Lewis Capaldi at Glastonbury 2025 review: it was surreal to see him return
Most Pyramid Stage moments at Glastonbury are euphoric for performers and punters, but Lewis Capaldi wasn’t able to finish his set in 2023 due to a bout of tourettes. This afternoon the 28-year-old made an incredible return to the festival’s main stage to deliver a short surprise set.
Capaldi‘s Glastonbury 2023 appearance was so significant that it played a major part in a Netflix documentary exploring his condition. But this afternoon, Capaldi appeared quietly confident as he performed a 35-minute set featuring his biggest hits. He also introduced one new track, Survive, that follows Capaldi’s typical singer-songwriter formula.
Walking onto Before You Go from his debut album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, he led into a short seven-track setlist. Grace, Hold Me While You Wait and Bruises followed, which are all from the same 2019 album. Capaldi then introduced the audience to new single Survive about overcoming his issues with tourettes.
He went into Forget Me from 2022 record Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent before ending with a triumphant rendition of Someone You Loved, the song he managed to sing half of two years ago before his performance was cut short.
With hundreds of flags fluttering in the wind, lit up by the late afternoon sun, it will inevitably be one of the moments repeated thousands of times on social media and in coverage by the BBC
Occasionally pausing to talk to the audience, Capaldi was typically candid and conversational about his condition and two-year break from live shows. He said: “Glastonbury it’s so good to be back. I’m not going to say much up here today because if I did I might start crying.”
“The last two years haven’t been the best for me. It’s been difficult at times. I wanted to write a song that was about overcoming that stuff. This has been my goal, to get back here, doing this.”
Before he led into hit biggest hit, Someone You Loved, he said: “I couldn’t sing this song two years ago. I might struggle to finish it today for different reasons.”
Lewis Capaldi at Glastonbury: a surreal return to the Pyramid Stage
Seeing Capaldi sing Someone You Loved two years later was always going to feel surreal. With the sun beating down on the tens of thousands gathered at the Pyramid Stage, there was a mood of quiet contemplation as he managed to get through the track, which topped the charts in both the UK and the US. Many people, particularly couples, were in tears and embracing one another as they sung along.
Then it was over, not long after it had begun: Capaldi left after a couple of polite thank yous. The nature of his music meant the moment was never going to feel euphoric, but of course it was, in that it was symbolic in showing how Capaldi has overcome some of his mental health struggles and managed to get through the song.
With hundreds of flags fluttering in the wind, lit up by the late afternoon sun, it will inevitably be one of the moments repeated thousands of times on social media and in coverage by the BBC. In simple terms, it was properly inspirational stuff.
Also at Glastonbury today: Lorde surprises with a secret set to kick-start Friday
Elsewhere on the first full day of Glastonbury 2025, Lorde played a secret set on the same day that her fourth album was released. Taking to the Woodsies stage at 11.30am this morning, she played the entire 12-track Virgin album before closing on 2017 fan-favourite Green Light.
The songs from Virgin suggest plenty more is to come from Lorde. The 12-track album, her first in nearly four years, is a swell of emotionally-charged synth-pop. Tracks like What Was That, Man of the Year and Hammer tackle issues like body image and gender identity and mark a return to the formula of her most famous tracks: there’s clear depth, but they’re commercially viable enough that they’re earworms on the first listen.
Singing from a Woodsies stage covered in what appeared to be the sort of plastic material placed on office floors during fitouts, perhaps Lorde wants an industrial reset. Closing on Green Light, her seminal banger from summer 2017, you wonder which of these new tunes will be this summer’s: What Was That already has over 80 million streams on Spotify and deserves to go much further.
Secret sets are a big part of the culture at Glastonbury festival. Other performers rumoured to be performing over the weekend include Chappell Roan and Pulp. The festival tends not to confirm surprise acts but various social media accounts claiming to have links close to the festival post rumours which circulate on the ground.
Glastonbury festival has a fallow year in 2026 meaning there is no event taking place. The festival will return in 2027.
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