Lewis Capaldi - OVO Hydro 24th January 2023

"Ooooohhhh Lewis Capaaaaaaalllldiiii"........

It was a winters Tuesday evening and it was a homecoming concert for Scotlands biggest star at the OVO Hydro, but before the review commences, I would like to share a little story about something that happened back in yesteryear.

It was the summer of 2015, I was covering a festival called Electric Fields in Dumfries and Galloway for a publisher called Ravechild, I just watched Root System, a personal favourite from Scotlands unsigned scene and the next act that I planned to cover wasnt due to start until an hour later at the main stage, I thought "this guitarist is on at the smaller stage in 15 minutes, I’ll just hang about here and catch him".

15 minutes later, a then 19 year old guitarist came onto the stage, and that guitarist was none other than Lewis Capaldi, as he started to play his set in front of preciously 20 people.

Fast forward to today, Capaldi is now a worldwide phenomenon, playing in front of 40,000 at TRNSMT, winning BRIT Awards, scoring 4 UK number 1s and topping the US Billboard with his smash hit “Someone you Loved”, not to mention 1 billion streams on Spotify.

He isn’t just popular because of his song writing, he is particularly known for his sense of humour, one thing that sticks to mind was that after his concert at O2 Academy in 2019, he hosted an after-party at a Greggs bakery shop in Argyle Street, where an actual DJ was playing and guests were treated to free sausage rolls and steak bakes. He even runs his own pizza range, entitled “Big Sexy Pizza”, which I found absolutely ridiculous but very amusing at the same time.

That’s what I like about Capaldi, he doesn’t take global stardom too seriously, he is hilarious and he sweeps away his haters. "Im not Mr Serious” he once said in an interview “how can you be Mr Serious if you look like Meatloaf? and Im not talking about the singer", that is Capaldi in a nutshell, “I’m a celebrity, so what?”.


The gig was held at the OVO Hydro, photo by Stewart Fullerton.

The 13,000 capacity Hydro was sold out on Tuesday, but Glasgow hit a snag as a major watermain burst in Milngavie, leaving most of the west end of the city without any water, most pubs in the area were forced to close but the Capaldi gig was going ahead as planned, albeit with most radio stations advising motorists what routes to avoid while travelling to the gig.

Everybody was psyched for the show, and it was British musician Raye that provided support on the night, it was then time for the main event, Capaldi raised the roof and the venue was alight with phone lights, the confetti shot as the singer began with Forget Me, “Ooooh Lewis Capaaaallldiiiii....” sang the crowd in White Stripes 7 Nation Army style.

After “Forever” was played Capaldi got into a long conversation with the audience, “Thank you for selling out the Hydro Glasgow, thank you for your hard earned dosh” he said in a humourous way, the jokes all came, including many sexual ones despite assuming that children may be in the crowd.


Lewis Capaldi at OVO Hydro, photo by Stewart Fullerton.

Lewis then got on the serious side (albeit still trying to put a bit of humour in it) and told the crowd about health and safety, as many incidents happened at his previous gigs, apparently 10 people fainted at his Aberdeen show and a fight broke out at his Manchester gig forcing it to stop for a while, at the end he plead to the crowd to seek medical help if they feel ill, and said “no fighting!”, the audience did listen to him as they were all well behaved on the night, with no major incidents whatsoever.

Capaldi then continued the set with Lost On You as well as one of his new songs from his upcoming album, Heavenly Kind Of State Of Mind, then eventually a remix of Fade.

Lewis then continued with the jokes, even saying something about “fanny juice”, before performing a song called Before you Go, which was a song dedicated to his late aunt, he said “I was talking about fanny juice then Im now talking about my aunt??, well, she loved her juice though”.


Lewis Capaldi at OVO Hydro, photo by Stewart Fullerton.

He thanked the crowd once more for selling out the Hydro, that he has joined a few of his fellow Scottish acts who have sold out the venue, “just like Paolo Nutini” Capaldi said... “Well, Ive got a bigger willy than him” he concluded which humoured the crowd, “Umm, no Im only joking I dont have a bigger willy than him.... wait, I DONT KNOW!!” he stressed, the crowd was crying with laughter at this point.

The stage went dark as Capaldi climbed the stairs on the set to a piano, and Bruises was played, “man Ive got shampoo on my eyes and it fucking stings” he complained, “how does Stevie Wonder cope?”. Another new song was then played, Wish You The Best as he came down the stairs.

“Aiden, I didnt approve of this song” said Capaldi as apparently Rocket Man by Elton John was on the set list, “someones fired tomorrow” he joked.

The songs Grace and Leave me Slowly followed, he also dedicated the song “Pointless” to people born in the 1980s as the crowd sang along.


Lewis Capaldi at OVO Hydro, photo by Stewart Fullerton.

“Ive got one more song troops” said Lewis, “this will be the only gig where I do not play my smash hit”, the crowd was booing albeit in a sarcastic way, but after a pause he said “No Im just kidding, Ill do this song, go for a pee and come back” as the crowd cheered. Hold Me While You Wait was played and Capaldi went to do his business.

He came back to thank the crowd once again for selling out Scotlands premier music venue and that it means a lot to him (even though he jokes a lot). He then performed a more personal song of his, one that he wrote it back when he was living with his parents and when he was prone to panic attacks, “I was pretty low at the time” he said, as he performed “How Im Feeling Now”.

He showed and hugged a Scotland flag as the crowd cheered, the last song was of course the song that made him, the song that spread Capaldi Mania throughout the world, and that was Someone You Loved.

“I love you so much” he said to the crowd, as the gig concluded.

It is clear as day why this man is a superstar, he can sing thats for sure, everybody left home happy and jolly, not a single incident to report despite what happened at his previous gigs, the crowd had a ball on the night.

He has sure come a long way since that fateful day at Electric Fields 8 years ago.

Capaldi continues his tour at Birmingham, Nottingham, Belfast, Cardiff and Exeter, before heading out to Europe, then North America later this year.

You can view a full photo gallery of the gig by clicking the link below.

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Review and Photography by Stewart Fullerton.

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