Call Upon The Author

Picture courtesy of Rob Ball

Though she may have garnered the sympathy vote with her stories of being laid up with a cold, Paloma Faith didn’t pull her punches tonight. Instead she invested herself fully in a powerful performance that was far ore hit than miss. Backed by her superb band, the set was full of energy and truly came alive when she launched into ‘Do you Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful’ and electing to perform it not as you’d have heard on the radio but as it sounds when remixed by Widower. The result, a kind of Nile Rodgers produced disco epic fuelled by the sort of guitar reminiscent of Prince’s purple patch, was nothing short of mesmerising!
Changing tack and paying tribute to her idol Billie Holiday was a nice touch and her

Picture courtesy of Cathy Greig

 rendition of ‘God Bless The Child’, but also served to show the lack of depth to Faith’s own songs. Thankfully though, she made up for it with a burst of energy that carried her through to the inevitable final encore of ‘New York’.
Special mention must be made for openers La Shark, whose contrived ‘individuality’ and purposely quirky songs left the audience cold and only served to further highlight Faith’s genuine warmth and natural appeal.

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