Photos + text by Alex Brown
Paloma Faith brought her The Glorification of Sadness Tour to Sheffield City Hall and it was possibly the best night of my life.
Paloma Faith is currently touring her latest album ‘The Glorification of Sadness’ which is possibly one of the most heartfelt, personal albums I’ve listened to in a long time. Faith brings her true emotions as she sings and talks about her recent break up and the changes it has brought to her life. The night opened with Paloma’s band coming onto the stage performing ‘There’s Nothing More Human Than Failure’ and the gospel vocals really powered through the City Hall.
As Faith walked onto the stage she was greeted by an echo of cheers before going into the lead single of the album ‘How You Leave A Man’. As someone who has only ever heard her vocals through a recording, words do not begin to describe just how powerful her vocals are.
Trying to focus on taking photos was a near impossible task as I was immediately engulfed in the atmosphere of the night and after a few songs the crowd were up on their feet dancing away as if we were all part of a massive rave, from the floor to the highest balcony everyone was up on their feet singing and dancing the night away.
The night kept getting better and better as she worked through tracks off her latest release such as ‘Divorce’, ‘I Am Enough’, ‘Hate When You’re Happy’ and ‘Sweatpants’ being some of the big hitters. During the latter, Faith made her way through the crowd climbing over the chairs with a helping hand from the fans around who were all in awe that they were just inches away from the superstar.
Before exiting the stage Paloma told the crowd she would be taking a short break before coming back to perform her older songs, so after a short break we were greeted to Paloma in a whole new (and incredibly bright) pink dress and immediately into the anthems Paloma is known for as she opened her second set with ‘Stone Cold Sober’.
The second half of the night was just a party from the opener to the end, everyone was dancing and singing and just going absolutely crazy. No other cares in the world other than the magic that was happening inside that room as she worked her way through hits such as ‘Crybaby’, ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Changing’ I have been to hundreds (if not thousands) of shows in my time and I will hold my hands up and say this was probably one of the best nights of my life, recordings do not do her justice. The raw power of her voice is breath-taking. Her shows are filled with little stories of her personal life and joking about what her favourite word is, talking about her kids, how she’s a ‘Domestic Goddess’ by day and many will agree a Goddess by night.
The night ended with an incredibly passionate speech about the world working better together rather than alone and many voices are better than one and before breaking into a beautiful rendition of ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’ the room screamed and cheered as Paloma showed her support for Palestine. As the night was coming to an end the band fell silent as the room sang back the chorus alone which sent shivers down my spine, so I can’t imagine how it makes Paloma feel performing the song night after night.
Just like that two hours were gone in a flash but I will not forget that night for a long time. Paloma Faith was always on my list of artists I wanted to see live and it was 100% worth the wait. If you have tickets for any of the remaining dates you’re in for a treat, otherwise you should definitely try and get yourself to one of her shows in the near future! It’s a huge treat.
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