Project Description

LEWIS CAPALDI

@ Festival Hall

03/01/20

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Kelsey Hentschel

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Every man, his dog, and (what seemed like) the entire Scottish population of Melbourne flocked to Festival Hall to immerse themselves in the wonderful world of Lewis Capaldi on Friday 3rd of January. It was a sweaty affair, but we’ll get to that later. The crowd joined in a chorus for Robbie Williams ‘Angels’, before it was drowned out by the bellowing beat of  ‘Naughty Girl’ from Australian cult-classic TV show, Summer Heights High. Just before Lewis Capaldi himself dare I say, strutted, onto the stage, flashing lights and confetti exploded unexpectedly to throw us off guard. It was the perfect way to open a show which is full of sad songs.

Capaldi opened the night with the leading track from his debut album ‘Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent’, ‘Grace’. Capaldi captivated the audience immediately with his bellowing baritone.  Lewis Capaldi wants to make very clear how this is going to go down.

“I’m going to sing some songs, you’re going to listen to them, and then we’re all going to fuck off,”.

He gives the impression that he rolled out of bed one morning and, to his great surprise, somehow fell on to the top of the charts. The crowd were serenaded with ‘Forever’ and ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’; each song met with an audience-wide sing-along that sounded almost as beautiful as the idol himself. He then took a moment to perform a new, original song ‘My Tits Are Sweaty’ to the tune of ‘Amazing Grace’. After being urged to take his top off by members of the audience, he reminded them that it was ‘2020’, that he ‘was not a piece of meat’. This was met with a roar of laughter & it opened the floodgates to a night equally full of comedic integrity as well as soulful crooning.

To introduce his latest single Lewis told us a long-winded anecdote of how his extended album came to be in the works. Capaldi Vs Record Label, in regards to whether it was to go forward when he hit us with the gist of what the label said to him “Listen here you little fat c**t, we run the show here you loser, find three more songs or fuck off”. This was met with a deafening roar of laughter. Capaldi flaunted that comedic side that has complimented his musical success so well. The audience was still in stitches as he weakened them at the knees with the opening lines of ‘Before You Go’.

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As Capaldi continued to treat his crowd to more music, and jokes, he was met with gifts thrown onto the stage. He was soon dressed in an Australian flag, a bucket hat and horrific Australian flag sunglasses. Lewis Capaldi, you can keep campaigning to be America’s Sweetheart but you’ve already won us Australians over. He then warned, ‘this next song sounds like it’s happy but it’s f*****g sad, so strap in Australia!’ before jumping into ‘Hollywood’. The juxtaposition of these emotionally rich songs with foul-mouthed comedic moments was really refreshing & something I hope more artists aim to do. He isn’t afraid to be himself, isn’t afraid to showcase his emotions and isn’t afraid to let us know that he is sweaty in unmentionable places, cue a second verse of the track ‘My Tits Are Sweaty’.

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Capaldi’s capacity to write “big, sexy sad-bangers” that touch the hearts of all of his listeners – sometimes to the point of cathartic tears – is unparalleled. He spent nearly as much time talking, swearing and joking around with the crowd as he did singing. When he closed with “Someone You Loved,” emotion in the room ran high.  This is the song which drew so many of us into the show. Its why we became fans. To sing along the chorus with thousands of people was pretty cool. Lewis played pretty much his entire debut album, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent. In unusual fashion, confetti was released several times throughout the show. A nice surprise!

Seeing Lewis Capaldi live, was absolutely incredible. It may only be the 3rd of January but I find it hard to consider anyone else knocking Lewis out of my #1 Show of 2020 position. If given the opportunity, this show is not one to be missed.

Check out Wendy Robinson’s gallery of the Sydney show here

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