Lewis Capaldi takes Christchurch on an emotional rollercoaster

Sitting in a packed stadium hearing Lewis Capaldi play brings everything bubbling to the surface.

Looking around during any song, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of strangers were singing along, wiping tears from their cheeks.

While it was his first time in the Garden City, he promised it wouldn’t be his last.

There’s a particular kind of collective effervescence that Capaldi creates on stage. The feeling that whatever you’re going through, you’re not doing it alone.

That was the atmosphere concertgoers walked into on a rainy Sunday night, the stadium buzzing, people clutching tissues, beers and friends. The moment the lights dropped we knew we weren’t just here for a concert, we were here for an emotional unravelling together.

Capaldi and I are old friends, you know in that strange parasocial way fans often adopt the artists who soundtrack their lives.

'Bruises' got me through a brutal breakup in 2017, and if my 2023 Spotify Wrapped is anything to go by, I’m personally responsible for a solid portion of the record-breaking success of Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent and Broken By Desire to Be Heavenly Sent.

Capaldi’s music held my hand through more than one mental crisis.

To Christchurch he brought the energy he’s known for. Raw, hilarious, self-deprecating and somehow both larger-than-life and completely human.

He opened with 'Survive', his huge new single and Capaldi at his rawest. It’s a song about clawing your way through heartbreak, self-doubt and the kind of darkness that makes you question your own strength.

It carries a sense of determination beneath the pain. It’s a plea and a promise at the same time, that even when everything feels overwhelming, you’ll keep going.

From there, he slipped effortlessly between gut-wrenching vocals and chaotic banter that could easily fill a comedy set.

He apologised for cancelling New Zealand tour dates in 2023, saying he “felt like sh*t,” but that stepping back to get his physical and mental health in order, and to adjust to the impact of his Tourette syndrome, “was the right thing to do".

“Now I’m in the best form of my life. I feel amazing,” he told the crowd.

“There was a time when I didn’t think this would be possible... tonight is going as well as it possibly could. It’s good to be here... I’ve been dying to come back. And we’re here, we’re back, it feels good, we’re excited.”

And you could feel that in the way he held the stage with only a guitar, a piano and a mic.

The setlist moved through the songs that built his career. 'Before You Go', 'Grace', 'Wish You the Best', 'Hold Me While You Wait'. Each one landed like its own chapter in the collective heartbreak diary he’s been writing with his fans for years.

'Someone You Loved' is still his defining heartbreak ballad. It’s a stark, vulnerable portrait of grief and the hollow quiet that follows when someone you relied on disappears. It landed like a punch to the chest when sung live.

Fresh off the success of his Netflix documentary How I’m Feeling Now, Capaldi returned to the stage with a renewed sense of purpose and a catalogue that defined the last decade of heartbreak pop.

Capaldi's concert was a reminder that whatever you’re going through, you’re not alone. That even in the hardest chapters, someone else, somewhere, has felt what you’re feeling.

And maybe that’s why Capaldi’s return feels so important. It’s not just because he survived, but because, in some way, his music helped us survive too.