Musicians used to start out playing pubs – now the likes of Lewis Capaldi are booking arenas before their debut album. Is this sudden success damaging long-term careers?
Picking up an honour last week at LA’s Pollstar awards, which celebrate achievements in live
music, Elton John delivered some advice. “To people who manage people who are young: don’t put them in big arenas too soon, make it interesting. If I was Lewis Capaldi’s manager, I wouldn’t put him into Madison Square Garden. I’d say, we’ll play two nights at Radio City. Let him have the demand … You build up a career.”
But Capaldi, the Grammy-nominated Scottish singer who had 2019’s biggest-selling album in the
UK and a No 1 single in the US, is already at arena level – his 2020 tour, beginning next week, will see him play some of the UK’s biggest venues, including two nights at London’s Wembley Arena. He is one of a few artists playing giant rooms after just one album: Sam Fender and Dermot Kennedy will soon play two shows each at Alexandra Palace, and Billie Eilish plays four O2 Arena dates in July. Scottish troubadour Gerry Cinnamon is set to play arenas, castles, parks and even Glasgow’s Hampden Park stadium. Selling that many tickets on a debut album campaign contrasts with the slow-and-steady strategy that worked for Elton John and many more of the world’s biggest acts. Even Adele didn’t play the O2 Arena until releasing her third album, and Ed Sheeran visited on his second.