Oh, Paloma Faith, we do love you. What’s not to love? Your first album had a load of very-good-songs and a few SERIOUSLY good ones (like New York, Stone Cold Sober and Upside Down), your second album is absolutely fantastic and we *might* just be a little bit in love with your hair. We couldn’t resist going down to Plymouth’s lovely Pavilions and checking out your extravagant and breathtaking live show.
Taking to the stage in what can only be described as a mirrored bird suit (bizarre, but she still looks great), Paloma launches straight into Let Your Love Walk In and instantly has the crowd in the palm of her hand. She rattles through album tracks When You’re Gone and Beauty of the End without pausing for breath, but when she finally takes a moment to chat to the audience she is carefree, conversational and… Well, she’s just lovely.
Storming through a trio of tracks from her debut album Do You Want The Truth or Something Beautiful via covers of INXS and Etta James (now there’s something we never thought we’d type!), Paloma manages to toe the line between filling the set with album tracks for her die-hard fans and using her unique blend of classic soul and pure pop hits to keep even the most casual onlooker interested. Stone Cold Sober still sounds AMAZING and the cheerful jazz-pop of Upside Down is the perfect antidote to the annoying cold that’s been plaguing this reviewer for the past week.
Let Me Down Easy slows the tempo for a few minutes, as Paloma perches delicately on the edge of a black piano and croons like there’s no tomorrow. She’s certainly got one hell of a voice – if Adele and Dame Vera Lynn were to somehow have a lovechild it’d sound like her.
The bouncy Agony sounds a little/a lot/exactly like Mr. Brightside, but we’ll take any excuse to scream the lyrics to one of our favourite American indie anthems into the face of our thoroughly unamused best friend. Refreshingly, Paloma chooses not to go offstage for an encore (her exact words were ‘It’s just patronising!’ which is something we’re not sure we disagree with), but instead launches into the stunning Picking Up the Pieces.
She closes her set with Black & Blue (leaving some audience members in tears) before striding off stage with a cheery wave and a promise to come back soon. She’s pretty, she’s perky and she’s pleasant – we think we’ve fallen a little bit in love with Paloma Faith.