By Jacob Pellegrino
Lewis Capaldi recently finished a US tour in advance of his upcoming album, “Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent.” Capaldi’s 2019 debut album, “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent,” comprises emotional ballads that primarily address lost love and the dissolution of relationships. While his music is often drenched in melancholia, Capaldi’s public image and stage presence embraces direct and honest humor. This contrast, along with the quality of musical performance, makes for an engaging show that had the audience laughing, crying, and singing along.
The show began with opener Medium Build. They played a short set with a lot of humorous interjections. The lead singer began with a long white wig that complemented their often silly persona. Medium Build’s opening set and overall attitude was a great pairing for Lewis Capaldi.
After a short break, Lewis Capaldi came out onto the stage with his band. He began the show with “Forget Me,” a single from his upcoming album. The set as a whole, primarily consisted of tracks from “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent” with some of the singles from “Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent.” Touring in advance of his album release is an interesting strategy, but it worked really nicely here. The show made me even more excited for his sophomore release.
Capaldi’s trademark sense of humor helped to make him an engaging live performer, regularly talking to the crowd. Beginning the show, he claimed to the packed room that “at least 100 people here will leave disappointed… there will be no f—ing refunds.” I would be surprised if anyone left disappointed after the show that we saw. Capaldi’s vocals were great, sounding as good as on the studio recording throughout the night. His humorous quips provided a great lightness in contrast to his often heavy subject matter. For example, when introducing “Lost on You,” a song about letting someone go, Capaldi asked if there were any couples in the crowd before dedicating the song to “when you inevitably break up.”
One of the most emotional moments of the show was when Lewis Capaldi played “Wish You The Best” with its full music video playing in the background. The music video, which features the relationship between a dog and an old man, is well known for making people cry and the live version was no exception for much of the crowd.
In his most unhinged moment of humor, Capaldi hyped fans up that he had talked to Ed Sheeran, who co-wrote his new track “Pointless,” about performing with him. He recounted a lot of communications, building up excitement and cheering before letting the crowd know that Ed Sheeran could not, in fact, make it to the show to play with him. He quickly made up for the brief deception with a beautiful performance of the song.
As the show neared its end, Lewis Capaldi told the audience, “I have two songs left, and by that I mean: I’m going to stand just over there and I’m going to wait,” sardonically describing the encore process. The night ended with “Someone You Loved,” as the rapt crowd sang along with Capaldi. Through his combination of heartfelt lyrics and open humor, Lewis Capaldi won over the crowded Dallas venue with a memorable show.
His sophomore album will be released on May 19th.
