Lewis Capaldi is “f–ing back, baby.”
Capaldi made an emotional return to the renowned Glastonbury Festival on Friday, two years after he struggled to finish his set due to a flare-up of his Tourette syndrome.
The Scottish singer-songwriter, known for the pop ballad “Someone You Loved,” surprised the audience in England with a 35-minute set on the festival’s iconic main Pyramid Stage.
“I just wanted to come and finish what I couldn’t finish the first time round on this stage,” an emotional Capaldi told fans. “I want to thank everybody at Glastonbury for giving me the chance to do so.”
The two-time Grammy nominee limited his audience interaction, confessing that if he talked a lot on stage, he’d “probably start crying.”
The “Before You Go” singer’s set was not promoted publicly by the festival, but thousands of fans were tipped off about the special moment, the BBC reported.
Capaldi performed seven songs, including his new single “Survive,” which was released hours before his first live performance since he stepped away from the stage.
“The last two years haven’t been the best for me,” Capaldi said. “It’s been difficult at times. I wanted to write a song that was about overcoming that stuff.”
Capaldi performed his smash hit “Someone You Loved,’ which received a Grammy nomination in 2020 for Best Song of the Year, as his final song on Friday.
“I couldn’t sing this song two years ago,” the musician said while tearing up again. “I might struggle to finish it today for different reasons.”
The “Bruises” vocalist ended the set shouting, “My name is Lewis Capaldi and I’m f–ing back, baby.”
In June 2023, Capaldi canceled his tour after an episode of Tourette syndrome caused him to lose his voice while performing at the Glastonbury Festival.
Fans in the audience sang along to the music to help him finish the show.
In a statement released after the performance, he shared that he was “still learning to adjust to the impact of my Tourette’s and on Saturday it became obvious that I need to spend much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time to come.”
He chose to take a break from touring for the “foreseeable future” and embarked on his musical hiatus in June 2023, just one month after the release of his second album, “Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent.”
Two months before the episode, Capaldi, who was diagnosed in 2022, admitted that he would “quit” music if his Tourette syndrome got worse.
“If it gets to a point where I’m doing irreparable damage to myself, I’ll quit,” Capaldi told the Times of London in April 2023.
Tourette syndrome is a “disorder that involves repetitive movements or unwanted sounds (tics) that can’t be easily controlled,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
