It’s 20 minutes in before we get our first Lewis Capaldi Moment. A young fan makes herself heard from within the packed crowd inside Christchurch’s Wolfbrook Arena — it’s her birthday. “Young” isn’t guesswork — she’s turning 20, she tells Capaldi.
“20? It’s only downhill from here,” the Scottish singer quips, grasping the mic like a seasoned comic veteran. He looks up left and right to those in the seated sections, drolly sighing like a man much older than 29. “Well, happy birthday,” he hastens to say. “Is anyone else celebrating a birthday?”
Capaldi — Glasgow-born, West Lothian-raised — is a fine pop star, a very good pop star, but what makes him a standout star in a crowded market is his everyman persona, though “persona” would be doing him a huge disservice. There is nothing outer about this man — what you see is what you get, which is what has made him perhaps the biggest male singer-songwriter — sans a red-headed chap from England – of his generation.
Because that aforementioned exchange with the young fan, you feel, would have played out differently — less friendly, less jovially — with almost any other pop star. A quick “happy birthday” shout, probably; feigned interest, almost certainly.
Whether he’s delighting unsuspecting American actors on The Graham Norton Show (his clip reel from the late-night institution is alluringly titled “Lewis Capaldi being pure chaos for five minutes”) or chatting with fans at a show, Capaldi is always himself.
Credit: @angelodamiaophotography
Put it down to his Scottishness, put it down to whatever you want, but Capaldi is peerless in pop right now because there’s such an endearing lack of pretension to what he does. He writes “Bruises”, one of the most aching ballads of the last 10 years, but he never makes it sound like it was a preternatural songwriting gift. It’s just what he does.
To only talk of Capaldi’s personality would also do him a disservice because his voice is a thunderous instrument. He carries the most soporific of piano ballads with gusto and integrity, his vocals reaching to the outer regions of the Wolfbrook Arena. His voice trembles and emotes and belts and croons, depending on the song.
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And when it briefly falters, as it does during “Bruises”, the thousands-strong crowd is there to support him. “There must be something in the water / ‘Cause everyday it’s getting colder / And if only I could hold you / You’d keep my head from going under,” they sing in perfect unison, the words layered with meaning. Who’d be a pop star, you’re often left thinking, but in a moment like that? Man, it must feel cathartic as all hell.
Catharsis powers the entirety of Capaldi’s set. It’s trite to describe a pop star’s journey as being laden with emotion, but in Capaldi’s case it rings true.
By now everyone knows what happened: at Glastonbury in 2023, he lost his voice during a tortured spell of Tourette syndrome, struggling to finish his set. The crowd picked him up, as they always do, helping him to finish “Someone You Loved” in heartfelt support.
Capaldi stepped away from the live circuit, rightly focusing on his health, which is what made his Glastonbury comeback earlier this year (“my name is Lewis Capaldi and I’m fucking back, baby,” he shouted) and the first show of his New Zealand and Australian tour so special.
He was initially due to tour on these shores in 2023, before he took his break from music, and he apologises to the Christchurch crowd for making them wait so long. He’s only returned stronger, though. “Now I’m in the best form of my life — I feel amazing,” he tells everyone. “There was a time when I didn’t think this would be possible…. tonight is going as well as it possibly could.
“It’s good to be here… I’ve been dying to come back. And we’re here, we’re back, it feels good, we’re excited.”
You see it in his eyes: when the big screens zone in on Capaldi’s face, it often catches him looking at the crowd, taking it all in, lost in a little disbelief and definitely a lot of gratitude.
The comeback story is just as much part of his everyman persona as anything else: in another age, even in a very recent decade, a pop star at his level would have struggled through their health issues, touring the world at great cost. But it’s Capaldi’s sincere openness and vulnerability that mark him as the sort of pop star this generation needs.
Here’s hoping it won’t be too long before pop’s everyman returns to New Zealand.
Ticket information for Lewis Capaldi’s remaining New Zealand and Australia tour dates is available via secretsounds.com.
