Glastonbury crowd helps Lewis Capaldi through vocal issues
The Bathgate singer told fans he was losing his voice during his performance on the Pyramid Stage
Last updated 26th Jun 2023
Lewis Capaldi needed some help from the Glastonbury crowd, as he powered through an emotional set on the Pyramid Stage while steadily losing his voice.
The 26-year-old revealed at the end of his performance that he plans to take some more time off.
Earlier this month, the Scottish superstar cancelled all his other commitments in June ahead of the festival at Worthy Farm to allow himself time to "rest and recover".
On Saturday evening, he treated fans to a host of hit tracks from his two chart-topping albums as well as taking his shirt off at one stage.
Among the songs on his set list were 'Forget Me', the lead single off his recently released second studio album 'Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent', 'Before You Go' and 'Hold Me While You Wait'.
Singer told the crowd he was losing his voice
After performing 'Bruises', he admitted he was having voice issues, telling the crowd: "I'm going to be honest everybody but I'm starting to lose my voice up here, but we're going to keep going and we're going to go until the end.
"I just need you all to sing with me as loud as you can if that's okay?"
He continued to apologise to the crowd, and the Eavis family who organise Glastonbury, for his voice starting to go - but the ocean of fans replied by cheering him on and chanting "Oh Lewis Capaldi".
Before his final song, he told the crowd: "I recently took three weeks off just because I've been non-stop the past year and I wanted to take a wee break from my head for my mental health.
"I wanted to come back and do Glastonbury because it's obviously so incredible so I just want to thank you all for coming out. I was scared but you've really made me feel at ease so thank you very much for that."
"I'll be taking another wee break"
Capaldi added: "I feel like I'll be taking another wee break over the next couple of weeks so you probably won't see much of me for the rest of the year maybe even. But when I do come back, when I do see you, I hope you're all still up for watching."
He closed his set with his Grammy-nominated track 'Someone You Loved', telling the crowd: "I love you all", and became emotional as they chanted back the lyrics to him when he was struggling to sing some of the notes.
The Bathgate singer, who has previously opened up about his recent diagnosis of Tourette's, also appeared to experience an increasing number of tics during the set.
A flight of planes also flew over the festival as he played guitar and sang his track 'Forever'.
After he finished the track, he asked the crowd if that was a usual thing, adding: "Does that happen a lot? No? So they just thought, 'You know what that Lewis Capaldi set needs, send in the Red Arrows'."
Scroll through to see some of Lewis Capaldi's biggest career moments so far:
Career beginnings
Lewis learned to play the drums and guitar when he was just two-years-old, and started off singing in pubs at the age of nine. At 17, he decided to pursue a full-time career in music, and was discovered by his manager through his SoundCloud account.
2017: 'Bloom EP'
Lewis released his first EP 'Bloom' in October 2017, having worked on it with producer Malay and released 'Bruises' in March that year. He was then signed to Universal Music Group, and was long-listed for BBC's Sound of Music 2018, later supporting Rag'n'Bone Man on his European tour in November 2017.
2018: Supporting Niall Horan
After supporting Rag'n'Bone Man, Lewis came to the attention of former One Direction star Niall Horan. The pair became friends and Lewis joined him as a support act for his 'Flicker World Tour' in March 2018, before going on tour as support for Sam Smith two months later.
May 2019: The toilet brush incident
We caught up with Lewis in May 2019, and he explained the story behind the toilet brush incident from his Snapchat Story... "I wouldn't lie about that! You should have seen me when I walked into the toilet and saw what I left myself in the night, it was like a dirty Santa Claus. There are some weird people on Hollywood Boulevard, people getting photos and stuff with me, a plunger in hand."
Summer 2018: Festival appearances
Lewis took to the stage at various music festivals in the summer of 2018, playing Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Reading & Leeds Festival and TRNSMT. He also supported Kodaline in August 2018.
November 2018: 'Breach' EP
Lewis released his second EP 'Breach' in November 2018, containing songs 'Grace' and 'Someone You Loved', which became Lewis' breakthrough single and was Number 1 in the UK for seven weeks.
2019: Debut album and BRIT Awards
Lewis released his debut album 'Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent' in May 2019, and it became the best-selling UK album in five years. He was nominated for the hugely coveted Critics' Choice Award at the BRITs 2019, which has now been renamed to the Rising Star Award, and was won in 2019 by Sam Fender.
August 2019: Elton John
Elton and Lewis became firm friends, and Lewis shared this super-cute photo of himself and Elton having lunch together.
2019: Headline tour
The album was certified Gold two weeks after the album was released. Lewis' tour was announced before the release of his album, and he became the first artist ever to sell out an arena tour before his debut album was released.
2019: 'Someone You Loved'
In October 2019, 'Someone You Loved' reached Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which made him the first Scottish solo artist to top the US chart since 1981. The video for the song was released two months beforehand, and starred actor Peter Capaldi - who is a distant cousin of Lewis'. The singer was also announced as the opening act for Niall Horan's 'Nice to Meet Ya Tour', which will start in April 2020. In December 2019, Lewis recruited celebrities all over the world to help make a hilarious video to his song 'Bruises'.
January 2020: Grammy Awards
He was nominated at the Grammy Awards 2020 for the category of Song of the Year for 'Someone You Loved', unfortunately losing out to Billie Eilish for 'Bad Guy'. Lewis also had a hilarious moment at the Grammys in January, taking to Twitter with the story that he'd been mistaken for a seat filler!
When his ex-girlfriend Paige Turley went into the Love Island villa, reports surfaced that his song 'Someone You Loved' was about her - but Lewis revealed it was about his late grandmother.
2020: Justin Bieber and Lewis become BFFs
Taking to Twitter in January, Lewis treated his fans to one of his classic selfies - something we all love him for - and wrote the caption, 'I've decided that I'm equally as handsome as Shawn Mendes and Bieber.'
Justin then actually replied, saying, 'You are', before Lewis retweeted it and wrote, 'Bieber approved'.
February 2020: BRIT Awards
Lewis was nominated for four awards at the BRITs 2020: Male Solo Artist, Best New Artist, Song of the Year for 'Someone You Loved' and Album of the Year for 'Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent'. He went on to win Song of the Year and Best New Artist.
January 2021: Social media break
In January 2021, Lewis announced he would be taking a break from social media to focus on creating his second album, the follow up to 2019's 'Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent'.
March 2021: Lewis gives second album update
Lewis broke his social media silence in March 2021 to reflect on the previous year. He also announced he would be rescheduling his tour to 2022 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
2022: Lewis Capaldi returns to performing live
After a break from live performances for two years, Lewis got back on stage at Parklife in Manchester in June 2022. The following week, he headlined at Isle of Wight festival, which was his first time ever headlining a festival.
The Scottish singer also headlined TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow and Latitude festival.
August 2022: Lewis teases an upcoming announcement
Although he had previously disclaimed to fans that he was 'too lazy' to finish his second album, Lewis got us all talking when he teased some sort of announcement on his TikTok, happening on 2nd September 2022.
It turned out to be the announcement of his new single 'Forget Me' which he played for the first time to fans at his show at London's O2 Arena before revealing that the full song would come out on 9th September.
September 2022: Lewis Capaldi releases 'Forget Me'
Following his exciting song teaser, Lewis released his new track on 9th September. It was the first single to come from his second album and the first music he has released in three years.
He said of the song: 'This is it… My first new music in nearly 3 years. Couldn't be more nervous! This is... 'Forget Me' 🥀' before taking to his Instagram Stories to thank fans for their support.
On 12th September, he also released a music video for the song which he described as being his: "Favourite video that has ever been made by anybody ever". Fans of Wham! might think the music video looks familiar, as it is a recreation of their 'Club Tropicana' video.
October 2022: Lewis Capaldi announces album release date and tour
In the update we were all waiting for, Lewis Capaldi revealed that his second album is called 'Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent' and will be released on 19th May 2023.
He went on to reveal that the album will include a love song with Ed Sheeran called 'Pointless'.
That's not all, as he also surprised fans with the announcement of a tour! He'll be playing several shows across the UK in January and February 2023.
October 2022: Lewis films documentary with Niall Horan
Lewis and Niall Horan are good friends and fans have been eagerly hoping for a collab between the two. While they haven't released a song together, they have created a documentary travelling around Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Called Homecoming: The Road to Mullingar, the documentary was released on Amazon Prime Video on Friday 21st October and follows their road-trip and visit Niall's hometown Mullingar.
December 2022: Reading and Leeds Festival headline announcement
Lewis took to Twitter in December 2022 to announce the incredible news that he would be taking a headline slot at Reading and Leeds Festival 2023! In classic Lewis style, the expletive-riddled post was equal parts self-deprecating and hilarious, with a smug selfie for good measure as he called it a "dream come true" to be a headliner at the festival.
December 2022: Lewis Capaldi performed on Strictly Come Dancing
On 12th December, Lewis Capaldi performed his song 'Pointless' on Strictly Come Dancing, during the Semi-Final of the show.
December 2022: Lewis Capaldi performed on Hogmanay 2022
Lewis saw in the New Year with a special performance on BBC Scotland's Hogmanay 2022, presented by Edith Bowman.
February 2023: Lewis Capaldi was announced to perform at The BRITs
On 1st February Lewis Capaldi was announced as the final performer for the 2023 BRIT Awards. He said of the announcement: "Last time I played The BRIT Awards I was so scared that I had a panic attack before I went on, and then got hammered afterwards. Looking forward to more of the same this year."
February 2023: Lewis Capaldi meets his waxwork
Lewis Capaldi came face-to-face with his waxwork at Madame Tussauds Blackpool. He joked fans could: "Come and touch my bum!"
February 2023: Lewis' breathtaking BRITs performance
As The BRIT Awards 2023 with Mastercard took place on 11th February, Lewis took to the stage to perform at the ceremony for the first time since 2020. Performing his hit track 'Forget Me' alongside House Gospel Choir, it's fair to say that his beautiful performance was unforgettable.
Lewis was also nominated for Song of The Year at the 2023 BRITs, for his song 'Forget Me', however lost out on the win to Harry Styles and his hit track 'As It Was'.
March 2023: Lewis Capaldi announced his Netflix documentary
Lewis Capaldi announced his Netflix documentary in March 2023. The programme is called Lewis Capaldi: How I'm Feeling Now and was later released on Netflix on 5th April 2023.
March 2023: Lewis Capaldi entertained a flight to America
Lewis Capaldi was travelling to America to start the North American leg of his tour and he decided to help the cabin crew!
Lewis was spotted walking down the aisle of the plane offering the passengers drinks, before getting out his guitar and giving them a little performance. The passengers couldn't believe what was happening on their flight, with many of them getting out their photos to record the moment.
May 2023: Lewis releases his second album
Lewis released his highly anticipated second album 'Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent' on 19th May 2023.
June 2023: Lewis cancels commitments in lead-up to Glastonbury
At the beginning of June 2023, Lewis shared a statement announcing that he would be cancelling his upcoming commitments in order to prepare for his performance at Glastonbury Festival. In the statement, he wrote that he needed time to 'rest and recover' before the performance that was three weeks away. In the difficult message, he also revealed: 'I haven't been home properly since Christmas and at the moment I'm struggling to get to grips with it all.'
June 2023: Lewis performs at Glastonbury Festival
On Saturday 24th June 2023, Lewis took to the stage at Glastonbury Festival! He performed a selection of his greatest songs, including 'Forget Me', 'Pointless' and 'Before You Go'.
Towards the end of Lewis' set, he began to struggle with his Tourette's Syndrome. Due to his tics, the singer struggled to sing his hit track 'Someone You Loved'. In an emotional moment, the adoring crowd began to sing the song at the top of their lungs, helping Lewis finish his set.
June 2023: He announces a break from touring
On 27th June, three days after his performance at Glastonbury, Lewis shared a statement to announce he would be 'taking a break from touring for the foreseeable future.' In the emotional statement, he thanked the festival, as well as his fans for 'singing along when I needed it and for all the amazing messages afterwards'.
Lewis didn't reveal when he would return to touring, saying: 'The truth is I'm still learning to adjust to the impact of my Tourette's and on Saturday it became obvious that I need to spend much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time to come.'
September 2023: Lewis wins a National Television Award
In September 2023, Lewis won the National Television Award for Best Authored Documentary for Lewis Capaldi: How I'm Feeling Now. In a video message following his win, Lewis said: "Thank you so, so much if you voted, or even if you just watched the documentary. Thank you so much for voting and thank you for everyone who made it. A massive shoutout to my fellow nominees. You're all incredible. Making a documentary is not easy in the slightest, from what I've learned. It's an honour to be nominated alongside you. I'll see you soon."
December 2023: Lewis shares an update on his health
Taking to Instagram, Lewis explained that he has been working with professionals to help manage his Tourette's and anxiety, adding that he has noticed a 'marked improvement' in his symptoms since taking a break. He also announced the release of 'Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent' (Extended Edition)', which includes five extra songs.
Now read:
11 fascinating facts about everyone's favourite Scotsman Lewis Capaldi
7 of Lewis Capaldi's biggest songs and the meanings behind them 🎶
The best moments of Lewis Capaldi and Niall Horan's friendship so far