Singer and artist Paloma Faith spoke of her excitement about coming to perform in Cumbria next month.

She is going to be performing in Bitts Park on Saturday, July 23, a stop on her Age of Optimism tour.

Paloma, who will be performing just two days after her 41st birthday, will be performing an array of hits from her extensive repertoire, such as her classics 'Lullaby' and 'Only Love Can Hurt Like This', as well as songs from her latest studio album 'Infinite Things' released in 2020.

Speaking to the News & Star, she said: "I will be playing probably a mixture of songs from all five of my albums, but I tend to make sure that every gig is different, I change the setlist every day."

This will be the first concert she performs in Carlisle, a city with which she said she has no personal connection ‘except that we are all human’.

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She added: “I am excited to perform in Carlisle, I wouldn’t do this job otherwise, it’s the reason why I make music.”

Paloma joins a slew of artists performing as usual after the nation was under Covid-related lockdown, a period of time she felt personally maddened by.

She explained, of coming out of the lockdown: “I feel a bit mad actually, I think the impact of being locked down and then coming back out – we all thought it would be back to normality, but it’s like the whole world is unwinding.

“You go to your family and you go to tour friends and they’re unwinding as well.”

Having toured some of the biggest venues in the world, she doesn’t feel any differently about visiting a relatively small place: “Most of the touring is about just getting off the bus, you perform, you know where you are geographically but it’s all about the show to me.

“I don’t care whether it’s small or big, I don’t prioritise or do a bigger show for a bigger city, I always perform lie it’s the last day I’m performing.

“It’s got to be amazing because people have bought tickets, it’s really my favourite thing in the entire world.”

She said her favourite song o her latest album is the title track, ‘Infinite Things’, as he explained: “It’s the first song I’ve written about my children.

“I think it sums up how I feel as a parent, being a parent has been very life-changing for me, the lyrics are about ‘I’m sorry the world isn’t good enough for you’, and that’s how I feel.”

On the flip side, this tour is all about looking up and is aptly called the ‘Age of Optimism Tour’, of which Paloma said: “It’s very life-affirming, people feel inspired to lift their heads up high.

“I’m looking forward to playing in a place that I’ve never played at before, and I guarantee they’ll have a brilliant time.”
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