Live at Spark Arena
2 December 2025
Live Review by Music Journalist: Paul Marshall
A Scottish Storm Hits Auckland: Capaldi’s Voice, Wit, and Wrecking-Ball Emotion.
My night begins with coffee, vodka, and Kahlúa shaken, never stirred. An espresso martini is a fine way to lower the shoulders after a long day and prepare for the gentle onslaught that is Lewis Capaldi. Like my drink, Capaldi is silky, smooth, deceptively sophisticated… and carries a punch you don’t quite see coming. His raspy Scottish tenor slices through Spark Arena later in the night like a knife through butter.
The audience filtering in is a varied mix, though definitely heavy on the female front, drawn no doubt by the heartbreak hymns of past love lost and the kind of wounded-romantic lyrics that feel like standing on the cliffs of the Highlands in the dead of winter.
As I linger before the show, I hear thick Scottish accents all around me, Glasgow represented in force tonight. It takes me back to the time I toured US band Everclear to Scotland, when I was personally on a mission to get the band to try their first deep-fried Mars bar. Across from the venue stood a legendary chip shop run by a man who proudly declared, “I’ll deep fry anything if the price is right.” When I jokingly suggested a T-shirt, he barely blinked. “Aye… if ye pay me handsomely.” That’s the Scottish spirit: unbothered, entrepreneurial, and just the right amount of insane.
Over 20 billion streams, Brit Awards, Grammy noms, and a Netflix documentary later, Lewis Capaldi stands as one of the fastest-rising heartbreak superstars of the last decade. Hard to believe this all bloomed from Whitburn, West Lothian, where an 18-year-old Lewis began gigging in pubs before catapulting into global fame with “Bruises,” and later, the earth-shattering “Someone You Loved.”
Tonight, Spark Arena is close to capacity, as Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” pumps through the PA. A handful of women sing along half-heartedly, split attention between Joel’s falsettos and their InstaTok stories.
But once the lights drop, the sea of phones rises in perfect modern-day reverence.
From the very first note, Capaldi is dialled in. Warm. Ready. A true professional who knows exactly what he’s here to do. Backed by a tight five-piece band, he launches into his set with the booming confidence of a man who’s played arenas from Glasgow to Chicago and back.
He’s dressed like the boy next door, loose denim jacket, baggy pants, a look so casual he’d blend into a Mitre 10 aisle without anyone noticing. But once he opens his mouth, the room transforms. Hits like “Survive” and “Before You Go”erupt into a chorus of voices around me, thousands of women singing, cheering, screaming.
I find myself in what feels like a secret church, every hand raised skyward, every voice pulsating in unison, worshipping at the altar of heartbreak’s chosen prophet.
During a quiet moment, someone shouts, “Come on Lewis, I want to marry you!” The shock wasn’t the proposal, but that it came from a man.
Four songs in, Capaldi finally addresses the crowd.
“It’s been five long years since I was last here,” he says and the arena erupts.
“I’ve been dying to get back, but I’ve had some health issues.”
The crowd laughs, knowing his self-deprecation well.
“I mean mentally… I was unwell.” More laughter, Capaldi’s trademark blend of brutal honesty and comedic timing softens the heaviness.
He reads a fan’s sign aloud from the front row:
“Oh what does that say… ‘Would you like my cock?’ Yeah, please give it here.”
He’s handed a small knitted stuffed bird, which he admires briefly before tossing it over his shoulder. The crowd loses it. Capaldi’s wit tonight is as lethal as his falsetto.
I remember the first time I saw the original music video for Someone You Loved in early 2019, the one featuring actor Peter Capaldi, the bereaved husband navigating grief through a donor-heart storyline. No Lewis in sight, just his distant relative. It was haunting, human, cinematic. A piece of art that added to the mystique of who Lewis Capaldi was.
Then the record label did the record label thing… and six months later released the second video featuring Lewis himself. It never quite hit the same emotional nerve. Still, the song went on to chart in 29 countries, spending seven weeks at #1 in the UK. It became the heartbreak anthem of a generation.
“If you’ve been dragged here by a friend,” Lewis jokes at one point, “I hope you like ballads.”
He launches into “Wish You the Best” as phones lift like fireflies.
During “Love the Hell Out of You”, a couple behind me gets engaged, complete with a friend capturing the proposal for TikTok posterity. One of those nights that lives on forever, destined to become a story for the grandkids.
Later Capaldo jokes,
“I put out a new EP. It hasn’t done well overseas.”
Self-awareness: unmatched.
A soaring guitar solo follows, but the lighting operator leaves the poor guitarist in the dark, literally. A small tragedy in an otherwise well-oiled production.
Capaldi then takes to the piano for “The Day I Die,” delivering a stripped-back, soul-baring performance that quiets even the loudest superfans.
As the encore fades and people begin filing out, two women approach me, Tara T and Courtney B, who flew from New Plymouth just to be here. They compliment my video skills and phones capabilities (bless them) and I ask what they thought of the show.
Tara beams,
“It was well worth ditching the kids for.”
Courtney adds,
“It was better live than Spotify.”
Hard to disagree. Live, Capaldi is something altogether different.
He sings with vigour, gusto, and a booming emotional power that feels almost operatic, wrapped tightly in a rock-ballad cloak.
The Verdict
Lewis Capaldi at Spark Arena was a standout performance, funny, raw, self-aware, and vocally explosive.
A man whose vulnerability is matched at times only by his ability to command a full arena with nothing but a piano and a voice that refuses to be ignored.
Highly recommended, absolutely not to be missed. And if you did miss it, let’s hope we don’t have to wait another five years for his return.
Setlist
- Survive
- Grace
- Heavenly Kind of State of Mind
- Forever
- Wish You the Best
- Love the Hell Out of You
- Almost
- Bruises
- Pointless
- Something in the Heavens
- Leave Me Slowly
- Forget Me
- The Pretender
- The Day That I Die
- Before You Go
Encore:
- How I'm Feeling Now
- Hold Me While You Wait
- Someone You Loved
Reviewer: Paul Marshall
Photography by Paul Marshall
WATCH THE LIVE VIDEO at Paul Was There -