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Lewis Capaldi serenades passengers on British Airways flight

Scottish singer cracked out impromptu performance on London to Los Angeles service

Helen Coffey
Friday 31 March 2023 10:55 BST
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Lewis Capaldi performs and serves drinks to surprised British Airways flyers

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Passengers on a British Airways flight from London to Los Angeles were treated to some unexpected inflight entertainment when Lewis Capaldi cracked out his guitar onboard.

The Scottish singer unexpectedly serenaded travellers with a track from his new album, Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent, on the transatlantic service on 29 March.

Four of his fans had been personally invited on the flight, but were unaware that the Brit Award-winner would be giving a private perfomance at 30,000ft.

In a video he posted to Instagram, Capaldi can be seen making his way through the cabin with a refreshments trolley.

He stops by his fans invited onboard and asks if they’d like anything from the cart, but the girls are too shocked to answer – although they do hand over their tube of Pringles when he asks to have one.

Capaldi then got out his guitar and played part of his new track, “Wish you the Best”, apologising for the noise “because someone is sleeping”.

After the brief performance, the self-deprecating singer-songwriter said: “Sorry for disturbing your flight, if you don’t know my name is Ed Sheeran”.

“I have never seen him that close, I am like wow,” said one of his teenage fans, while another added: “It just doesn’t seem real.”

British Airways employee and Capaldi fan Nicola Barker said of the performance: “What a pinch-me moment it was to watch Lewis perform with his guitar during the flight – not only did he sing, he served me a great a G&T too!”

The chart-topping artist is about to embark upon a sold-out tour of North America, with his first US gig taking place in Nashville. Tennessee.

It’s not the first time someone has decided to perform a song mid-flight.

In July 2022, a woman jetting off on her hen do got a shock when the flight attendant making the pre-flight announcements began to serenade her with a song from The Wedding Singer.

Allison Irwin was flying from Vancouver to Los Angeles for her bachelorette party with WestJet on when the surprise took place.

Her fiancé Shaun had called ahead with the airline to arrange the unique performance, asking if one member of the cabin crew might be able to sing his partner a song that meant something to them.

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