Lewis Capaldi closed out TRNSMT 2022 in reflective style - after opening up about his battle with anxiety and looking back over his meteoric rise to fame and global success as chronicled by Scotland’s biggest festival.
Ahead of playing a surprise cover of Abba hit Dancing Queen and megahit Someone You Loved as an encore, the 25-year-old told the crowd Sunday was “the best night of my ******* life” after two years of lockdown chaos.
He said: “I’ve been ******* myself about this for ages. We played some arena shows in February, March 2020 before everything kicked off and I found it very hard to perform them. It was the worst time of my life and I was having panic attacks on stage and stuff.
“To be able to come out here and enjoy doing this genuinely means the world. It’s been a wild few years.”
He added: “To get to headline this alongside someone I looked up to like Paolo Nutini is incredible. It’s ******* class.”
Earlier, before launching into crowd favourite Hold Me While You Wait, the 25-year-old took a moment to look back over his career through the stages he played at TRNSMT in years past.
He told an adoring crowd: “We have played this festival…this is our fourth year now, I believe. Last year was the only time I haven’t played the ******* thing.
“In 2017, we played the King Tuts stage. We were third on on the Sunday, then we opened the main stage in 2018 and were diabolical - and I thought that was it.
“We were asked in 2019 to open for George Ezra after Snow Patrol dropped out, and now here we are headlining the ******* thing. Just want to let the kids know out there, you can do it too.”
Grinning, he added: “You just need to be oozing absolute sex appeal but you can do it.”
Capaldi wowed the crowd with a cover of Vanessa Carlton’s piano hit A Thousand Miles, and took a moment out to wish tour manager Scott Smyth a happy 31st birthday - giving him a stirring rendition of Happy Birthday with the audience on backing vocals.
Never one to take himself entirely seriously, he poked fun at the live music tradition of “leaving” the stage only to return for an inevitable encore.
He joked with the audience: “I’ll give it the ‘thank you so much Glasgow, goodnight!’ and you give it the ‘Lewis! Lewis!’ - then I’ll literally just go behind this screen and then emerge like a butterfly from the cocoon to serenade you once more. Does that sound like a plan?”
As everyone cried with dismay before he launched into “finale” Before You Go, he added: “Thanks for playing your part. Never thought I’d headline a festival, never mind the biggest one in Scotland, so it really means a lot.“
The Scots singing sensation apologised repeatedly for not having any new tunes to play. He admitted: “I was supposed to have loads of new material for you but I am a lazy ****.”
Capaldi headlined the festival amid a strong line-up of both local and international talent. Scots acts like Paolo Nutini, Nina Nesbitt, Swim School and the Snuts rubbed shoulders with the likes of Jimmy Eat World, Wet Leg and Fontaines D.C. across three days at Glasgow Green.
However, day two of the festival was plagued with complaints after delays in the queues led to waits of more than three hours to get in. The issues meant fans missed early Saturday acts, and prompted calls for partial refunds to be issued.
Festival organisers are yet to say firmly whether refunds will be on the table. The Record has asked TRNSMT for comment.
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