Lewis Capaldi's Condition Made Him Twitch Mid-Performance. His Fans Responded With a Touching Gesture
It isn't uncommon for musicians to enjoy loyalty of their fans, but when followers turn into collaborators, a performance becomes truly heartwarming. Singer anf songwriter Lewis Capaldi has captivated music lovers with his lyrics and scripted his meteoric rise to fame. The support he enjoys among fans only quadrupled after Capaldi shared his Tourette diagnosis and fans have turned up in hordes to encourage him for every performance since then. On February 16, 2023, Capaldi's performance at the Mercedes-Benz Arena saw his fans back him up when he experienced tics, as reported by Rolling Stones. They sang his lyrics and helped him complete the set. The singer enjoyed this support across all venues on his tour in 2023.
The singer was belting out his hit composition "Someone You Loved," when the sudden muscle movements interrupted him. It was the last song of the night, and the Scottish singer wanted to finish the set with the same rhythm. He tried to push through the bridge into the final chorus with the audience but ultimately decided otherwise. He allowed the audience to take the lead, and this produced a beautiful new rendition of his biggest hit. As the crowd was singing, the singer began tossing out his remaining guitar picks as a show of gratitude.
Prior to this performance, he experienced something similar while performing in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Capaldi informed the audience that they might see him twitching a bit while singing, but it was nothing to worry about. “I’m good, baby. I’m up here, I’m good,” he said. “I’m absolutely fine, everything’s good, I just twitch a little bit.” The singer found out about his condition in 2022 and shared it with his fans through social media. “I’ve always had it, apparently,” he said in an Instagram Live. Capaldi had always found himself a bit unsettled with his tics. He had spotted himself twitching in interviews dating back to 2018. “The worst thing about it is when I’m excited I get it, when I’m stressed I get it, when I’m happy I get it. It happens all the time. Some days it’s more painful than others and some days it’s less painful,” he added.
Being a public figure, his twitching brought a lot of unwanted attention. There was a lot of speculation regarding it, and Capaldi in part did the revelation to put an end to those. “And you see underneath every TikTok and stuff, people are like, ‘Why is he twitching?’, which is fine. Curiosity is fine. I get it,” Capaldi said. “It’s a new thing, I haven’t really learned much about it. I’m learning. I’ve got Botox on my shoulder to stop it moving. It worked for a bit.” He assured the fans that he was doing alright, and it "looks a lot worse than it is."
In 2023, he continued with his shows, and the singer's fans supporting him became a common sight. Following his performance on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, Capaldi canceled his tour and performances for the foreseeable future, as reported by the Guardian. He shared in a statement- “I used to be able to enjoy every second of shows like this and I’d hoped three weeks away would sort me out. But the truth is I’m still learning to adjust to the impact of my Tourette’s and on Saturday it became obvious that I need to spend so much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time.”