Concert Review: Lewis Capaldi Has Jokes for Boston
“I don’t do it for the money everybody,” Lewis Capaldi remarked to a packed crowd at MGM Music Hall at Fenway on April 10.“I don’t do it for the money everybody,” Lewis Capaldi remarked to a packed crowd at MGM Music Hall at Fenway on April 10. “I do it for the fame and the ladies.”
It was the first of many jokes that the Scottish singer-songwriter cracked onstage after kicking off the show with a rousing rendition of his hit song “Forget Me,” the lead single off of his upcoming album “Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent.” While the singer is known for his catalog of heart-wrenching breakup ballads, the atmosphere inside the music hall was far from somber. When the audience wasn’t belting along to the singer’s many hits, an infectious laughter filled the venue as Capaldi waded through a set that was part concert, part comedy show.
The show was brief — just 13 songs — but Capaldi made each track count, taking the audience on journeys of heartbreak, love, loss, and disappointment through a combination of gritty belting and tepid crooning. The singer switched between playing a guitar at center stage and walking around to interact with fans in the audience during performances of “Forever,” “Lost on You,” and “Fade,” — B-sides from his first album “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent.”
Onstage, Capaldi is far from your average 26-year-old pop singer. In contrast to the star’s contemporaries, who go viral on TikTok for the carefully crafted outfits they debut on stage each night, Capaldi took the stage clad in baggy jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt. Paired with his trademark self-deprecating humor, it’s easy to imagine that Capaldi could be any average Joe plucked off the street. Yet with the first notes of each new song, there was a tangible shift among the audience as lagging conversations abruptly stalled, silence fell over the crowd, and all eyes turned their focus toward the stage.
Capaldi hit his stride on the back half of the set as he took listers through his biggest hits to date. He kicked off the section with a rousing rendition of his second biggest hit, “Before You Go.” Inspired by the emotional turmoil Capaldi witnessed both in himself and his family members in the wake of his aunt’s suicide, “Before You Go” is a dark reflection on the helplessness and regret felt by the loved ones she left behind.
Somehow even while discussing heavy topics like depression and suicide, Capaldi found a way to keep the mood light.
“She was a nice lady, but sometimes she was a real bitch,” Capaldi remarked before thanking his aunt for the money he’d made off the smash hit.
Capaldi then switched gears sitting at a piano for a stripped back performance of “Bruises,” the first track the singer ever released. Backed by little more than sparse piano chords, Capaldi showed off the powerhouse vocals that have propelled him to global stardom, embracing the raw grit demanded by the breakup song's soaring chorus.
Before moving to his next song — the slightly more upbeat “Grace” — Capaldi again proved his comedy chops, revealing that the piano he sat at was actually fake.
“I can’t even play the instrument,” the singer remarked as “Für Elise” began to play from offstage.
While some artists spend their sets winning over the audience, that wasn’t the case with Capaldi: He had fans enraptured from the beginning. Both on stage and in his recent Netflix documentary, “Lewis Capaldi: How I'm Feeling Now,” the star discussed his experience with Tourette Syndrome, explaining how his tics manifested onstage through coughs, twitches, and shrugs. Capaldi has gone viral several times in recent months as fans have stepped in to finish singing his hits when the singer was unable to do so.
At his Boston show, fans stepped in to finish the final chorus of “How I’m Feeling Now,” after the singer was unable to continue singing. The track is the strongest showing yet from his upcoming sophomore album, encapsulating both Capaldi’s rich vocals and plucky personality which can otherwise exist in opposition to each other. In perfectly capturing Capaldi’s dueling identities, the introspective and self-conscious track is a raw and powerful reflection on success, happiness, and doubt that feels particularly authentic.
Going out on top, Capaldi finished the show with a performance of “Someone You Loved,” finally giving the audience the moment many had been waiting for all night. Capaldi let the audience lead, taking in the energy and adoration as every audience member belted out “Now the day bleeds / Into nightfall / And you're not here / To get me through it all.”
While Capaldi’s set was short and sweet, fans didn’t seem to mind. Having heard the singer’s best tracks and best jokes, Capaldi ensured that fans left smiling despite his heartbreak heavy discography.
— Staff writer Jen A. Hughes can be reached at jen.hughes@thecrimson.com. You can also find her on Twitter @Jenhughes_ .