Lewis Capaldi returned to the stage for Glastonbury after taking a break to “rest and recover” over the past few weeks, and his return was aided by his fans.
As he closed his festival set with chart-topper “Someone You Loved” this weekend, he appeared to be affected by involuntary movements and could not fully perform the song on his own. No worries, though: The audience stepped in where he left off.
Capaldi has been candid about diagnosis of Tourette’s syndrome, which is a neurological disorder involving sudden repetitive movements or unwanted tics. In April, he revealed it might eventually force him to quit music altogether.
“My tic is getting quite bad on stage now,” Capaldi said in an interview with The Times that month. “I’m trying to get on top of that. If I can’t, I’m f—ed. It’s easier when I play guitar, but I hate playing guitar. I know, I’m a walking contradiction.”
“It’s only making music that does this to me,” he told the publication. “Otherwise I can be fine for months at a time. So it’s a weird situation. Right now, the trade-off is worth it.”
“But if it gets to a point where I’m doing irreparable damage to myself, I’ll quit,” Capaldi added at the time. “I hate hyperbole, but it is a very real possibility that I will have to pack music in.”
In early June, Capaldi canceled gigs in Glasgow, Dublin, London and Norway in a message that he said “hurts me a lot to have to type.”
He wrote, “The last few months have been full on both mentally and physically, I haven’t been home properly since Christmas and at the moment I’m struggling to get to grips with it all. I need to take a moment to rest and recover, to be at my best and ready for Glastonbury and all of the other incredible shows coming up so that I’m able to continue doing what I love for a long time to come.”
“Someone You Loved” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in 2019. Capaldi recently released his sophomore studio album, Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent.
See the emotional Glastonbury moment below.
