Live Review: Paloma Faith - Brighton Centre, 12/03/2018

Paloma Faith took the Brighton crowd in from the cold and put on one of the most spectacular shows we've seen in a long time.

This wasn't just a gig, this was a production. From stage set up, to backing dancers, Paloma sure knows how to put on a show.

Opening with the tour's title track "The Architect", Paloma and her band then played through the brilliant single "Crybaby" and "Guilty". At this point a break was taken to speak about our bodies. It's been widely reported that Paloma recently gave birth, and she told the story of how after nineteen hours of labour, things didn't exactly go as planned! At this point we think every woman and man in the crowd was wincing!

Nevertheless, her baby was born and whilst Paloma has kept some of the pregnancy weight, in her words, as a "souvenir" (greatly deserved if you ask us), she spoke about how society dictates that as someone in the public eye, she should have the "perfect body". It's a subject that can be brushed under the carpet but when an influential pop star is making people aware of giving our bodies a break, people start to listen!

From that point on, Paloma asked the crowd to take the night off worrying what they look like, what others think of them and what they should be doing. Instead, they were to have fun and as the set went on, that's exactly what happened.

The crowd spent the majority of the night on their feet, holding onto every word and singing along to every lyric. Paloma finally finished with a crowd sing-a-long version of "Love Me As I Am" which seemed a fitting end to a brilliant night.

Whilst she may be one of the biggest names in pop right now, Paloma Faith is one of the most down to earth artists I've ever had the pleasure to see live. We highly encourage you to go to a show near you!

Words and Photography by Daniel Hills