We were incredibly lucky to attend Paloma Faith’s The Glorification Of Sadness Tour when it stopped off in Brighton on April 20th. The show was unique as instead of the usual Support and then main act, Paloma twisted this and became both, showcasing her new album for the first hour of the show, taking an interval and returning with older hits and a change of stage design.
We knew when we arrived to the show this was going to be one to get excited for, with the stage design, a lovely long walkway platform with the words “There’s nothing more human than failure” projected on the screen, this wasn’t just going to be a concert, it would be a performance. With fears that she may have to be postponed due to an illness and having to postpone her London and Cardiff dates prior in the week, Brighton Centre was definitely filled with fans, filled with the excitement of seeing the show.
The crowd was a lovely range of ages, although primarily filled with an older crowd, there was a lot of teenagers and children in the balcony seats, making it a nice atmosphere to be a part of. As the lights went down, Paloma Faith’s backing singers, Janelle Martin and Nim, entered the stage singing the words behind them ‘There’s nothing more human than failure’ and the lights came up to reveal Paloma on the top of the Runway. The first half of the show was Paloma’s newest album, The Glorification Of Sadness. The lighting was primarily white against the black stage to create a noir effect, with some red lighting for certain songs.
The first half of the show consisted of 13 of the 17 tracks of the album as she was joined on stage with her band, guitarist Fred Cox, Naomi Forbes drums, Andrea Goldsworthy on bass and Peter Daley keys. You could tell the emotions behind the songs as despite being ill, “65%” as faith described how she feels, she belted out the songs and the audience around me really contained the emotions. As the last few songs were about to start, Paloma asked the audience to stand and dance with her as she took her heels off, and discussed her new book coming out MILF, telling her fans about the farce feminism is, which was met with cheers and whoops by female fans.
After the interval, Paloma Faith returned to the stage but this time with Brunette hair and a much more colourful set, the runway gone and some steps now on the stage in a red dress. This half was much more energetic and fans jumped up straight away to boogie along to their favourite old hits of the star, as she played hits like Stone Cold Sober and Lullaby fans could not contain the energy from the top of the balcony to the front row.
As she closed out the night, she thanked her fans, saying had left everyone in the room emotional with statements such as that she has never been in such a long relationship with anyone besides them, “we have had a relationship for 16 years which other than the one with my mum I don’t think I’ve had one longer” and that she has found a new wave of fame with her tiktok viral song Only Love Can Hurt Like This, which closed out the show.