LEWIS CAPALDI HAS confirmed that he is “taking a break from touring for the foreseeable future”.
The Scottish singer had cancelled all his performances in June ahead of his Glastonbury set.
This included a planned gig at the 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin and he is also scheduled to headline Electric Picnic on 2 September.
In a statement this morning, Capaldi thanked the crowd at Glastonbury for “singing along when I needed it and for all the amazing messages afterwards.
In an emotional performance on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage on Saturday Capaldi admitted he was having voice issues, telling the crowd: “I’m going to be honest everybody but I’m starting to lose my voice up here, but we’re going to keep going and we’re going to go until the end.
“I just need you all to sing with me as loud as you can if that’s okay?”
He continued to apologise to the crowd, and the Eavis family who organise Glastonbury, for his voice starting to go – but the ocean of fans replied by cheering him on and chanting “Oh Lewis Capaldi”.
Before his final song at Glastonbury, he told the crowd: “I recently took three weeks off just because I’ve been none stop the past year and I wanted to take a wee break from my head for my mental health.
“I wanted to come back and do Glastonbury because it’s obviously so incredible so I just want to thank you all for coming out. I was scared but you’ve really made me feel at ease so thank you very much for that.”
Capaldi added: “I feel like I’ll be taking another wee break over the next couple of weeks so you probably won’t see much of me for the rest of the year maybe even. But when I do come back, when I do see you, I hope you’re all still up for watching.”
Confirming this break today, Capaldi said: “The fact that this probably won’t come as a surprise doesn’t make it any easier to write, but I’m very sorry to let you know I’m going to be taking a break from touring for the foreseeable future.
“I used to be able to enjoy every second of shows like this and I’d hoped 3 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 much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time to come.”
Capaldi was due to headline Electric Picnic on 2 September.
“I’m so incredibly sorry to everyone who had planned to come to a show before the end of the year,” said Capaldi, “but I need to feel well to perform at the standard you all deserve.
“Playing for you every night is all I’ve ever dreamed of so this has been the most difficult decision of my life. I’ll be back as soon as I possibly can.”
-With additional reporting from Press Association
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