Fresh from her Brit award win, our favourite kooky artist Paloma Faith, famed for her distinctive voice and quirky dress sense, took to the stage at the BIC on Sunday night.

All Sebastian Schofield's pictures in a gallery here

Here are 10 reasons why we think Paloma Faith should be EVERYONE'S favourite artist.

1. She giggles – a lot.

She’s mastered the art of chortling away like a schoolgirl, before belting out incredible notes that almost knock the crowd – still chortling – off their feet. Hard to believe the two things come out of the same mouth.

 

 

2. Her choice of support act.

Most people bring an unassuming, newly-signed band or up and coming young artist as their support act to keep the crowd vaguely amused before the main act. But not our Paloma. She brought Vintage Trouble – the only support act I’ve seen to get a standing ovation and to have their lead singer, Ty Taylor, feature in the main show.

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3. The outfits – what to say?

I was expecting loads of silly fairy-type costumes, weird hairdos and other associated nonsense. She’s worn a few funny things in her time but this time she stuck to just one plastic dress – pretty normal for her.

4. The fact that she’s absolutely fallen in love with her BRIT award and has taken it on tour with her.

She sneaked it on to stage, then produced it from behind the piano with a flourish, made all the funnier because it was Mother’s Day and she told her fans how spectacularly unimpressed her mum was with the long-awaited award.

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5. She brings an amazing 11-piece band with her

It's not just the few backing tracks and flashing lights relied on by so many. A dancing brass section – who knew?

6. Her unashamed, barmy Englishness.

Supping from a cup of tea, she told of her love of the Bournemouth beach huts and how she’d gone for a long-awaited run along the prom before the show.

 

 

7. She can deliver a better pre-election speech than most politicians you’d care to mention.

Determined to get the crowd interested, she told everyone to vote for whoever they like, “just not UKIP”, then laughed off the fact that her speeches attract loads of abuse on Twitter.

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8. Her dancing style.

She joins in enthusiastically when her sassy backing singers start dancing but won’t be winning any dancing awards herself. But who cares?

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9. Because she’s not a fruitcake at all – quite the opposite.

Quirky ,eccentric , wacky and off-the-wall she may be, but smarter underneath than she’d have us imagine.

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10. And because she’s going to win loads more BRIT awards.

And probably many other awards - whether her mum likes it or not.

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All pictures by sebastianschofield.com