Paul Heaton And Jacqui Abbott – Carry On Regardless In Leeds

There are not many acts that walk on to the stage at Leeds Arena to the tune of On Ilkley Moor Bar t’At. Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott have a big affinity with the area due to their time in The Beautiful South, so although hearing the famous Yorkshire song might have been a huge surprise, it was still a nice touch.

Since The Beautiful South split up the group splintered up into many fractions with The South being the most successful version. With Heaton and Abbott being the vocalists in The Beautiful South as well as having a Number 1 album in their own right earlier this year, they are able to fill big venues like the Leeds Arena.

There are no costume changes, no huge stage set – the only concession to anything flashy are some streamers fired into the audience towards the end of the set together with some fireworks from the front of the stage. Instead they allow the power of the songs to shine through.

It is not long before they delve into The Beautiful South songbook with Tonight I Fancy Myself and Old Red Eyes Is Back. Old chestnuts like these still sound timeless, though All of My Friends – a track off their recent Number 1 album still sounded refreshing.

Everybody’s Talkin’ was the song that Jacqui Abbot had to sing when she auditioned for The Beautiful South – she still breezes through the track with ease making it sound like the song was especially written for her.

As Paul Heaton introduces the members of the band he also says what football team they support – though when some of the fans boo as Leeds United is chosen it makes you wonder where some of the audience have travelled from.

Song For Whoever, the Beautiful Song Number 1 took on a new twist as Abbot sung the vocals that were sung by Dave Hemingway. Things were going well – until A Little Time was speeded up from the recorded version into a rockabilly number, making it sound like something they would perform at the sound check. It might have seemed like a good idea at the time but it would have been better to perform the song as the fans remember it, rather than sounding like something that they wanted to get out of the way.

Thankfully things picked up after then with Heaton describing The Housemartins song Happy Hour as “one of the best dance tracks of the 80’s” – he still does the dance steps that went with the video.

Caravan Of Love, still performed acapella was a highlight before Good As Gold (Stupid as Mud) closed a strong set.

The south might be beautiful but tonight the north had experienced a night many will never forget.