Part music, part comedy act, the most unlikely pop star thrills a sold out Leeds Arena on the first date of his UK tour.

Review and Photos By John Hayhurst

I’ve seen the rise and rise of Lewis Capaldi from way back, when he first came to the city and played a packed Oporto, since then he has played in all key venues in Leeds and tonight the biggest indoor arena is completely sold out. They are literally hanging from the rafters here to get a glimpse of him on this the first night of a massive sold out tour of the UK.

The attraction of Capaldi is not what you would normally expect for a chart topping, multi platinum selling pop star, in fact he could easily do an hour of stand up comedy in a local club, he’s no cool haircut, latest fashion, dancer. In fact quite the opposite, a little on the heavy side and his hair is unkempt and he and the band are wearing these white baggy suits that must have been on sale at Kirkgate Market. He is one of us though, and still has that “I can’t believe I’m still getting to do this” charm. He chose to start his tour in Leeds, a city he loves, and he is very quick to point out that Leeds and Bristol are his 2 favourite English cities.

However before all that shenanighans we have Raye, and what a talent she is, after her former record company crapped on her from a huge height by refusing to release her album, most critics would have espected her to have dissappeared by now, but no, she is a fighter and a great songwriter too. This is now Raye ‘reborn’, she’s still only 25 so plenty of time for the British public to suddenly realise what we have got on our hands here. She opens her set with a few acoustic numbers at the piano before being joined by her band, proper soul vocals from an immense talent. Ending with club anthem ‘Escapism’ this was very brave of Capaldi to have her on tour as Raye will probably be doing her own arena tour in the next 5 years, and I made a note to catch her solo tour later this year.

The stage is set with a huge backdrop screen which is raised up above the stage revealing the band who are on a platform behind. Capaldi walks out to a huge cheer and is straight in to ‘Forget Me’ a massive burst of confetti cover the front rows and then rebounds back on Lewis who starts to laugh and cough while trying to sing ‘Forever’. With that done he is able to speak to the audience and from that point on its a fun packed 14 song setlist that is actually over too soon.

Various things are thrown on stage and Capaldi tries a bra for size and a pair of large knickers, every song he seemed eternally grateful for the fans who bought it and gave him yet another No1 to add to his expanding list. “Thanks for making that last song number one, and thank you very much for welcoming me back with open arms.”

‘Aside from the sentiments and the comedy, he has a knack of writing some great ballad tunes and a voice that sounds much older than his 26 years. We do get the honour of being the first to hear several new tracks from the recent album ‘Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent’ and these all fit nicely into a setlist that incorporates the earlier hits like ‘Grace’ and Hold Me While You Wait’. Leaving the massive breakthru song ‘Someone You Loved’ right to the end.

There appears to be no end to Lewis Capaldi’s rising star trail and I fully expect the next venue in Leeds on his list to be Roundhay Park as he has already played there as support to Ed Sheerhan a couple of years before. It won’t be long before he is held in the same regard as Sheerhan, but at least it will be a damn site funnier ride in the process.