The venue
The 3,500 capacity O2 Apollo Manchester was the perfect venue for this type of show. With floor standing and a seated balcony it’s a great size as large enough to fit a fairly big crowd but you still get the real intimate feel. With artists’ like Lewis Capaldi who’s set requires interaction with the audience and who’s songs really connect with those listening, the O2 Apollo was perfect for allowing the connection between an artist and the fans.
The music
Lewis Capaldi graced the stage (no pun intended) with his track ‘Grace’ starting his set with one of his more upbeat tunes after stepping out to one of his usual comedic entrances. Performing tracks from his debut album ‘Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent’ alongside his band made up of close pals Andy Black, Aiden Halliday, Aidan Beattie and Freddy Sheed Capaldi took you on an emotional journey from start to end with a mixture of slower heartbreak ballads such as ‘Forever’ and ‘Headspace’ to his more upbeat tracks like ‘Maybe’ and ‘Hollywood’.
Whether it was one of these album tracks or one of the singles that have taken over the world since their release in the last year the crowd sang every word. One thing for sure was that right from the start until the very end of his 75 minute set, Lewis Capaldi has every person in that room in the palm of his hand.
The crowd
A crowd at a Capaldi show is not what you would expect. Despite him being a young, male artist the crowd was not just young girls, it was a real mixture of groups of friends both male and female, couples, families, even gig-goers on their who didn’t want to miss out on the chance to see the Scottish singer/songwriter live.
With Lewis’s witty personality and comedic nature he has a lot of banter with the audience conversing back and forth between songs with lots of participation in certain tracks. Looking around you saw people left speechless by Capaldi’s vocal ability, shedding a tear at his ballads or singing the words out at the top of their lungs. It’s really quite a special sight to behold.
© All photos taken by Niamh Louise for IndieCentralMusic.
