On 11th July, music fans gathered in Hyde Park for the final weekend run of the festival, with Lewis Capaldi closing the 2026 BST Hyde Park shows with two sold-out back-to-back headlines. As the sun shone down, fans' excitement and hope rippled throughout the park as Capaldi became the England vs Norway World Cup match warm-up.
Kicking off the day, English actor and musician Sebastian Croft graced the Birdcage stage with his magnificent stage presence and heartbreak anthems. Croft briefly mentioned previously relationship tales linked to unreleased tracks he teased to the crowd. Croft had everyone's attention from beginning to end as fans gathered under the tree to dance and sing their hearts out. Opening the Great Oak stage was none other than British R&B singer-songwriter Absolutely, born into her talented family alongside popstar sisters Raye and Amma. She absolutely flourished on the stage with her powerful angelic vocals and charming personality. Absolutely mentions to the crowd how she’s introverted, so this is probably a crazy thing to be doing as an introverted individual.
Nieve Ella rocked the Rainbow Stage, giving the fans a taste of what this new Nieve Ella era entails. Ella gave a mixture of new, unreleased tracks and old bangers the fans know and love. Throughout her set, she encouraged crowd participation and kept new and old listeners engaged during her set. Ella’s confidence and stage presence don’t go unnoticed alongside her indescribable, crystal-clear vocals. It was obvious that Ella had built a strong fanbase as fans jumped, screamed and put all their energy into dancing and singing during the hottest peak of the day.
Jacob Alon entered the stage majestically, serenading the crowd with slow, graceful ballads, setting the perfect tone for the night. Fans swayed and fell in love with Alon and the environment he created across the park, amping up fans ahead of the music-filled night they are in for.
The Vaccines followed shortly after, bringing a soft rock and roll feel to the evening, creating a safe space for fans to experience their music in a way that fans can unapologetically be themselves and dance like no one is watching.
As the sun was slowly setting, fans darted from the Rainbow Stage after Nieve Ella’s set to catch American singer-songwriter Conan Gray, who closed The Great Oak stage ahead of Capaldi’s set. Gray had a set full of tracks off his latest album ‘Wishbone’ as well as old tracks fans love. The set began with ‘My World’, which immediately had fans dancing, singing and screaming, giving them a release of relief while they forgot about the outside world for the next hour.
A couple songs into Gray’s set he mentions “I would never normally sing this song at festivals as it’s so depressing but as we are at Lewis Capaldi i feel it’s okay to sing depressive songs, am i right?” which led into his family heartbreak anthem ‘Family Line’ throughout the festival it was clear fans were in for an emotional night as they screamed, cried and hugged their way through the song. As Gray's set came to a close, he sang his most well-known and loved tracks ‘Memories’, ‘Maniac’ and ‘Vodka Cranberry’; the excitement rippled across the crowd as fans were overwhelmed hearing their favourite tracks alongside their best friends, siblings, family and additional loved ones.
As the clock slowly approaches 8:45pm, fans eagerly await for Capaldi to hit the stage, marking a historic moment within his career. Then it was time, all lights switched off, projectors show an aerial view of the crowd and a melody intro plays as Capaldi slowly walks onto the stage singing ‘Hollywood’. Throughout the song, Capaldi was giggling in disbelief at what he was experiencing. This happened throughout his entire set, as he couldn’t believe this was happening.
Following shortly after, Capaldi breaks into ‘Grace’ and ‘Heavenly Kind Of State Of Mind’. At the end of ‘Grace’, Capaldi let the crowd sing in harmony while he soaked in every moment and experienced a togetherness and love he needed a few years ago when he thought he would never step on stage again. Following his opening song, Capaldi turns comedian and mentions how their is 60,000+ people attending, and it’s sold out, followed by “thank you for your money, appreciate that 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (as he jokingly works out his income) but no that's f*****g good” giggling trembled through the crowd while people played along with Capaldi’s sense of humor. “Everyone good, everyone happy? Don’t worry, I'll soon put a stop to that! I have 15 ballads to play for you.” Capaldi mentions, as he reminds everyone, how most of his catalogue is heartbreak, or sad tracks.
Halfway through, Capaldi mentioned his first single ‘Bruises’ came out March 31st 2017; he then went on to talk about another man who also released his first single March 31st 2017, leading to a surprise guest announcement. Fans begin to look confused, excited and questioning who could be the surprise guest while Capaldi hints and describes them as “That man has since gone on to do some incredible things / recently becoming the longest British number 1 of all time, sold out stadiums all over the world and most importantly, become a dear close friend of mine. Please welcome Sam Fender.” Fans cheer with excitement and shock as Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s track ‘Rein Me In’ begins to play. Fans jump, sing, dance and scream along with their friends, living in the moment throughout.
.jpg)
As the night comes to an end, Capaldi starts to get emotional and thanks everyone for attending once again. Followed by his thank-you speech, he goes into ‘Forget Me’ and reminds everyone, “I will be back in 5 minutes, you know how this goes”. Capaldi returns to the stage with just his guitar and performs a cover of ‘Have You Ever Seen the Rain?’ by Creedence Clearwater Revival, with fans of all generations singing and swaying along. Capaldi ended the night with ‘Survive’ and ‘Somebody You Loved’, which brought the festival to a beautiful and emotional close alongside fireworks.
BST Hyde Park ended the 2026 festival run on such a high note, a historic moment for Capaldi and many acts across the weekend and festival run this year. It’s been a beautiful experience to witness such incredible talent, and it proves BST put together their line ups very carefully to make sure all attendees can leave feeling fulfilled with new and old acts they come to love.
Chloe Ridgley
Image: Anastasiia Fursevych
If you enjoyed reading this article, please consider buying us a coffee. The money from this pot goes towards the ever-increasing yearly costs of running and hosting the site, and our "Writer Of The Month" cash prize.