Roman Kemp has said that he found friend Lewis Capaldi’s Glastonbury set “hard to watch”.
The Scottish singer performed at the Worthy Farm festival last weekend where he apologised to the crowd as he struggled with Tourette’s Syndrome tics during his Pyramid Stage performance.
He had previously cancelled three weeks of shows to rest and recover ahead of the festival, however one such attack came on as he performed his hit single Someone You Loved.
During his performance, Capaldi had several involuntary movements of his arms and head which caused his voice to falter.
The crowd rose to support him, however, with thousands singing the lyrics at the top of their lungs while he took some time to compose himself.
Following the performance, which the Before You Go hitmaker called a “s**t show” at the time, his close friend Kemp revealed how “proud” he was of him.
The Capital FM presenter said: “It was really hard to watch. It was really hard to watch. It was really, really sad.
“I’m proud of him. But I’m more proud that he’s decided to step away. Because it is lovely seeing him up there, and it’s lovely seeing the crowd doing it, but this is someone’s life.
“When I saw him doing that he stopped being Lewis Capaldi and I thought, hang on a minute. That’s my mate.”
He clarified to Metro: “And he’s not in a good way here. Not because of the visual thing of, ‘He’s got Tourette’s,’ but more you can see he’s struggling. And I know in his head he’ll be thinking, ‘F**k, this is my moment. It should have been different.’”
Prior to Glastonbury, Capaldi had pulled out of Capital Summertime Ball to give himself additional time off before the big gig, but Kemp admitted Glastonbury “came too soon” for the singer.
The broadcaster went on to reveal how he spoke to Capaldi after him came off stage and later on the phone, sharing that the musician asked him for his opinion about taking time off, fearing it would damage his career.
In response, Kemp said he told his friend: “Man, look at the amount of people that are there. They’re not going to forget you. It’s just funny that your song is called Forget Me, but like, remember that you can go to sleep tonight having done something that’s a bucket list for any artist.”
The One Show host, who has been candid about his own struggles with mental health, added that the important thing now is for Capaldi to “get himself better”.
On Tuesday, Capaldi announced that he would be taking a break from touring “for the foreseeable future,” saying he is “still learning to adjust to the impact of my Tourette’s”.
Capaldi revealed in 2022 that he had been diagnosed with Tourette’s, and this year gave an insight into its impact in the Disney+ documentary Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now.
Taking to social media, he said his performance at Glastonbury at the weekend made it “obvious that I need to spend much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time to come”.
He also thanked “Glastonbury for having me, for singing along when I needed it and for all the amazing messages afterwards”, adding: “It really does mean the world.”
