Edinburgh music review: Not even vocal concerns can stop Lewis Capaldi on his monumental rise to the top

Hometown hero Lewis Capaldi returned to the Capital last night to play his first show in the city since August’s Summer Sessions.

Selling out the Usher Hall in minutes earlier this year, it was clear that they had been waiting for the gig in anticipation since that moment.

There were fears earlier this week that the end of his UK tour would be axed due to vocal troubles but at 9pm the lights went down as scheduled and Capaldi’s voice, if not slightly raspy, could be heard welcoming the audience over Spandau Ballet’s ‘True’.

Moments later the Usher Hall erupted into cheers as the singer, clad casually in a black and white striped jumper and jeans, took to the stage with his four man band, The Phantom Menace theme marching them on with confetti cannons blasting.

The singer-songwriter played to a sold out show in the Capital last night

Despite the vocal troubles, five days on bed rest had clearly done Capaldi well. He didn’t hold back opening the show as he belted out the first song on his debut album, ‘Grace’, followed by a heartfelt rendition of ‘Forever’.

And Capaldi didn’t disappoint in bringing the dry Scottish humour that his loyal audience know and love.

“Well that was a sh*te way to start a show, eh?” He spoke, voice still in tact, “Thank you for selling this big lovely b*stard out - I love when shows like this sell out, cause I know I’m going to make some money!”

Despite vocal concerns earlier this week, the singer was back in action

He’s ‘only joking’, but ‘not really’ - everyone here has paid around £30 a head.

His character shone through as he singled out his parents in the crowd - having the crowd cheer them on for ‘creating’ him and comedically played out a telephone conversation with his music label about ‘rinsing’ fans as much as they could with his new extended play.

The crowd laugh along with his jokes throughout, like a concert come comedy show, and while there are over 2000 people watching him it felt intimate and personal - like banter with your mate in a pub, authenticity and gratefulness throughout.

The sell out show was a mix of music and Scottish humour

His 12 song set featured favourites ‘Bruises’, ‘Hollywood’ and his latest from the extended play album, ‘Before You Go’.

While he closed the show in his final two songs, a fracas broke out in the Grand Circle. Upon noticing Capaldi halted the show mid-song while security broke up the fight, calling the participants out on ruining it for everyone else.

The scuffle went on for around five minutes as the crowd turned their attention, booing the culprits out and once it was over, Capaldi made light of the situation.

“How can you come to a Lewis Capaldi gig and have a fight?” He joked, “We come here to sing sad songs and that’s it.”

Not letting it ruin the atmosphere, much to fans delight he restarted ‘Hold Me While You Wait’ closing the show spectacularly with an epic singalong to his charttopping hit ‘Someone You Loved’.

While 2019 has given Capaldi, now a Grammy nominee, a monumental rise to the top of the music industry he has made the journey look entirely normal and hasn’t lost touch at all with his hometown roots.

5 out of 5 stars