On the heels of her recent U.S. tour announcement, soulful British singer/songwriter Paloma Faith announced a rather sizable UK arena tour kicking off March 12th at Brighton Center and closing out March 25th at London’s famed O2 Arena. As if a MASSIVE arena tour wasn’t enough to keep this flame haired beauty busy, Faith also announced plans to release a brand new single, “Ready For The Good Life,” (November 2nd) as well as a re-packaged version of her critically acclaimed Top 5 album A Perfect Contradiction (dubbed The Outsiders‘ Edition) November 3rd.
It’s absolutely BONKERS to me that Faith is selling out 20,000 person arenas in the UK, while here in America she’s playing to crowds of 200 – 400. How lucky are we to see an artist of her magnitude in a small, intimate setting?I keep pinching myself. It goes without saying that I’d rather see an artist I love play an intimate venue than an arena. Case in point, after seeing an artist like Ellie Goulding play Boston venues like Paradise Rock Club and more recently, The Theater at Madison Square Garden…I can tell you right now – I probably won’t pay to see her live again. The bigger she (or any artist for that matter) gets here in the States, the bigger the venues she plays and while I feel a certain sense of pride, being able to tell people “I saw her when…” I’m just not interested in paying more for a worse concert-going experience, although, never say never. Don’t get me wrong, I wish Paloma all the success in the world…the longer she keep playing these small U.S. venues the happier I’ll be.
Paloma Faith is a hustler. Not only is she ready, willing and able to promo the SH*T out of a new release through her social media channels, she is a TOURING MACHINE. Following the conclusion of her U.S. tour October 9th, Faith will embark on her autumn UK tour kicking off October 28th in Sheffield. After playing a string of UK dates, Faith heads off on a short European tour hitting cities like Amsterdam, Berlin and Brussels. Following her March UK arena tour (tickets for which go on sale Friday) Paloma goes down under, traveling to Australia (AKA the country that gave Paloma her FIRST NO. 1 single!) Her Aussie tour kicks off May 5th in Melbourne and takes her around the continent hitting a number of major venues INCLUDING the iconic Sydney Opera House, before concluding in Perth May 16th. WHOOSH! Give the girl a vacation!
I guess the good thing about all of this tour news is the fact that it’s coupled with news of some new music. According to Popjustice, the album repack will include five new songs, including the forthcoming single, “Ready For The Good Life,” co-written and produced by Teddybears‘ Klas Åhlund (Robyn, Katy Perry, Britney Spears). Additional new tracks include two Diane Warren-penned (just a guess) ballads; “Leave While I’m Not Looking” and “Best Bad Habit,” as well as a new CHOON called “Beauty Remains,” co-written by Faith, Bernard Butler (Duffy, Aimee Mann, Sophie Ellis-Bextor) and singer/songwriter Fyfe Dangerfield. The fact that she’s hooking up with Grammy-winning songwriter Diane Warren again is NO surprise, given that their first collab, “Only Love Can Hurt Like This,” remains her biggest hit to date. Also featured on this A Perfect Contradiction redux, a previously unheard version of Sigma & Paloma’s current collab, “Changing” (out now). This (mostly) all sounds very promising, doesn’t it?
The U.S. version of Paloma Faith‘s new album will be released October 7th (Epic Records) but you can pre-order it on iTunes now. In the meantime, download “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” (iTunes) and check out the videos for “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” and “Changing” by Sigma below:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaKr9gWqwl4]
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAeotgCHL3E]
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