The up and coming indie crooner from Scotland can belt out his share of emotive tunes with the best of them. I had been a fan of his recordings and he confirmed his live chops early on in his Saturday morning set, playing the Red Marquee for his first ever Japan show.

Lewis Capaldi plays as a 3 piece unit with a couple of self described Scottish gingers. Ginger one is a keyboardist while ginger number two rocks an electric drum kit. Lewis himself also jumps on guitar from time to time, but despite the sounds around him, Capaldi with his clear, hauntingly powerful, emotionally resonant voice is consistently the star of the show.

His 40 minute set seemed a bit short in terms of deviation from a pre-determined set but Lewis was still able to throw in a bit of Scottish wit in some banter with the appreciative audience.

He is fully aware that is repertoire of music consists of “a bunch of sad songs” dealing with lost love and heartbreak. That said, the bulk of his tunes clearly come from a very real, personal place and the emotion found in his recordings comes out almost identically live. The crowd was more than entertained and took a chuckle at Lewis’ closing comment of “just 2 more songs then I’ll fuck off”.

For myself I would appreciate a little more variety in Lewis themes and content but you cant fault the man on the technique and feeling he puts into every song he performs. His title track in particular, and our closer for today, the devastating “Bruises” particularly hit hard.

Lewis is a real talent in a musical landscape filled with auto-tune and backing vocals, he is a real musician and lets you know it. If Lewis keeps on his current pace we’ll certainly see him again at Fuji Rock and it wont be on the red stage at 11:30 in the morning.