It’s no secret that a Paul Heaton gig is something special but seeing him in the county where his bands of origin, The Housemartins and The beautiful South were both born made the experience even more so. The beautiful Piece Hall steeped in Yorkshire Industrial Revolution history made the perfect backdrop for this working-class lad who tells tales of real life and real people in his music.
The night kicked off with Billy Bragg who rallied the audience together with his unique folk punk style. His protest songs and battle cries were the perfect warm up for the audience who appreciated his honesty, political viewpoints and witty quips between songs.
It was soon time for Paul Heaton to take to the stage entering to ‘Just Another Family’ which is off the 2024 album ‘The Mighty Several’. This is the first album with Rianne Downey on vocals so was the perfect opener to introduce her to new audience members who may be unfamiliar with her and to reintroduce her to audience members in the know who were ready and waiting to hear the powerful voice of his co-vocalist.
The first Housemartins track of the gig made an appearance next in the form of the 1987 track ‘Bow Down’ which roused the audience in that magical way which only a Housemartinstrack can do, taking the pace uptempo and everything up a notch.
At this point the audience were ready for a huge Beautiful South hit and of course Paul Heaton and co. didn’t disappoint. As those first piano chords of ‘Old Red Eyes Is Back’ chimed across The Piece Hall you felt the atmosphere accelerate up, by the end of the song there wasn’t a single person not singing along to the iconic track.
The next few tracks switched effortlessly between Housemartins, Beautiful South and Paul Heaton solo hits with the energy never falling flat and the pace continuing upwards. This shows the legacy that Paul Heaton has left as a musician as it doesn’t matter what band or project he is working on you know the hits will follow.
Approximately midway through the epic 26 song, 2 hour set came the Beautiful South classic ‘Song For Whoever’ that got even the drunkest audience members reciting that very long list of girls names with ease. This was immediately followed by the quick paced Housemartins stomp ‘Me and The Farmer’ leaving no time for the audience to gather their thoughts as we were hurtled into yet another big hit.
Tracks 14 and 15 were Rianne Downey’s time to shine as we were brought the soft rock ballad ‘A Little Time’ and the venom filled ‘Don’t Marry Her’. If anyone was still uncertain about whether Rianne Downey can hold her own against Paul’s former vocalists these two songs left us in no doubt. You can hear her signature country sound coming through with a twist that takes them in that glorious Beautiful South direction.
It was around this point that Paul introduced the band but in true Paul Heaton fashion we don’t just get their instrument and their names we also get their favourite football team. This means that all members of the band are met with a mixture of cheers and boos that includes Paul himself and his beloved Sheffield United. Being a Rochdale fan, I always side with drummer Pete Marshall who wears a Rochdale shirt onstage to represent the homestead and I for one couldn’t be prouder.
The entire show was brought to a crescendo with ‘Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud) with the brass section really taking centre stage on this one. No Paul Heaton Show is complete without the huge bouncy balls being thrown into the audience and batted about the crowd. One of the balls landed onstage and was effortlessly kicked back into the crowd by Paul before the band left for encore number one.
The band returned to the stage with the hard hitting 1994 Beautiful South power ballad ‘One Last Love Song’ before taking it up a notch once more with ‘You Keep It All In’. Paul and Rianne bounced off each other on this track providing an infectious sense of energy to the audience before leaving the stage once again for encore number two.
Paul Heaton is quite possibly the only person who can come back onstage for the final encore and sing two slow tempo ballads that inspire complete elation from the audience. Rianne stuns with ‘Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)’ and every single member of the crowd were nestled in the palm of her hand as she hit the high notes and brought soul to the low ones.
Despite the fact the set was two hours long the final song came around too quickly and it was time to say goodbye to a perfect evening. There was no better way to wave Paul, Rianne and the rest of the band off than with the acapella super hit ‘Caravan of Love’. I’m certain that everyone in Yorkshire and possibly over the border too could hear everyone at The Piece Hall singing along and I’m sure that every woman and every man would have wanted to join our caravan of love.
WORDS BY LAURA BETH
PHOTO CREDIT – CUFFE & TAYLOR
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