“Front of the Line” is a recurring series where GBH News' Haley Lerner explores fan culture and talks to the people who show up first in line to see their favorite musicians.
Sisters Jada and Hailey Rios were first in line to see Lewis Capaldi perform at Boston’s MGM Music Hall in Fenway. They drove down from New Hampshire and started the queue at 3 a.m.
“I like to be in the front. I pay good money, why not be in the front?” Jada said.
As dedicated concert-goers they were prepared for the long haul. The doors for the show opened at 7 p.m. That’s 16 hours in line.
“We’re out here with our chairs, blankets, our cooler, portable charger," Hailey said. "We’ve got everything we need, all the necessities.”
Capaldi performed to a sold out crowd in Fenway on Monday night as part of his Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent tour. The Scottish singer is best known for his pop ballads “Before You Go” and “Someone You Loved,” the latter which hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year.
One perk of showing up early? The Rio sisters got to meet Capaldi when he arrived at the venue.
“We were just like ‘How are you enjoying Boston?’ He said he liked it,” Jada said. “He was in a bit of a rush. He was helping take everything out of the car to get inside.”
The Rios weren't the only ones — before the show started, a swarm of fans lined up early to get coveted spots at the front of the general admission pit.
Mehali Patel from Methuen was worried that if she didn’t show up early, she wouldn’t secure her position at the front of the barricade.
“I've been here since 3:30 this morning,” she said. “Some people were saying they were coming in at six and I really wasn't sure. So I was like, I'm just going to come earlier than that. I came and thankfully, I was the third in line.”
Jenna Leeman and Noah Powell arrived at the Fenway venue at 5:40 a.m. after driving down from Damariscotta, Maine. This is the pair's first time ever lining up early for a concert.
“We really want to get front row,” Leeman said.
“We’ll get out of the concert probably at midnight, then I have to go to work at 5 a.m. once we get home,” Powell said. “That’ll be fun.”
Olivia Charette’s mother, Corrine, surprised her with tickets to the concert for her birthday.
“I've never been near the front at a concert,” Olivia said. “I remember in 2019, when he came out with his first album, I loved it. And then the three-year break was a little brutal. But I am really excited, she bought me a ticket to surprise me for my birthday.”
Sisters Tabitha and Cassandra Croce from Maine arrived at 6 a.m. and said it was “freezing” waiting outside early in the morning. But, Tabitha said she was excited to hear Capaldi’s humor on stage. “I think he's funny. I'm excited for the side conversations.”
During the show, Capaldi’s humor was a highlight. The singer, who’s song “Someone You Loved,” became the longest-running top 10 UK single by a British artist in May 2020, joked about the difference in popularity he has overseas.
“There’s a lot of you in here, this is a nice big room,” he said. "We've just come from the UK and Europe playing shows there. We were playing arenas over there so it’s nice to be doing when I can see people’s faces, I feel like there’s a connection. I mean don’t get me wrong, I am making way less money. Like way less. Every second I’m here I'm losing money. But I don’t do it for the money, everybody. I do it for the fame and the ladies ... You know it’s true, and of course the money.”
Capaldi released a documentary on Netflix titled “How I’m Feeling Now” on April 5, which chronicles his global success, mental health struggles and his Tourette Syndrome diagnosis.
The singer made jokes about his tics that occurred throughout his show on stage, such as coughing.
“I have Tourette's OK. Yeah, you know a disability,” he said. “So, this cough is not a cough, it’s also a tic. I’m not sick. That was a pain in the a** during COVID as you can imagine.”
In an Instagram story post made after the show, Capaldi expressed thanks for his fans that helped sing parts of his song when he struggled to.
“Boston thank you so much for an incredible show!” he wrote. “Was struggling a bit in the encore with my tics but you got me through it, legends.”
