Nine years, a few unremarkable albums, two pregnancies and one divorce after she last performed in Cologne, Paloma Faith was back in town to strut her stuff at Bürgerhaus Stollwerk. And she still has it all: the heels, the wit – and that voice, as Jürgen Padberg reports…

When Paloma Faith last toured continental Europe in 2015, David Cameron was her country’s Prime Minister, Brexit was still considered an impossible absurdity, and Faith was the hottest ticket in town. Riding a wave of success following the release of her third album “A Perfect Contradiction”, the Hackney native sold out the UK’s biggest arenas, headlined the New Orleans Jazz Festival en route to performing at the Sydney Opera House, and laid claim to the Blue-eyed Soul throne vacated by the late Amy Winehouse. In Cologne, Paloma Faith played a steamy Gloria Theater, packed to the rafters with ecstatic devotees. Nine years later, the crowd at Bürgerhaus Stollwerck is not even half the size, 400 fans maybe, and the atmosphere (initially at least) far from sizzling. What happened?

For Paloma Faith, the past nine years have been a combination of private drama and bad career choices. In an attempt to remain relevant while simultaneously devoting much time to two babies and their father, she morphed into a TV personality as a judge on casting shows and an actress on some of the more obscure streaming services. Her musical output was largely delegated to a selection of pop producers who provided her characteristic voice with rather unremarkable fare which she occasionally toured in the unglamorous environment of Britain’s provinces. Meanwhile, her relationship went down the drain – and this is where things become interesting again.

“The Glorification of Sadness”, Paloma Faith’s recently released sixth studio album is an angry take-down of her ex, featuring unambiguous titles like “Hate when you’re happy”, “Divorce” and “How you leave a man”. Some of it is still overproduced radio fodder, but on stage, the songs get a second chance at making an impression. Assembled around long-time collaborator Andrea Goldsworthy, a bass guitar maven with an irresistibly melodic groove, the band whips even mediocre material into shape and compels Faith to let out her inner rock star. It’s no coincidence she spends the evening dressed in black leather and an Iron Maiden t-shirt (and of course, those criminally high stilettos).

The first half of the setlist only features new songs which initially don’t get the crowd excited much. After three numbers, Faith brings the show to a screeching halt and tells her musicians to take a seat while she starts a hilarious rant dissing heterosexual men in general and her former spouse in particular. Suffice to say, we all know now that he snores at night. Her monologue serves as the ice breaker after which the crowd gets going and the band celebrates new fan favourites like “Bad woman” and the outrageous “Eat shit and die” with all the screaming guitar solos, syncopated piano licks and punching drum beats you could ask for. But the euphoria on stage cannot conceal the fact that this is a well-oiled contemporary show machine. The performance follows pre-produced tracks from a hard drive which thicken the sound, keep everyone on the beat and support Ms. Faith’s voice in high register passages such as the chorus of “God in a dress”. Nevermind though, this singer’s charm lies not in high-pitched belting anyway but in the mid-range where Faith’s vocals are most expressive, fluid, sultry and sexy.

Then comes the greatest hits part of the evening. Flanked by her two background singers, Faith jumps and dances through crowd pleasers like “Picking up the pieces”, “Stone cold sober” and the call-and-response vaudeville of “Upside down”. How she does it in those heels remains a mystery. Add a few ecstatic club tracks (“Changing”, “Can’t rely on you”) and we finally arrive at her heartbreak anthem “Only love can hurt like this”, a sentimental show closer complete with a sea of swaying hands and smartphone flashlights.

With a solid catalogue of hits and a rollicking band, Paloma Faith is back to square one, back in a place where she should be able to rapidly rebuild her fan base and her reputation as an impeccable entertainer and a diva for our times.