PALOMA Faith is a mass of contradictions.

And is all the more lovable for them.

Dressed all in white, performing on a perfectly-lit pristine white stage with an immaculate seven-piece band and flawless backing singers, she could pass for a disco diva from the early 1980s.

The set, overwhelmingly taken from her third album, certainly harks back to that time. And there is no question she can carry it off.

But this is no ordinary diva. In between sharing jokes and tidying the smallest bits of debris off her stage or ‘doing a bit of tidying up’ she is full of chat. And she is genuinely warm and funny.

She is also incredibly versatile.

The joyous ‘Ready for the Good Life,’ was written after she had achieved her first number one, when she performed on Sigma’s Changing.

It is an unashamed celebration of that and nobody would begrudge her the chance to mark the success, even though as she said a little wistfully it was ‘singing someone else’s song’.

But really this is just another first for an artist who soaks up musical influences from all ages, jazz, soul, disco to create something she really can call her own.

And she has no reason for her self-confessed trepidation in taking on classics such as Tina Turner’s River Deep Mountain High. It was flawless.

The tour is a bit of a rehearsal for a ‘bigger and better’ one next year which, she promised this packed audience, will look back as well as forward.

There is no doubt they’ll be there.