Lewis Capaldi is blowing up as pop's next big thing.
In April, the Scottish singer-songwriter sold out eight U.K. arena shows for 2020 even though he hadn't yet released his debut album.
Released in May, his debut, "Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent," has been the best-selling album in the U.K. this year, and his single, "Someone You Loved," is No. 3 in the States on Billboard's Hot 100.
Not surprisingly, Capaldi's Twin Cities debut Thursday at First Avenue sold out in a flash. Young women screamed their love for him, sang along on nearly every song, and even serenaded him with "Happy Birthday" (he turns 23 on Monday) after one front-row fan handed him a card signed by five women (one named Maddy, another Maddie, he pointed out, as he read the card).
The round-faced, tousled haired Capaldi was a playful, cheeky presence (can't you tell from the album title?) who looked like a bloke at the corner pub, not the U.K.'s hottest new rock star.
Even though it was sometimes difficult to decipher what the fast-talking singer with the deep Scottish lilt was saying, he was very chatty and sometimes silly between songs. He put on a red bra tossed onstage, imitated screaming fans and conversed with individual clubgoers (including the 8-year-old Lucy to whom he gave a Frisbee and Grace, who asked to come onstage to sing with him).
Musically, Capaldi impressed as a cross between Sam Smith and Coldplay's Chris Martin with Ed Sheeran's flair for pulling at the heart strings of young women. Performing with conviction and intensity, the newcomer showed a voice that was as thick and rich as Thanksgiving gravy, with a pleasing falsetto and a soulful tendency to elongate one-syllable words into something more (example: grace became gray-a-a-ace).
Capaldi dropped several f-bombs as a declaration of superlative, not anger. (Example: "I'm here for the love and adulation; he [pianist Aidan] is here for the bleeping money.")
