Combining his trademark humour with heartbreaking ballads, the enchanted audience was captured by the journey through his discography: old, new and unreleased.
The first of two openers, Aaron Rowe, performed an acoustic guitar-driven set of soulful ballads.
Joined onstage by fellow Irishman and musician J C Stewart on keyboard, the pair performed their recent co-written single ‘Lose Lose’ as well as an unreleased track written “three nights ago on the bus”.
Despite performing in front of the stage curtain, with no screen projection, Rowe captured the ever-growing audience with his passionate vocals and chatty on-stage persona. Closing with his first single, Rowe’s rendition of ‘Hey Ma’, a reflection on homesickness and moving to London, was even more touching with his family in the audience.
Skye Newman opened the set with her 2025 release ‘Hairdresser’, the audience singing along: “You only want me when you need me”, as Newman walked the length of the stage waving at the audience. For those unfamiliar with her music, she bared her heart and soul with introspective storytelling in ‘Out Out’ and ‘Smoke Rings’, stunning with her powerhouse vocals. Declaring Birmingham one of her “favourites so far”, she closed with “the song that got [her] here”, ‘Family Matters’.
An extended band introduction preceded the highly anticipated arrival of Lewis Capaldi onstage, as he broke into ‘Survive’, accompanied by a word-perfect audience chorus, the perfect opener for his comeback tour. Saving conversation for later in the set, ‘Grace’ was followed by ‘Heavenly State of Mind’, only interrupted by a quick “how are we all getting on this evening?”. Soon the audience was waving in unison for heartbreaking ‘Forever’; “Darling, nobody said that it would last forever / That doesn't mean we didn't try to get there”.
After an atmosphere-cutting interruption by a hand-made X-rated t-shirt thrown on stage, Capaldi bemusedly responded, “It’s been a while since someone’s thrown a t-shirt on stage asking me to reveal myself”. He continued by ensuring he correctly pronounced Birmingham, much to the sold-out audience’s delight, and naming local landmarks, “The Bullring? That is in Birmingham?”. Promising “loads of ballads”, he invited the audience to “let loose and have a good time”. Accepting it was an unusual request to “shake your hips” to his heartbreaking discography, he performed crowd favourites ‘Wish You The Best’ and ‘Love The Hell Out Of You’. Later, wristbands lit up the arena as confetti fell onto the audience in his latest release, ‘Something In The Heavens’, fans scrambling for pieces printed with lyrics in Capaldi’s handwriting.
One of the industry’s most personal lyricists, his comical humour and ability to not take himself too seriously were spotlighted by his introduction to unreleased track ‘Almost’, “this is the prime time to go for a piss or a shit. Don’t worry if you don’t like this, it’s just my life’s work”. Promising to “release as much music as [he] can over the next few months”, later in the set he performed ‘The Day That I Die’, written about the lowest moments in his life at the start of his time off; “Just as the sun will rise / and the sun will set / I will love you just the same from somewhere different”. Followed by 2019’s equally heart-wrenching, ‘Before You Go’, there was not a dry eye in the arena.
Ruining the surprise of his own encore, Capaldi promised to return after “leaving for five minutes”, coming back onstage alone for an acoustic rendition of ‘How I’m Feeling Now’. Now with the full band, ‘Hold Me While You Wait’ led to a massive round of applause, cut off only by Lewis commenting, “This has been incredible, I can’t thank you all enough”. Spotting a fan in the crowd who had already been to eight gigs, Capaldi dedicated ‘Someone You Loved’ to Tina.
An artist unafraid of doing it differently, the show ended not with pyro or confetti canons, but Lewis Capaldi stood alone on stage, singing the final chorus a cappella as the audience sang their hearts out, as he promised to see everyone “very soon”.
Maisy Neale
Images: Finn Delisle
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