As my Mum’s 50th Birthday present I brought her
tickets to see Paloma Faith at the O2 with support from Laura Mvula. It was a
night to celebrate as that was also the day of my final recital at Uni marking
the end of my degree.
I was curious to see how Laura Mvula would fill such a huge
arena as the O2 but she did not disappoint. She was wearing the most amazing
peplum white skirt which made her stand out despite the fact that we were
seated right at the back of the arena.
Her voice is so pure and beautiful that she soon had the whole venue
entranced, and her chatter between songs only made her even more likable.
Paloma’s show however blew away all my expectations, I had
expected a big show but was not sure whether the music would completely grip me
as I had not been a big fan of her recorded material (prior to this gig at least!). The show begun with her walking onto an empty
stage, starting a record player with a slightly cheesy voiceover and singing
a deliciously simple song. The shows
basic premise was that she began with nothing, and this was demonstrated
beautifully with this serene opening.
As the show progressed more and more staging and musicians
were added, and I have to say I did not immediately notice this happening,
Paloma is such a captivating performer that this was almost not essential. She has such a powerful voice, with only a
few blips at the beginning which were completely forgotten. She introduced her support, Laura Mvula, back
on stage for a brilliant version of I Can’t
Stand the Rain.
I loved all her soul covers, which fitted perfectly
alongside her own material, particularly Liam Baileys who joined her on stage
for a cover of Dark End of the Street.
Her performance with an artist who was new to me was the highlight of my night, Ty Taylor from the band Vintage Trouble, who was slightly reminiscent of performances I've watched of Otis Redding.
Paloma has such a bubbly personality that she really made
the whole arena feel like they were her friends, she came from nothing and
then, in her words, “Half filled the O2 Arena”.
It was obvious how big a deal this gig was for her, which was lovely as
sometimes artists seem to take their luck for granted. She was hilarious at the end when, instead of
taking a bow and walking off she listed everybody’s names, even the stage crew
(who were wearing tuxedo’s throughout the show) reading their names
from a soggy piece of paper “There’s been a spillage!!”
Overall, this gig made me love Paloma as an artist, as well
as the funny personality with the amazing dress sense I'd seen on Never Mind the
Buzzcocks, she really knows how to put on a show!
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