Lewis Capaldi Is Back on the Road. We Need to Talk About the Mental Health Toll of Touring
The widely-adored Scottish singer-songwriter is back on tour after a long hiatus due to health issues; his story is becoming increasingly common.
By Jeremy Young
Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi recently announced his 2026 tour plans. You can find Capaldi’s tour dates here via Bandsintown, and at the bottom of this article, but for those unfamiliar with his story, this news represents an incredible and admirable route to recovery after experiencing both mental burnout and physical health setbacks that forced him to step away from music for two years.
In an industry that demands constant exposure and public visibility, this wasn’t just difficult, it was shunned. Capaldi’s brutally honest new song, “Survive,” both describes and reframes the vulnerability of getting knocked off and saddled back onto his horse.
Capaldi’s Will to “Survive”
In June 2023, the Scottish singer-songwriter cancelled the remainder of his tour dates scheduled throughout that year, and announced he would be taking an indefinite break from touring “for the foreseeable future” after he struggled through his Glastonbury set with an extreme bout of Tourette Syndrome.
His voice affected and his body uncontrollably ticking, the crowd stepped in to sing every single lyric of his final song that day.
In a Twitter post in the weeks to follow, Capaldi wrote: “I used to be able to enjoy every second of shows like this and I’d hoped three 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 so much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time.”
Capaldi’s return to the live stage this summer at Glastonbury, a total surprise appearance set on the exact same stage that derailed his performance momentum two years back, marked his triumphant reemergence to a medium of expression that has provided so much meaning and connection between this artist and their fans.
During the weekend of the festival, he released his new single, “Survive,” debuting it live to hundreds of thousands of people. The story it tells is one of resilience and strength through some of the hardest times the singer had ever experienced.
“If it’s the last thing I do
I’ve still got something to give
Though it hurts sometimes
I’m gonna get up and live”
It was… emotional.
The Pressures to Perform
Tourette Syndrome isn’t something most touring artists have to worry about acquiring due to a life on the road. Its most significant causes are related to one’s genetic predisposition, and often runs in families or is linked to several specific genes. But burning out, stressing out, experiencing physical or mental failures, and succumbing to the lack of sleep, harsh timezone changes, and social environmental factors that constant travel throws at an artist while on tour, are all too common.
Artists love to perform, and love to share the intimate space of the live concert with their fans, but it’s also one of the only remaining ways of surviving financially in the economics of the music industry today. The reality is that others make money on an artist’s tour as well. Labels, agents, investors, brands, touring infrastructure teams, and ticketing agencies, all collectively rely on that mobile marketing machine to mine every data-exposed fan cluster on the planet for sustenance.
Can you imagine the pressure that some artists feel with all of that weight bearing down on them? Not to mention that fans expect an unforgettable entertainment experience every single night.
With all that in mind, it’s no surprise that an increasing number of touring artists have had to take extended breaks from the road to get healthy. Just this week Radiohead announced that two of the band’s scheduled shows will be postponed due to singer Thom Yorke’s diagnosis of an “extreme throat infection.”
Even Justin Bieber recently told his audience on a Twitch stream that touring is “super daunting.” He said: “Touring takes so much out of you, and I’ve done it since I was a kid… I always start out really loving it and then it gets to a point where I am super burnt out.”
Here’s a partial list of other artists who have taken breaks from live touring in recent years:
- Ween — In August 2024, the band announced they would stop touring for the foreseeable future to preserve the mental health of guitarist and vocalist Dean Ween. They canceled some anniversary shows; cited that touring was too taxing on Dean’s mental and spiritual well-being.
- Joe Trohman (Fall Out Boy) — In January 2023, guitarist Joe Trohman took a temporary break from the band to focus on his mental health.
- Arlo Parks — Arlo cancelled a set of US concert dates in September 2022, citing her mental health deteriorating to a “debilitating place.”
- Ed Tullett — Ed announced in January 2024 that he would stop touring with the live band he worked with (Novo Amor live band) after seven years, saying touring had become too taxing on his mental health.
- Ashe — Ashe cancelled her planned “Fun While It Lasted” tour saying she no longer felt “mentally healthy or resilient enough to go back on tour yet.”
- Shawn Mendes — Shawn cancelled the remainder of his Wonder: The World Tour in July 2022 citing mental health and burnout. He said he “wasn’t prepared for the toll that being back on the road would take.”
- KennyHoopla — KennyHoopla cancelled his US tour in August 2022, stating it was to “focus on myself and my mental health.”
- Sam Fender — Sam cancelled all remaining 2022 US tour dates to “look after my own mental health.” His statement noted he felt it would be hypocritical to advocate mental-health discussion but not apply it to himself.
- Circa Survive — The band cancelled their North American tour in early 2022 due to vocalist Anthony Green’s mental health crisis.
- Black Country, New Road — Lead vocalist and guitarist Isaac Wood announced his departure in January 2022 citing mental health, which led to the band cancelling a planned US tour.
A personal note.
I wanted to take a moment to share my own experience with this topic, although I would quickly acknowledge that I’ve not been diagnosed with a neurological disorder of any kind, nor played in front of 150,000 screaming fans. However, I have spent a significant portion of my life on the road as a working musician. I’ve both witnessed and experienced the inevitable diminishing of an artist’s energy and physical stamina, often as it collides with unrealistic expectations to perform at the height of one’s abilities every night as if ignoring the needs of one’s body and mind.
Like all fuels, creative energy and enthusiasm do not spring from boundless generative reserves.
I often have conversations with people who say how lucky I am to travel the world and play music — and I am the first to admit that it is a pretty joyful way to spend one’s time on this planet — I make music because I love it. But often I detect an assumption behind that sentiment that an artist’s work is to sit back, play around, and have fun, like life on the road is one giant school trip.
Touring is anything but.
What fans see is the tip of the iceberg of an artist’s day; and usually follows a long, laborious day of travel, accommodations check-in, equipment loading and setup, sound-checking, media sit downs, irregular eating schedules, last minute changes at the venue to guest list, setlist, set times, and sparse social planning with friends or family in the area. All of that occurs every single day when on the road, and days “off” usually simply mean rest and recovery for one’s body, if and when those are planned at all (because days off mean a loss of income).
I have burnt out on the road, I have felt the cumulative exhaustion of traveling, working, and performing, while trying to socially engage and simultaneously wish I could just be left alone. I have also found solace in the act of mining these emotions for creative material, for communicative drive, and connective synchronicity between fellow artists. It is a mindset that’s indeed bittersweet, often difficult to comprehend or decode, and can sometimes lead to feelings of guilt on top of that.
How am I both doing what I love, enjoying the company and support of my fans, and yet miserable and exhausted? And why do I feel guilty for trying to use that misery and exhaustion to better connect with my peers?
The examples of Lewis Capaldi and all of those other mentioned other artists whose experiences are becoming increasingly commonplace, will hopefully shed light on some of the least-talked about elements of what it means to be a working musician in 2026. And why more than ever it’s important that artists feel enabled to take space for themselves, rest, and find balance instead of feeling pressured to acquiesce to the needs of external stakeholders.
Lewis Capaldi 2026 Tour Dates
2025-11-30 Christchurch New Zealand Wolfbrook Arena
2025-12-02 Auckland New Zealand Spark Arena
2025-12-04 Brisbane Australia Brisbane Entertainment Centre
2025-12-06 Sydney Australia Qudos Bank Arena
2025-12-07 Sydney Australia Qudos Bank Arena
2025-12-09 Sydney Australia Qudos Bank Arena
2025-12-10 Melbourne Australia Rod Laver Arena
2025-12-12 Melbourne Australia Rod Laver Arena
2025-12-13 Melbourne Australia Rod Laver Arena
2025-12-15 Adelaide Australia AEC Arena
2025-12-17 Perth Australia RAC Arena
2026-01-17 Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Nights
2026-04-15 Philadelphia, PA USA Liacouras Center
2026-04-16 New York, NY USA Madison Square Garden
2026-04-18 Boston, MA USA MGM Music Hall at Fenway
2026-04-19 Boston, MA USA MGM Music Hall at Fenway
2026-04-21 Montréal, QC Canada Bell Centre
2026-04-23 Toronto, ON Canada Scotiabank Arena
2026-04-25 Chicago, IL USA United Center
2026-04-28 Denver, CO USA Red Rocks Amphitheatre
2026-04-29 Denver, CO USA Red Rocks Amphitheatre
2026-05-02 Los Angeles, CA USA Hollywood Bowl
2026-05-03 Berkeley, CA USA Greek Theatre
2026-05-06 Vancouver, BC Canada Rogers Arena
2026-06-04 Rattvik Sweden Dalhalla
2026-06-17 Milan Italy Fiera Milano
2026-06-23 Dublin Ireland Marlay Park
2026-06-24 Dublin Ireland Marlay Park
2026-06-26 Limerick Ireland Thomond Park
2026-06-27 Exeter UK Powderham Castle
2026-06-28 Exeter UK Powderham Castle
2026-06-30 Cardiff UK Blackweir Fields
2026-07-01 Cardiff UK Blackweir Fields
2026-07-04 Leeds UK Roundhay Park
2026-07-08 Newcastle UK Exhibition Park
2026-07-11 London UK Hyde Park (BST)
2026-07-12 London UK Hyde Park (BST)
2026-07-15 Locarno Italy Moon & Stars
2026-07-18 Figueira Da Foz Portugal Summer Sessions
2026-08-15 Liverpool UK Sefton Park
2026-08-20 Belfast UK Boucher Road Playing Fields
2026-08-22 Manchester UK Wythenshawe Park
