Lewis Capaldi

The Grand Ole Opry 03/30/23

Nashville, TN

Kendra D. Insomnia Photographer

Live Review

Joining Lewis Capaldi for his US leg of the Broken by Desire to be Heavenly Sent tour, Em Beihold held her own. Her voice filled the Opry with ease as she kicked it off with an upbeat intro. She performed a handful of songs including fan favorites Numb Little Bug and Egg In The Backseat. The Nashville crowd welcomed her with open arms. Closing off her set, the definitely set the mood for what was about to come.

Do you like music? Do you like comedy? Do you like realness? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you need to add Lewis Capaldi to the shows you attend. Before Lewis made his way to the stage, his band came out and started playing the intro of Forget Me to amp up the crowd. What felt like a lifetime of anticipation, Lewis casually strolls onto the stage while the audience is roaring. Singing word for word, the crowd gets on their feet with excitement. Going straight into his next song, Forever, the energy stays up! If you follow Lewis on any of his socials, then you know he had expressed like he wasn’t feeling so good. He took a brief pause after his second song to talk with the crowd. He touched based on how he was jet lagged, but the big one he was feeling was indigestion. I don’t think there is a proper way to convey just how funny Lewis is. He went on to talk about how their is an Opry in Glasgow, but not near as nice as the legendary one we were in. “You have Johnny Cash, we have Johnny Ash. You have Dolly Parton, we have Dolly Farton.” All jokes aside, the authenticity was like no other. The ability to be vulnerable in such an intimate setting where he can actually see the crowds faces is so admirable.

He goes on to perform songs including Heavenly Kind of State of Mind and Fade. Prepping for the next song and taking a drink of water, Lewis tells us the next song is dedicated to Pat, his aunt, and searched for his mom to verify her full name was Patricia. Front and center, a fan said her name was Patricia and she showed Lewis she had a gift for him. The gift was a black t-shirt that said Nashville Sweetheart. Genuinely appreciative of the gift, Capaldi says this song, Before You Go, is for “Patricia that is dead and Patricia that is alive”. Nearing the end of the song, the band exits the stage while Lewis finishes the song out acoustically. Continually with playing by himself, a piano is brought out to perform Bruises. Bruises, his first ever single, is now six years old. Being the jokester he is, he goes on to tell us he feels like a fraud. “The piano doesn’t work,” he said. It’s not plugged in. Then with his arms up, piano music starts playing to prove his claim.

Continuing on, Lewis says the next song is one of his top 2 favorite songs and is his next single. “Go use the song on TikTok because that’s my life now,” he says. Being over the top, he pretends to play the piano as Wish You the Best begins to play. Wrapping up that song, the faux piano is taken away and Lewis begins his pep talk about what is about to happen. Being in a very sports dominated state, Lewis makes a “blip” as he called it saying, “Roll tide!” The crowd goes insane with boo’s and laugher. “I can’t believe you boo’d me. BOOOO to you! Well I guess this next song goes out to Alabama. It’s called Pointless since they haven’t scored any points. Dreadful joke, sorry. Might not come back out for the encore,” Capaldi wraps up. Finishing up his set, he strums his guitar beautifully playing Hold Me While You Wait. The band exits while Lewis finishes up by himself with a killer ending note.

The legendary Opry mic stand gets brought front and center while the crowd hollers for more. Before Lewis jumps right into his encore, he talks about his new documentary coming out, How I’m Feeling Now, which is also the next song. The way Lewis is able to be so relatable is admirable. The documentary was a hard watch he said as he felt naked. “Sometimes I just get sad,” Lewis says which the crowd nods agreeing. Before wrapping up his set, he thanks the crowd and Nashville. Lewis acknowledges the hard times that Nashville has gone through the past few days with the tragedy and cannot thank everyone enough for still coming out during such a scary time. Ending the night, Lewis starts the intro chord on his guitar to Someone You Loved. Each note sang with precision, there’s not a better way to end the set.

Lewis Capaldi is talented in more ways than just one, there is no denying that. We are so honored and grateful to be able to have been in the presence or someone who genuinely loves what they do. All jokes aside, Lewis has a pure heart of gold.