As the lights go down, ABERDEEN flashes up in bright neon on the screen above a gigantic box concealing Scotland’s favourite singer, and the thousands in the crowd hold their breath in anticipation, you know Lewis Capaldi is back at P&J Live.
Looking down from what was probably the slightly more mature, and definitely minimally-seated balcony section to the glowing sea of ecstatic fans, you couldn’t help but feel you were back to the giddy heights of teenage obsession waiting for the heartthrob that adorned your bedroom in wall-to-wall posters to appear.
Then appears Lewis through a cloud of smoke and beaming, 80’s style light, and the crowd go wild. Not quite as heartthrob-like… and definitely with much more adult language from the off, but the trepidation is the same.
Goosebumps as Lewis Capaldi opened P&J Live gig with Forget Me
Opening with recent hit Forget Me, it was almost impossible to hear his pitch-perfect tones above the roar of the audience almost out-doing him with a sing-a-long. It had so much vigor it almost blew Capaldi to the back of his immaculately-designed set.
It’s not often that I get goosebumps hearing the opening song of a set like this, but this was definitely one of those times.
Two songs in though, I started to wonder if I was at a stand-up comedy night, or a gig with one of the best-known singers in the world, as he stopped and chatted, rather expletively, with the front row in the typical Scottish banter that only a Glaswegian can get away with.
He also revealed that just before coming on stage, he was told that this was the biggest indoor concert in Scottish history. Looking at the bouncing audience I don’t doubt that for a second.
Before we knew it, banner-waving Tasha and Kerry were given the opportunity that thousands could only have dreamed of; to get up on the stage and be granted the “Gis a bosie” request that their home-made towel artwork had requested.
The ecstatic young lassies got the moment of fame that they, and probably everyone they know, will never forget.
Fans were fainting in the front rows of Lewis Capaldi at P&J Live
With a head-to-toe white outfitted band, matching his own signature style, Capaldi bashed through a back-catalogue of chart-topping fan favourites.
It was interspersed with guaranteed future classics from the new album, about which the man himself, in typically self-deprecating style, joked “I know, who does that?” – in possibly the least arrogant way I’ve ever seen a bona fide star such as him get away with.
Absolutely howling at his down-to-earth, and outright mickey-taking patter with the crowd in-between every couple of perfectly performed songs, there were moments of forgetting the completely gargantuan stardom of the singer.
Cementing his status as a legend is the fact he flat-out refused to go on with his set until the literally fainting fans in the rows closer to the front received the medical attention that they needed. His genuine care and concern for those that were there to worship him is not something that will go unnoticed.
It was in moments like that, you couldn’t help but be reminded that Lewis is just a normal Scottish bloke, without an air of pretension, that is extremely grateful for where he is today.
Lewis Capaldi is one of the most talented – and bonkers – in UK music
Back to the music though, careering through belters like Grace and Before you go, we were also reminded that the man on stage who refers to himself as the guy who is full of, well, I won’t repeat it, is actually one of the most talented, and quite bonkers, individuals on the UK music scene right now.
Finishing the show with another new track entitled How I’m Feeling Now, which he introduced as being a song all about mental health, a few lines in he stalled, and in a moment of complete honesty, admitted the cock-up, and put it down to his recently revealed Tourette’s syndrome.
Did this stop him? Absolutely not. One do-over later and the thousands large crowd were swaying shoulder to shoulder in a moment of solidarity for the fact that we are all human, and that nobody is perfect.
There were tears, there were goosebumps, and there were moments when we weren’t quite sure if we were going to make it to the bathroom on time because he’s just that funny.
We love you Lewis. Come back any time.
GALLERY: Lewis Capaldi was Someone You Loved at Aberdeen’s P&J Live
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