Lewis Capaldi review: ‘Flawlessly, soul-stirring from a musical savant’
Following a two-year sabbatical from touring, a rejuvenated Lewis Capaldi made his hotly anticipated return to music at Glastonbury back in June, and it’s safe to say that he is back better than ever, as he closed out his two-night residency at Manchester’s Co-op Live with an extraordinary, emotionally charged performance.
Since making his aforementioned return at Worthy Farm, Capaldi hasn’t looked back. The singer’s comeback single ‘Survive’ became the fastest-selling single in the UK, topping the UK charts and selling 68,500 units in its opening week, becoming Capaldi’s biggest-ever opening week in terms of sales. In July, the Scot made a surprise appearance to perform ‘Northern Attitude’ with Noah Kahan at BST Hyde Park, which Capaldi will headline on back-to-back nights next summer, and the singer is certainly keen on making up for lost time.
From the moment Capaldi stepped onto the stage at the Co-op Live, he was in fine voice, majestically belting out ‘Survive’ to open the show, and backed by the tight musicianship of his backing band, the 28-year-old powered through ‘Grace’, ‘Heavenly Kind of State of Mind’ and ‘Forever’ in quick succession to get the performance off to a red-hot start. After thanking the Co-op Live for sandwiches, funerals and arenas, Capaldi asked the lively 23,500-strong audience whether they were ready for some fun before promising to deliver “a night of ballads”, leading into a scaled-back ‘Wish You The Best’ and a performance of ‘Love The Hell Out Of You’ with the big choruses delivering a warm singalong that the singer wholeheartedly embraced.
On stage, Capaldi was witty, charming, charismatic and comedic throughout the set, introducing one of his unreleased tracks, ‘Almost’, by stating, “If anyone needs to go for a p*** and a s***, now is the time,” before adding that “if you don’t like these songs, you are f***** because they are coming out.” While Capaldi later introduced the recently released ‘Something In The Heavens’ by jokingly declaring “it’s a bit of a b****** to sing live”, as ever, Capaldi absolutely nailed it, and the sight of confetti raining down from the ceiling merely added to the spectacle of the performance.
However, the most poignant moment at the Co-op Live came from the 28-year-old’s masterfully crafted and emotionally raw piano ballad ‘The Day That I Die’ – written during a time when the singer was struggling, it sent an emotional shockwave through the 23,500 in attendance, and by the time Capaldi stepped away from his piano, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. As the Scot closed out the first part of the set, a spine-tingling rendition of ‘Before You Go’ saw the singer play the role of conductor as the audience played the role of a choir with gusto before the 28-year-old exited the stage.
Serenaded by chants of “Oh Lewis Capaldi”, the Scot returned to the stage for the encore and immediately launched an acoustic-led ‘How I’m Feeling Now’ before indulging in the euphoric singalongs of ‘Hold Me While I Wait’ ahead of a spine-tingling finale. As Capaldi addressed the audience for a final time, he admitted that he thought there was a time when he didn’t think returning would be possible and underlined his excitement for his return to the city for his date at Wythenshawe Park next summer before finishing off with ‘Someone You Loved’, leaving everyone singing their hearts out in unison and wrapping up a flawless, soul-stirring performance from a musical savant. Earlier in the set, Capaldi stated that he believed he was in “the best form of his life”, and on the strength of his performance in Manchester, very few, if any, would disagree with that assessment.
It’s great to see Lewis back in business, and the thousands of fans who sold out his headline tour as good as instantly are most certainly inclined to agree.