Gig Review: Lewis Capaldi, Scala, London

Just over a week ago, I had the honour of being in the presence of a vocal genius. I was lucky to be one of the people at Lewis Capaldi’s sold out show at Scala in London.

Also note, his entire UK and Europe tour is sold out. 

His debut single Bruises came on as a ‘recommended for you’ during a playlist I was listening to on Spotify last November. From the first listen, I had to find out who owned this voice.

Turns out it was a 20-something Scottish guy. And after some research, I can confirm that he is 21 (only five months older than myself) who only had four songs released on Spotify.

Those four songs then became imprinted in my brain after a week of being on repeat.

Once I had listened a few times, I Googled to see if he was playing in London anytime soon. There was a show in December that was already sold out, but then his UK tour was happening in February.

I bought the ticket for £12.50. I’m going to give it two years before he’s selling out arenas and tickets won’t be less than £40. Guaranteed.

And I know he’d be worth every penny.

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Who is Lewis Capaldi?

If I had to compare him to anyone to give you a feel for the kind of artist he is, it would be James Arthur.

I was a major James Arthur advocate (still am) back during his X Factor days and still remember when I watched his first audition. The rawness of his voice, and the emotion that came through so strongly clicked with me and to this day, still makes my stomach knot.

That’s kind of what Lewis Capaldi’s voice is like. It’s raw, controlled, clear, full of emotion. It’s incredible.

Lewis has previously toured with both Rag n Bone Man and Milky Chance in Europe and America, and also became the first ever unsigned artist to reach 25 million plays on Spotify which led to his record deal with Virgin and Capitol Records.

Another thing you should know about Lewis Capaldi is that he’s humble. His little monologues between songs had everyone laughing and loving him even more.

He’s incredibly down to earth and (in my opinion) a very funny guy. He reminded me of Kevin Bridges, or maybe if Kevin Bridges had a kid.

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New Music from Lewis Capaldi

You’re probably thinking, how could he do a full show when he only has four songs? Covers? Absolutely not.

Lewis has a lot of new music coming and played a few for us that night. I recorded snippets of all of them, and can confirm that every one was as good as the other.

One that I really loved was called ‘Rush’. The lyrics, the raw voice, it just works. Luckily, this is Lewis’s next release, and came out on Thursday night.

Another, more uplifting song – yes he can do fast tempo – called ‘Grace’ was another favourite. I was a little afraid he was going to burst into a rendition of Grace (an Irish song) and didn’t know how well that would go down in London, but it was another song of the name and just as great.

After listening to the same four songs for the past few months, the world is in desperate need of new music from Lewis.

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Spotify’s Little Secret

I love discovering relatively unknown artists and sharing their music with my friends, telling them to go and listen.

It’s like this musician is your little secret and they’re not mainstream or commercialised so you can listen and enjoy it but no one else knows who they are. Yes, I’m weird. I know.

But for artists like Lewis Capaldi who are clearly so talented, you want the world and their sister to know all about them and listen because the whole world and their sister deserves to be graced by this voice.

But then people like Niall Horan (of One Direction fame) comes along and starts to shout about Lewis on his Instagram and then it’s like a kick in the stomach because your little music secret is out there for all the teeny bopper fans to get on a bandwagon all because Niall Horan think he’s great, so they think he’s great too. No fair.

Of course it’s great for Lewis publicity wise, as Niall Horan has 20 million followers, but it’s just annoying is all.

Recently I’ve been seeing a few people on my Instagram listening to Lewis Capaldi and when I see that, I think ‘YES!’ – they’re getting on that hype, he’s growing. This feels more organic than seeing above One Direction star putting Lewis on a pedestal.

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Watch this Space for Lewis Capaldi

I really hope there are big things to come for Lewis Capaldi this year. I mean he has a sold out UK and Europe tour this month and he only released his debut EP a few months ago.

That’s a pretty good sign.

But with Lewis, you know that when you pay for a ticket to his gig, he’s not going to disappoint. His voice is something else. It’s raw. It’s emotional.

However, if you’re expecting to go to his gig and come out feeling uplifted or ready to sing and dance through the streets, eh, you won’t. His opening line went something like ‘let’s get depressed together’.

His songs are great. But they’re sad. Sad, but beautiful.

All talent deserves recognition. And when you have a talent like Lewis Capaldi has, it needs recognition and then some. I really do hope the world hears Lewis Capaldi and connects the way I and so many others have.

There’s great things to come for him, and I can’t wait to go along with his journey and watch him make the big time.

If you listen to anything today, listen to him. It might just change your life.

After I had written this post, Lewis announced that he will be one of the support acts on Sam Smith’s next UK and European tour beginning next month. How amazing is that?!? 

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