Paul Heaton
3Arena, Dublin
★★★★☆
“This is a song that makes me equally nervous and proud, because I don’t want to sing it incorrectly,” Paul Heaton says about halfway into his set at 3Arena on Thursday, before easing into I’ll Sail This Ship Alone.
His diffidence, 35 years on from the song’s release, is understandable but misplaced. The anorak is gone, as is some of the nonchalance (parts of the set may be designed to give his lungs a breather), but when the crowd thins at the end of the night, everyone keeps remarking that the voice hasn’t changed.
For years Heaton continued making music solo after The Beautiful South eventually split up (famously citing musical similarities), and for years nobody wanted to know. About 2010 he embarked on a couple of 1,500km-plus bicycle tours of pubs and small venues across Ireland and Britain. His current mission has a similar whimsy: playing a gig in all 32 Irish counties.
But 3Arena, with its 13,000 capacity, is more befitting of his musical catalogue. When the brass section trot onstage, they make up a nine-piece band. Spearheading it are Heaton and his costar, the Glaswegian country and folk singer Rianne Downey.
Hozier joins Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Hollywood stars on Time influence list
Irish stars CMAT, Grian Chatten and Jordan Adetunji make Forbes 30 Under 30 list
The Music Quiz: What is the name of the Irish whiskey distillery backed by Bono?
Katy Perry’s Blue Origin space jaunt is one giant stunt for womankind
[ Happy Hour again: Paul Heaton funds free drinks in nine pubs around IrelandOpens in new window ]
That influence adds something different. Their version of A Little Time, originally sung by Briana Corrigan and Dave Hemmingway in The Beautiful South, invokes John Prine. A chunk of the songs from The Mighty Several, Heaton’s most recent album, from October 2024, get a run out. He says it’s true that albums are like children, but he follows Bob Geldof’s advice to “release it, give it a weird name and then deny it”.
One of the new ones is Small Boats. Heaton lists his influences in preproduction as The Dubliners, The Wolfe Tones and Christy Moore. The result is the sort of bastardised Celtic pop that forever soured Ed Sheeran’s relationship with Ireland. Admittedly, it gets the crowd going.
Location is important. These days Heaton writes his lyrics in the Netherlands and Germany, inspired by the bleakness of both. In times gone by the English city of Hull was the epicentre of his words and Gran Canaria his music – a juxtaposition that goes some way to explaining his biting, satirical brand of pop music.
Unsurprisingly, the big hitters are highlights. The opening piano line for Song for Whoever is greeted with a warm, collective sigh. Peaks as the set winds down include Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud) and One Last Love Song.
They opt then for the brave double encore. Those who commit to an early exit miss Rotterdam (or Anywhere), Caravan of Love and a cover of Stevie Wonder’s A Place in the Sun.
Caravan of Love is itself a cover of Isley Jasper Isley’s R&B original, but it’s hard to think of it any other way than in its purest Housemartins form. Heaton belts it out with that voice, stretchy and mellifluous, leaving it rooted in everyone’s heads for days to come.
