will be a queue of people from Friday night.

“I don’t think we have ever seen this sort of level of excitement about a sale.

“Because we are not a big arena it is a chance for fans to get really close – it’s a nice opportunity.”

The boys’ debut single What Makes You Beautiful, shot to number one in the iTunes charts within 15 minutes of being released and achieved the biggest weekly sales of 2011, selling 154,965 copies.

Tickets go on sale at 10am on Saturday, 8th October and will be available from the Watford Colosseum Ticket Desk, at watfordcolosseum.co.uk or by phone 0845 075 3993.