Live Report: Lewis Capaldi delivers his signature brand of wit in Malahide Castle performance

Over two years after he was meant to play in Ireland, the day finally arrived for fans to see Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi in action. Seems about right, seeing as his 2019 debut album, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, made history on the charts with 15 non-consecutive weeks at No.1. In May 2020, the Glaswegian scored the most weeks at the top of Official Irish Charts for a debut album this millennium. With the receipts to his name, the time has come for him to perform the project to the Emerald Isle masses.

The sun baked down on the impressive North Dublin venue as hoards of concert goers began filling up the boundaries of the grassy field, with most donning plastic ponchos in the likely event of getting drenched. Despite a short shower, attendees were luckily able to avoid bad weather.

As pints were poured and crepes were filled with Nutella, British indie-pop singer Emie Nathan took to the stage to get the already thousands of present fans warmed up for the headline act, showcasing her smooth, airy vocals and keyboard skills with track 'Roses'. As her long white cardigan flowed in the wind, the groovy, melodic beat of her new single 'Static' began to play after telling the audience that a 'cab driver' had told her to say "Up The Dubs" at the gig, which earned a huge roar of support from the audience.

Irish singer-songwriter Luz took the stage to preform a stellar medley of brooding pop tracks and a refreshing cover of Dua Lipa's 'Don't Stop Now'. Opening with atmospheric 2021 track 'counting houses', and continuing with soft melancholic song 'after hours' Luz echoed the emotional depth of Capaldi's extensive catalogue. Commenting on how cold her hands were, Luz added that she was afraid her hat would blow away. With the wind picking up, the day grew chillier as fans waited on the next warm up act.

Wild Youth, an Irish four-piece named 'Hot For 2019', brought a high energy, upbeat set to the stage and definitely succeeded in warming up the crowd. With its heavy drum beat; Conor Donoghue and David Whelan's raspy vocals, 2022 track 'Seventeen' had people up on their feet and dancing along. 'Making Me Dance' with it's infectious chorus and catchy tune had a similar effect as more people stood up and went to join in with the swaying crowd.

After a short while, breaking the noise and diverting all attention towards the stage, the opening notes of Thin Lizzy's 'Boys Are Back In Town', boomed from the speakers as the man himself made his way to the microphone. Armed with a guitar and his famously powerful vocals, the audience went wild as soon as he started playing his past hit 'Grace'. A huge confetti cannon boomed and covered the entire audience in red and white, enlivening the audience further.

Love ballad 'Forever' accompanied by melodic piano and Capaldi strumming on his guitar, had fans singing every word to the point where Capaldi had stopped and it was just the crowd by themselves. Friends had got on each others shoulders and a Scottish flag held up by a fan blew in the wind as the singer charmed the crowd - not for the first time that night.

Happy to see everyone after restrictions had stopped his last gig from happening, Capaldi joked that he should have had an album out by now but he was just too "lazy' and declared that he was only going to play "the old shit" - much to the delight of the audience. Launching into 'Don't Get Me Wrong', the singer had another funny interaction with the crowd when they had stopped singing. "I'm the fucking singer here", he said adding that they don't get to decide when the song is over and singing another rendition of the chorus, which evoked a roar of laughter from the audience.

Piano melody 'One' had fans trying their level best to match the singers skilled vocal range as the extremely packed audience swayed along to the melancholic song. Capaldi then stopped the show to check on the welfare of someone within the audience and entertained the crowd during the break which lasted several minutes.

When he was comfortable that they were okay, he jumped back in with 2019 track 'Hollywood' with its slow build up and gradually intensifying chorus. With over 500 million streams on Spotify, 'Hold Me While You Wait' proved to be a crowd favourite as couples held each other tight during the emotionally charged song. Psychedelic visuals flashed up on stage as the loved up group held their hands in the air and belted out the soulful lyrics.

Capaldi played raucous drum beat and popular track 'Headspace' and then revealed that he was 'busting for a piss' before quickly exiting the stage and on his return, the huge screens showed him pulling up his zipper. Melodic globally loved track 'Bruises' began to play, followed by tear jerker song 'Maybe'.

Listen to Bruises below:

In a somewhat strange turn of events, the energy dramatically changed when Capaldi began performing 'A Thousand Miles' by Vanessa Carlton which had the entire crowd engaged and dancing along. Announcing he only had a few songs left, much to the disappointment of fans, Capaldi joked "they only paid me for 75 minutes".

'Leaving My Love Behind', showcased Capaldi's immense vocal prowess, followed by strobe lights illuminating the stage. Emerging from the fog, sorrowful track 'Fade' began to play.

Announcing that Ireland was his favourite place to perform, Capaldi enthused his appreciation for the audience and closed out his set with 'Before You Go'. Fans didn't want the night to end, mustering everything inside them to sing as loud as they possibly could. With one last boom of the confetti cannon, the stage plunged into darkness and the musician exited.

Returning for an encore, his charismatic Scottish dialect emerged from the darkness with :will we do another one?". He mentioned that he was genuinely scared that no one would turn up to his shows after so much time had passed. After singing 'Happy Birthday' to a girl who was turning sixteen, Capaldi promised that new music was coming and wished everyone a Happy Pride.

Finishing the show with a bang, fans were delighted to hear 'Someone You Loved', which has been streamed over 2 billion times on Spotify. With the crowd singing along once again with every fibre in their bodies, it was a spectacular end to a phenomenal night.

Read Hot Press' June 2019 interview with Lewis Capaldi here.