{"id":125931,"date":"2025-09-07T17:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T17:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/125931\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T17:06:09","slug":"lewis-capaldi-review-an-emotional-comeback-for-the-star-and-his-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/125931\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Capaldi review \u2014 an emotional comeback for the star and his fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years out of the limelight hasn\u2019t hurt Lewis Capaldi\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Scot opened with his recent, chart-topping single Survive, released to coincide with his return to Glastonbury, where his Tourette\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read more music reviews, interviews and guides on what to listen to next<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThank you so much for still being here,\u201d Capaldi said, lip wobbling, 15 minutes in. \u201cI\u2019m genuinely humbled that this is still a possibility for me. It means the world.\u201d That opened the floodgates for weeping fans. Ditto Capaldi\u2019s confession that he was so overwhelmed he wouldn\u2019t be speaking much. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s absence. Forget him? Not a chance.<\/p>\n

The singer \u2014 still scruffily dressed, his hair more erratic than ever \u2014 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. <\/p>\n

The Day That I Die, a ballad on which Capaldi played piano, proved too much for the entire arena. \u201cI wrote it at a time when I didn\u2019t know if I would be around,\u201d the singer said. \u201cIt\u2019s probably the saddest I\u2019ve ever been.\u201d 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\u2019t continue.<\/p>\n

By the encore, however, he had the giggles and announced that his patter was returning. \u201cExcuse the pun,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I\u2019ll be doing this till the day I die.\u201d
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Touring to Sep 27<\/p>\n

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