Lewis Capaldi has opened up about performing a secret set at Glastonbury Festival 2025, two years after the singer struggled to manage the symptoms of his Tourette syndrome at the festival.
The singer said his drummer was in “floods of tears” during the 35-minute surprise performance on the Pyramid stage.
The 28-year-old took a two-year break from performing after his last appearance at the Somerset festival, and revealed he had to leak his own secret set after he was worried people would not turn up.
Capaldi said: “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.”
Capaldi was speaking as part of the launch of Apple Music’s Music That Soothes Me series of curated playlists, with the singer himself putting together a track list including the likes of Fontaines DC, Lana Del Rey and The 1975.
The series, which features music intended to help listeners relax and unwind, also features playlists curated by Renee Rapp and Bring Me The Horizon.
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Speaking about how he relaxes, the Scottish singer said: “I use music in meditation a lot – ambient music, not what I usually listen to. But when I’m going to bed, I’ll listen to a lot of green noise and rain noises, especially when I’m trying to get to sleep, to soothe me.
“Slowing down and being outside helps, I like meditation, and I also go to therapy, which has really helped me with stress.
“I’m not someone who enjoys going for long walks or spending a ton of time outside, but I force myself to do it these days because the effect it has on my mood and my stress levels is just mind-blowing.
“I think for a long time I was either working or going to the pub, and these days I spend a lot more time with friends in a way that isn’t just going out.
“Doing wholesome things with friends is always a nice change. Get outside, go to therapy, do some meditation and hang out with people.”
The singer says he plays the “older” work of rapper Eminem and his own demos to relax, joking that the latter “really knocks me out”.
Capaldi recently said he had the “most incredible, surreal feeling” after his 17-date UK and Ireland comeback tour sold out.
During the 2025 Glastonbury show, Capaldi performed his new track Survive, which has since gone to number one on the singles chart, and ended his performance with Someone You Loved, the track that Glastonbury crowds helped him to sing when he struggled with his Tourette symptoms in 2023.
Tourette syndrome causes sudden, repetitive sounds or movements and while there is no cure, treatment can help manage the tics, according to the NHS website.
Prior to the festival slot, the Glaswegian star performed a number of secret gigs and guest appearances, saying in an interview with therapy charity BetterHelp that he felt a “rush of adrenaline” before managing to calm himself before his first warm-up gig in Edinburgh.
Capaldi has had six UK number one singles, including Before You Go, Pointless and Wish You The Best. He has also seen both of his studio albums reach number one in the UK albums chart.
