Lewis Capaldi has opened up about his Glastonbury 2025 set, admitting his performance made his drummer cry, and he had to leak his surprise set.
In June 2025, the 28-year-old performed a 35-minute-long set on the main stage at the festival, stunning fans with his vocal performance two years after he was forced to leave the same stage because of his tourettes.
The singer has spoken about the stress surrounding his return to the stage, admitting that he leaked his upcoming performance for fear that no one would show.
‘I’m not great at keeping secrets. I wanted it to be a surprise, but we had to start leaking it out a couple of weeks before because it would have been strange to come out to an empty field.
‘By that weekend, it was the worst-kept secret. It was genuinely the best day of my life, I loved every moment of it.
‘Almost immediately, I was overcome with emotion, and I started to well up, so I was like, “get it together”, but then I turned around and looked at my drummer, and he was in floods of tears.
‘It was weird, I knew it was going to be fine this time around. I had nerves and butterflies, but it wasn’t the same as 2023 when I was so stressed, and I knew something bad was going to happen. It was spectacular,’ he said on Apple Music’s Music That Soothes Me series of curated playlists.
The singer said in the same discussion that he had opted for more ‘wholesome’ pursuits and less and less fings himself hanging out with friends in pubs.
He also spoke about being in therapy and listening to music and green noise to help himself sleep, admitting he also feels soothed by Eminem’s music.
‘If I’m going to fall asleep, especially on a plane, I put on Eminem because I feel like it really puts me at ease.
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‘I listen to a lot of the older stuff like The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show – for some reason it lulls me into a delightful little sleep.
‘Or I’ll put on some of my own demos which also really knock me out.’
In 2023, the singer had to leave the Pyramid Stage after his tourettes prevented him from performing. The on-stage attack prompted him to take a prolonged hiatus from music.
Appearing on This Past Weekend with Theo Von, Capaldi reflected on how dark things had become before that 2023 performance, revealing that he had suffered an even more severe episode just weeks earlier.
‘A few weeks prior to that show we were playing in Chicago, and I had a very similar episode—probably even worse,’ he said.
‘I couldn’t come back and finish a song. I was backstage convulsing and having this crazy panic attack. Way worse than what happened at Glastonbury.’
He then reflected that his Glastonbury breakdown was probably ‘important’ for his health long term.
‘At Glastonbury, when I came off stage, it was weird. I had this feeling of “Everything’s alright now. I can actually go and get help and fix myself for the next two years.”
‘In a weird way, it’s probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me.’
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