A consecutive night for me at Halifax’s The Piece Hall, this time featuring the enigmatic Paloma Faith supported by Jack Kane. This venue will never lose its appeal for me – it’s my hometown so will always have a special place in my heart, but for anyone who hasn’t managed to attend a live music event here yet, then get one booked and soon!
Once again tonight is one of the gigs from the Summer of Music events in collaboration with Cuffe and Taylor, who earlier this year signed an exclusive 5 year deal to programme live music events at The Piece Hall. There are only a few more gigs before this run of events finishes and with most of them sold out the opportunities to catch one of these is limited.
The support act for the night is the talented singer/song-writer Jack Kane from Hertfordshire who may be recognisable to some from previous acting roles. Delivering a brilliantly crisp vocal and excellent guitar skills, Jack stood front and centre throughout his set offering a personal insight into his song lyrics. With a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’ thrown into the mix too, Jack belies his age commanding the stage as an individual and producing a remarkably experienced performance, perfectly setting the tone for the next act.
With the crowd raring for the next performance, Paloma Faith and her accompanying musicians (Andrea Goldsworthy – Bass, Sam Lewis – Guitar, Peter Daley – Piano/Keyboard, Daisy Palmer – Drums, Shanice Steele and Nym – Backing Vocals) enter the stage launching into the first song of the night ‘Gold’.
Dressed in a wonderful black dress with added sparkle and bright red accessories, Paloma is a sight to behold. After ‘Last Night On Earth’, Paloma declares that life is for living and anything can happen and that we should all live like tonight is the last night of your life. The crowd cheer and it’s plain to see that tonight is going to be a hell of a night!
‘Monster’ really gets the crowd going with some shall we say questionable dancing, but it’s clear everyone is having fun. The set is somewhat split into segments, with an acoustic section mid-way through including ‘Stone Cold and ‘New York’ where Paloma explains she wants to pay homage to the jazz clubs where she started as that’s what her Mum loves. A rather endearing story ensues with Paloma explaining that her Mum considers her fame to be somewhat of a giant playground where everyone goes online to slag her daughter off – not to worry though her Mum often can be seen online jumping to her defence!
Later in the evening ‘Beautiful & Damned’ is poignantly dedicated to her musical director Kevin Banks (often known as B B Bones) who passed away only 6 weeks ago and should have been on this tour. Having recorded him on the tour last year, this has been included for this years tour providing a touching memento of him.
Throughout the evening, Paloma’s effervescent personality and razor sharp wit and humour is on display for all to see – whether it’s the jokes about someone leaving or somebody else getting naked after taking their hat off, she makes sure to make everyone feel like a valued member of the crowd, even throwing in a cover of Erma Franklins ‘Piece Of My Heart’ to make sure there’s a song that everyone will know and can dance to. With relatable chat throughout from being a daughter to being a parent and to laughing about losing an eyelash and being left with stumpy eyelashes, Paloma is truly a consummate performer not just a fantastic singer.
Finishing the night with everyone’s phone torches held high, ‘Only Love’ would have raised the roof if there was one! With a final goodbye and statement of ‘My name is Paloma Faith and I actually love every one of you’, I’m sure the crowd feel the same towards her.
The Age of Optimism Summer Tour continues throughout July and August with tickets available here.
