Lewis Capaldi’s song “Someone You Loved,” the BBC says, “topped charts around the world.” In September 2022, The Guardian reported, “Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.” In his own words: “It is something I am living with.” Before Glastonbury in June 2023, the BBC reported, he had called off three weeks of shows to “rest and recover.”
On June 24, 2023, he walked out on the Pyramid Stage. “He was given a hero’s welcome when he walked out onto Glastonbury’s biggest stage,” the BBC wrote. “The first half of the set is all about that trademark Capaldi humour ... But then the tenor of the set starts to change,” wrote Laura Snapes in The Guardian. The BBC reported that “by the fifth song, his voice began to sound raspy and fractured.” “Glastonbury, I’m really sorry,” he said. “I’m a bit annoyed with myself.”
“He closes the set with Someone You Loved ... The audience belt the words out for him as he walks around the stage,” Snapes wrote; he saved “his last ounce of vocal strength for the last, massive chorus.” The BBC saw “the crowd carrying him along on an affectionate wave of support.” On June 27, 2023, The Guardian reported that he had “cancelled his entire upcoming tour.” “I need to spend so much more time getting my mental and physical health in order,” his statement said, and it spoke of the need to “adjust to the impact of my Tourette’s.”
He stayed off the road. On New Year’s Eve 2023, he wrote that he was “working with some incredible professionals to help me learn about and cope better with my Tourette’s and anxiety issues,” The Guardian reported. In May 2025, it reported his “surprise return to live performance” at a charity gig in Edinburgh.
Then, on June 27, 2025, “his name flashed up on the video screens at the back of the Pyramid Stage,” the BBC reported, for what it called “his first full-scale show in two years,” just “after he released a rousing comeback single.” “I just wanted to come and finish what I couldn’t finish first time around,” he said. “I couldn’t sing this song two years ago. I might struggle to finish it today for different reasons,” he told the crowd. This time, Alexis Petridis wrote in The Guardian, “his voice is as roaring as it ever was,” and “From the opening notes of Before You Go, the crowd sing along to every song he plays”; the BBC said “Capaldi alternated lines with fans.” “He ends, inevitably, with Someone You Loved,” Petridis wrote, and then: “‘Second time’s the charm, eh?’ he nods.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- On Glastonbury’s biggest stage, his voice gave out, so the crowd sang his song for him. BBC News (2023): “He was given a hero’s welcome when he walked out onto Glastonbury’s biggest stage.” BBC News (2025): “he lost his voice … The audience ultimately stepped in to help him finish his final song, Someone You Loved.” 12
- His name is Lewis Capaldi. The Guardian (June 27, 2023): “The 26-year-old Scottish songwriter.” 5
- Back in 2022, he revealed he has Tourette’s syndrome. The Guardian (September 7, 2022): “Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.” Capaldi: “It is something I am living with.” 3
- In June 2023, he walked out on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. The Guardian (June 24, 2023): “Lewis Capaldi performing on the Pyramid stage.” 4
- Midway through, his voice began to crack, and his tics became more visible. BBC News: “by the fifth song, his voice began to sound raspy and fractured”; “the symptoms of his Tourette’s began to become more visible.” The Guardian: “The first half of the set is all about that trademark Capaldi humour ... But then the tenor of the set starts to change.” 14
- “Glastonbury, I’m really sorry,” he said. BBC News: “Glastonbury, I’m really sorry,” he said. “I’m a bit annoyed with myself.” 1
- When he played “Someone You Loved,” a sea of people sang it for him. The Guardian: “He closes the set with Someone You Loved ... The audience belt the words out for him as he walks around the stage.” BBC News: “the crowd carrying him along on an affectionate wave of support.” 41
- Days later, he canceled his whole tour to get his health in order. The Guardian (June 27, 2023): “Lewis Capaldi has cancelled his entire upcoming tour.” Capaldi, in his statement: “I need to spend so much more time getting my mental and physical health in order.” BBC News (2025): “A few days later, he announced he was retreating from the spotlight.” 52
- He stepped away for two years, working with professionals on his Tourette’s and anxiety. Capaldi, in his New Year’s Eve 2023 post (The Guardian): “working with some incredible professionals to help me learn about and cope better with my Tourette’s and anxiety issues.” BBC News (2025): “his first full-scale show in two years.” 62
- Then in June 2025, he walked back onto that same stage. The Guardian (June 27, 2025): “a triumphant, hugely emotional return to the Pyramid stage.” BBC News: “his name flashed up on the video screens at the back of the Pyramid Stage.” 82
- “I couldn’t sing this song two years ago,” he told them. BBC News: “I couldn’t sing this song two years ago. I might struggle to finish it today for different reasons,” he said. 2
- This time his voice held, and the crowd sang every word with him. The Guardian: “his voice is as roaring as it ever was”; “From the opening notes of Before You Go, the crowd sing along to every song he plays”; “He ends, inevitably, with Someone You Loved.” BBC News: “Capaldi alternated lines with fans.” 82
- He nodded: “Second time’s the charm, eh?” The Guardian: “Second time’s the charm, eh?” he nods. 8
Sources
- Lewis Capaldi: Crowd offers support as he struggles to finish Glastonbury set (Mark Savage, June 24, 2023) BBC News
- Lewis Capaldi makes emotional comeback with surprise Glastonbury set (Ian Youngs and Mark Savage, June 27, 2025) BBC News
- Lewis Capaldi reveals Tourette syndrome diagnosis: ‘It’s something I am living with’ (September 7, 2022) The Guardian
- Lewis Capaldi at Glastonbury review – an awe-inspiring display of love and human spirit (Laura Snapes, June 24, 2023) The Guardian
- Lewis Capaldi cancels all tour dates to ‘adjust to impact’ of Tourette syndrome (Laura Snapes, June 27, 2023) The Guardian
- Report on Lewis Capaldi’s New Year’s Eve 2023 post about his break from touring (January 1, 2024) The Guardian
- Lewis Capaldi makes surprise return to live performance at charity gig (May 4, 2025) The Guardian
- Lewis Capaldi at Glastonbury review – a triumphant, hugely emotional return to the Pyramid stage (Alexis Petridis, June 27, 2025) The Guardian
Notes
The song in 2023: he did sing part of it, saving “his last ounce of vocal strength for the last, massive chorus” (The Guardian); the BBC wrote in 2025 that “The audience ultimately stepped in to help him finish his final song.” The Short says the crowd sang it for him.
His closing words in 2023 were heard differently by the BBC and The Guardian, so neither version is used.
“Two years”: his 2023 Glastonbury set was on June 24, 2023, and his return there on June 27, 2025; in between, in May 2025, he played a surprise charity set in Edinburgh (The Guardian). “Stepped away for two years” is about touring; the BBC called the 2025 Glastonbury set “his first full-scale show in two years.”
The cancellation: The Guardian reported it on June 27, 2023; the BBC says “a few days later.” The Short says “Days later.”
His health: the Short’s line that his tics became more visible follows the BBC’s report from the stage. Everything else here about his health is in his own published words: his 2022 announcement and his 2023 statements. No other health details and no later interviews are used.
Lewis Capaldi is alive. Only his performances, the BBC’s and The Guardian’s reporting, and his own published words are used; nothing about his private life. The fans at Glastonbury are not named.
Pictures: no free photo shows the crowd singing for him in 2023, his tour cancellation or his time away. The photos of Capaldi on the Pyramid Stage are from the real sets, all by one photographer, Raph_PH: on June 24, 2023, with an acoustic guitar during the set, singing with an electric guitar under red light later on, and singing into a hand mic and with a hand on his head near the end; and on June 27, 2025, walking on, raising a peace sign, with his arms out to the crowd, and with an acoustic guitar. The two close-ups are from the SWR3 New Pop Festival in Baden-Baden on September 13, 2019 (Harald Krichel), not Glastonbury. The crowd is at the Pyramid Stage during another act’s set on June 29, 2019 (Rodw, cropped), not Capaldi’s, and the bare Pyramid Stage frame stands on an empty field at Worthy Farm on July 31, 2018, between festivals (Mike Faherty, Geograph). His bandmates and the people in the crowd are not named.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 'Of Foreign Lands and Peoples (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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