It was a drizzly evening over Manchester last night, but it didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits as Sounds of the City kicked off its first night at Castlefield Bowl with Lewis Capaldi. It’s the second time Scotland’s sweetheart has serenaded a Manchester audience with his sad songs this month, after a stellar set at Parklife.
Kicking things off was singer songwriter Emie Nathan, who released her debut EP in November. The young female artist has fewer than 10 songs in her Spotify back catalogue, but clearly made a good impression on Capaldi when he showed up to one of her gigs in January and asked her to support him on a few shows for the upcoming tour.
Much of her music written during the Covid lockdowns, the newcomer’s lyrics are a rollercoaster of emotions with an infectious pop track, making it easy to see why Lewis asked the London-based artist to be the one to open the show and set the tone for the evening.
Part-way through the set with just one or two songs to go, Emie Nathan and the band made the decision to head off stage after spotting an incident that required medical staff in the crowd. It was the first of a number of stop-starts throughout the night, but it appears things were dealt with swiftly for fans to continue enjoying the discovery of a fresh artist to add to their playlists.
Following up was Canadian performer JP Saxe who, if you’ve not heard of him, is best known for his collaboration with American singer Julia Michaels on ‘If The World Was Ending’. Released in 2019 before the pandemic, the song skyrocketed in popularity when it went viral on TikTok, later nominated for a 2021 Grammy.
His set saw a series of love and heartbreak songs such as A Few Things and Maybe Don’t, a track on which he collaborated with Maisie Peters, who had the headline spot on Ed Sheeran’s latest tour - including his four nights in Manchester.
He played a number of songs from his debut album, released last year, entitled Dangerous Levels of Introspection, which he joked was a ‘little pretentious’, though I’m sure Capaldi would agree that ‘Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent’ is on par.
JP Saxe - who is set to headline Academy 3 on July 23 - not only has the most beautiful, delicate vocals, but also switches between his keyboard and guitar, proving he’s not just a singer-songwriter who appears to have had his heart shattered more than once, but an extremely talented musician. It was almost a shame fans were so excited at the open air venue, because JP Saxe’s music lends itself better to a more intimate venue to allow fans to hang off his every word. That said, there was a moment of audience participation in ‘3 Minutes’ which saw fans shout a rather healing ‘f**k ‘em all’ to all the people that had ever hurt them in a relationship.
If one man knows how to make an entrance on stage, it’s Lewis Capaldi, opening with an audio compilation of radio snippets and created sound that nodded to the likes of Harry Styles with a ‘Lewis, we want to say goodnight to you’ before erupting into a version of Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), or should I saw Lewis is back, alright!
“Is he original?” heard a throng of screaming fans, with the same response to “is he the only one?”. But the biggest noise came when asked “Is he sexual?” - he grabbed the microphone and was absolutely milking the attention from the crowd, really getting the party started.
The Glaswegian singer-songwriter opened his set with Grace, a powerful and emotional song with a stunning chorus, setting off confetti cannons before going into Forever, Don’t Get Me Wrong and One, which lyrically is a much more melancholic and modern version of Christina Aguilera’s Fighter. He thanked the ‘one that got away’.
“We were supposed to have new music to play at these shows by now but I’m a lazy c**t,” he said. “So we’re just going to play you all the old s**t.”
In Lewis Capaldi, you get two entertainers for the price of one. One Lewis belts honest and poignant love songs to adoring fans while the other is a stand up comic and everyone is fair game, having banter with hecklers and those holding up banners.
The set continued with Hollywood, Hold Me While You Wait and Headspace and Maybe, bursting into fan favourite Bruises - and let me tell you there’s something spectacularly cathartic about 8,000 fans bellowing these lyrics into the pouring rain - something that certainly wasn’t lost on Lewis, who’s always remained humble about his rise to stardom.
A few of the tracks had to be paused while more fans were seen to in the crowd, and throughout the night Lewis continued to ask for assistance for fans when he felt it was needed, reminding ticket holders to ‘look after each other’.
A cover of Vanessa Carlton’s A Thousand Miles had fans dancing and I personally preferred it to the original. After that Lewis once again chatted with fans, leaving everyone in stitches with his goofy sense of humour. It’s the perfect juxtaposition for the 25-year-old’s somewhat sombre songs, lifting the mood and leaving everyone laughing between songs as he wandered up and down like a seasoned comedian.
He said it was great to be in the city of Manchester ‘home of great musicians’ and his ‘good friend Noel Gallagher’, who have put their former feud behind them, and sang happy birthday to ‘Jasmine’ in the audience, who was celebrating her 17th birthday at the concert - with which the whole of Castlefield joined in.
He finished the set with Leaving My Love Behind, Fade and Before You Go, telling the audience it was his ‘last song’ with a rather big sarcastic wink, thanking fans for ‘standing in the p***ing rain and listening to me sing sad songs’.
Of course, he was never going to leave without singing the Grammy-nominated piano ballad Someone You Loved, which peaked at number one in the singles charts and stayed there for seven weeks, and why it did so is undeniable. It’s a beautiful song full of emotion and sincerity, and Capaldi’s delivery is phenomenal.
Raw and relatable, Lewis Capaldi’s set Sounds of the City in the pouring rain at Castlefield Bowl was simply stunning, and we certainly hope to see the Scot back in the city with some new music soon.
Sounds of the City continues at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl tonight with Foals, followed by The Libertines, James, Pixies, Sam Fender, Hacienda Classical and Primal Scream.
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