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Lewis Capaldi is opening up about a series of "bad" episodes that made him realize he needed to take a break from performing.
The "Someone You Loved" singer appeared as a guest on a recent episode of Theo Von's This Past Weekend podcast where he explained how his set at the 2023 Glastonbury Festival was one of the best and worst times of his life, per People. Following the festival, he took a two-year break from performing live to focus on his mental health and manage his Tourette's syndrome.
The Scottish singer recalled the "horrible" incident he experienced on stage that made it difficult for him to finish his performance, saying "it was like the lowest moment of my life." However, he also knew in the moment that it would be the last time he would perform live for a while, and once he came to the realization, he felt relief.
"I had this moment where I was onstage like two, three songs in, I was like, 'This is the last time I'm going to play a gig for a long time. I need to try and get through the rest of the show, but when I come off, I'm done,'" he said, adding, "When I came offstage, it was weird. I had this, 'Oh, everything's alright now and I can actually go and get help and fix myself for the next two years."
And that's exactly what he did, focusing on his mental health and utilizing therapy to help him "be a musician again" during his break and get him into a "much better headspace."
Capaldi sees a silver lining with his 2023 Glastonbury performance, noting that he "wouldn't have stopped otherwise" so "in a weird way, it's probably the best thing that ever happened to me." The incident was also a "long time coming" as he had an even "worse" experience a few weeks prior in Chicago.
"It was probably even worse, the one in Chicago, I couldn't come back onstage and finish the song, I was like backstage convulsing and having this crazy panic attack, mental episode," he said. "It was really, really bad."
Capaldi made his triumphant return to Glastonbury last month, telling fans in the crowd how happy he was to be back for his first live performance in two years.