Lewis Capaldi took to the stage today (June 24) for his set on the Pyramid Stage Glastonbury Festival but at one point, struggled with his voice.
The singer released a statement on June 5 explaining that the last few months have been a lot for him and that it had taken a toll on him “both mentally and physically”.
“This is a really difficult message and one that hurts me a lot to have to type, but I’m really sorry to say that I’m going to have to cancel all commitments from now until I play Glastonbury on June 24th,” Capaldi wrote.
“It’s been such an incredible time leading into this new album, and seeing all of the support from everyone has been beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of,” he added. “That said, the last few months have been full on both mentally and physically, I haven’t been home properly since Christmas and at the moment I’m struggling to get to grips with it all.”
He continued: “I need to take a moment to rest and recover, to be at my best and ready for Glastonbury and all of the other incredible shows coming up so that I’m able to continue doing what I love for a long time to come. I need to take these three weeks to be Lewis from Glasgow for a bit, spend some time with my family and friends and do normal life things that are an important part of me feeling better. I hope everyone understands.”
During the set, Capaldi struggled with his voice several times. “My voice is going big time,” he said mid-set. “It’s really fucking packing in.”
He’d already asked the audience for help during some songs but managed to power through and sing most of the songs on the set.
He also addressed his recent break. “I recently took a few weeks off because of mental health and stuff…I wanted to come back and do Glastonbury because it’s always so incredible.
He went on to say that his break is likely to be extended until the end of the year.
“I feel like I’m going to take a few weeks off [after this] so you probably won’t see me until the end of the year,” he continued.
As he started to play ‘Someone You Loved’, he struggled with his voice once more but the crowd sung the song back to him before the set ended.
You can see the set list in full here:
‘Forget Me’
‘Forever’
‘Pointless’
‘Heavenly Kind of State of Mind’
‘Before You Go’
‘Bruises’
‘Wish You the Best’
‘Hold Me While You Wait’
‘Someone You Loved’
Elsewhere in his set, Capaldi did a brief snippet of ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’, leading the audience in a singalong.
He also got, in what many are saying is a Glastonbury first, a flyover from the Red Arrows.
Elsewhere at Glastonbury today, Oscar-winning actor Tilda Swinton joined Max Richter on stage – but a man attempted to interrupt their set with a naked protest.
The Park stage saw another movie star collaboration yesterday (June 23), with Cate Blanchett appearing with Sparks during their early evening set.
Yesterday was closed with a stellar headline set from Arctic Monkeys, as well as a surprise set from Foo Fighters appearing under the moniker The Churnups.
Glastonbury continues today with performances from Guns N’ Roses, Lizzo, Lana Del Rey, Manic Street Preachers, Måneskin and more. There will also be a number of secret sets, including The Pretenders (with a number of special guests) and Blossoms and Rick Astley performing a set of Smiths covers.
Check out all the latest from Glastonbury 2023 on the NME liveblog here, and see more news, reviews, photos, interviews and more here.
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