Paloma Faith - Thursday 11th February - HMV's Next Big Thing, The Jazz Cafe

Having played a brilliant show last year at Koko Camden, and a string of dates to come in March, Paloma Faith is certainly not resting on her laurels.

Headlining tonight for HMV's Next Big Thing, it could be argued that Faith is already a Next Big Thing.

Supporting her tonight is Scotsman Alex Gardner, looking like a cross between Michael Buble and Leonardo Dicaprio, he certainly had a lot of female attention on him. His short six song set of unplugged songs accompanied by an acoustic backing band certainly showcased his amazing soulful voice. He's a perfect support act for Paloma Faith.

Coming on at 9.30pm, Paloma Faith descends the stairs of the Jazz Cafe shrouded by two feather wings. Resplendant in a sequined red dress, Faith launches into the title track of her album, Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful. It's a piece that would make Amy Winehouse proud and she sings it with such soul. This follows up with the rather Noisettes like Broken Doll (she was once housemates with Shingai Shoniwa), and the brilliant New York which she belted out with aplomb. Her backing band provided some lush harmonies on this song and it's hard to imagine that Faith is playing in such a small stage as Camden's Jazz Cafe when her voice could easily fill much larger venues.

Appearing very happy and bouncing around, Faith seems to be in her element and loving every minute of playing this venue which she explains has been a dream of hers.

Smoke And Mirrors follows before she opens up with a dedication song to the victims of the Haiti earthquake with God Bless This Child. The whole venue went silent as she sings with emotion and purpose. The covers continue with Don't Explain, a few B-sides (I Just Wait and Luv Ya) , opening single Stone Cold Sober and Play On finishes the set and really has the crowd stomping and shaking around. It's as if we were in an old dance hall and it's a pretty jubilant atmosphere with a lot of foot tapping going on.

For her encore, she invites her saxophone player back onstage to do Upside Down, which she announces will be the next single to be released before closing with Etta James At Last, which she tells us, she only managed to sing a verse of at rehearsal for Jools Holland's show before she lost her voice. This time round she doesn't miss a beat and everyone is absolutely thrilled with her performance.

Tonight it was an amazing performance from Paloma Faith who has come a long way and will certainly be selling out more shows. There was no hint of any drawbacks from her bout of laryngitis, and Faith seems to be singing stronger than ever. HMV's Next Big Thing ? Nay, she's already there!

Catch her at Shepherd's Bush Empire at the end of March for a string of dates including one with her beau, Josh Weller on the 31st.