Two years out of the limelight hasn’t hurt Lewis Capaldi’s career. His entire comeback tour sold out in seconds and the first stop, at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, was a reunion so emotional that there were tears among the cheers.

The 28-year-old Scot opened with his recent, chart-topping single Survive, released to coincide with his return to Glastonbury, where his Tourette’s syndrome tics forced him to cut short his set in 2023 and convinced him to take a break. Live, the soppy ballad became a powerhouse mission statement. Fans howled back the lyrics. Some of them were already sobbing, as seen on screens either side of the stage, which captured the crowd almost as often as they did Capaldi.

It was smart move, as was the intimate staging. A five-piece band was positioned in a tight semicircle around the singer, with only a beige curtain as a backdrop. Whether it was for the audience to feel close to Capaldi or to help with his nerves, the effect was like being in a theatre, rather than an arena.

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“Thank you so much for still being here,” Capaldi said, lip wobbling, 15 minutes in. “I’m genuinely humbled that this is still a possibility for me. It means the world.” That opened the floodgates for weeping fans. Ditto Capaldi’s confession that he was so overwhelmed he wouldn’t be speaking much.

A few curveballs were slipped into a set that lasted little over an hour. Bruises was stripped back to piano, a reworked Pointless featured trombone and Leave Me Slowly was beefed up with Phil Collins-style drums. Forget Me was huge, thanks to the lyrics taking on new meaning after Capaldi’s absence. Forget him? Not a chance.

The singer — still scruffily dressed, his hair more erratic than ever — performed three new songs, all precision-tooled to keep him at the top of the charts, in Britain at least. Almost was a ballsy heartbreak ballad with a similar sentiment to his 2019 global hit Someone You Loved. The forthcoming single, Something in the Heavens, was a catchy soul-scorcher during which confetti exploded from the ceiling.

The Day That I Die, a ballad on which Capaldi played piano, proved too much for the entire arena. “I wrote it at a time when I didn’t know if I would be around,” the singer said. “It’s probably the saddest I’ve ever been.” Floods of tears flowed from fans on the screens and mid-song from Capaldi himself. He had his head in his hands, briefly looking as if he couldn’t continue.

By the encore, however, he had the giggles and announced that his patter was returning. “Excuse the pun,” he said, “but I’ll be doing this till the day I die.”
★★★★☆
Touring to Sep 27

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