PAUL HEATON & RIANNE DOWNEY + THE ZUTONS – BRIGHTON CENTRE 3.12.24
The festive bells of December have just chimed in, so we can now officially enjoy (or fear) the countdown to Christmas. It was a chilly one on Brighton’s seafront tonight, but we weren’t about to let that put us off. We were all ready to warm our cockles at the Brighton Centre, in order to enjoy the long anticipated Paul Heaton & Rianne Downey gig tonight. After the band’s memorable (and much talked about) performance at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, my wife and I were looking forward to seeing it all reenacted on our home turf (minus thousands of vision obscuring flags in the audience).
As you probably already know, Paul Heaton once famously sang for The Housemartins (from 1985 to 1988) with our very own Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) before forming the equally successful, The Beautiful South. As well as crafting household hits such as ‘Happy Hour’ for The Housemartins, Paul also wrote many very successful and catchy songs for The Beautiful South, including ‘A Little Time’ which hit the top spot in the UK charts in 2007. He has since then, enjoyed a successful solo career, spanning many albums worth of music. He is also the proud owner of an impressive crisp packet collection (I kid you not).
But, just like the sentiments of a New Years celebration, we say “That’s enough of the old, and in with the new”, as tonight was all about promoting Mr Heaton’s brand new album entitled ‘The Mighty Several’. Produced by The Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie, the album has received rave reviews all across the board. Accompanied by up and coming singer/songwriter Rianne Downey, this album is being promoted by them both, in the form of a 13 date tour of the UK (of which Brighton is the fourth). Mr Heaton has also done the commendable thing by charging a blanket £35 a ticket (and booking fee), showing bands like ‘Oasis’ how it can be done. He has also been putting money behind nearby bars recently, offering fans a nice and reasonable subsidised drink. I think you’ll all agree, that’s a literal ‘Happy Hour’ we can all get onboard with.
As if all that wasn’t enough of an early Christmas present, Liverpool’s finest ,The Zutons were the opening band tonight, providing us with a neatly tied bow to this musical gift of an evening (more on them later….).
It was now 8:45pm and showtime was rapidly approaching. As the inevitable late comers took to their seats, the lights dimmed to the sound of the band’s intro tape. The defiant sounds of ‘Sussex By The Sea’ rang out of the speakers as the band took to the stage with Paul Heaton and Rianne Downey in tow. Getting ready to perform in front of a big backdrop saying ‘Heatongrad’, they launched straight into a new country tinged number from their latest album called ‘Just Another Family’. This proved to us straight away that they can still write a catchy ditty to this day. Paul Heaton’s previous hit heavy bands were never going to be too far around the corner, and we were soon treated to ‘Sheep’ by The Housemartins, which was an early single by the band. A big highlight for me was tonight’s band’s rendition of The Beautiful South classic, ‘Old Red Eyes Is Back’ (“His eyes could never be blue”). It’s a song that proves that Paul Heaton has the knack for writing romantic songs about not such an obvious subject matter, and it”s a song that truly hits you square in the heart. Kitchen sink drama with a healthy dollop of Northern sardonic wit is the order of the day, and this tune really sang for me today.
The band were a tight unit this evening, and Paul and Rianne seemed to be having fun on stage. Paul was displaying his trademark anorak as he performed ‘The Heaton Shuffle’ and Rianne was a polka dot wearing ball of energy. ‘Quicksand’ is the latest single from ‘The Mighty Several’ and is almost Ska in music style. This sold out crowd tonight already seemed to know the lyrics too (including my wife) so that’s a good sign. In between songs, Paul jokingly accused us of buying the new Charli XCX album, and keeping their album off the number one spot in the process. For the record….I don’t think there were many Charli XCX fans in the audience!
The new album’s lead off single, ‘Fish ‘N’ Chip Supper’ was another highlight, and the crowd were happily singing along to it’s catchy and very relatable lyrics. Another notable song from Heaton & Downey’s new album (‘The Mighty Several’) was up next, by the name of ‘Small Boats’. This particular song doesn’t pull Its punches in its subject matter (Google the lyrics) and is commendably ‘Punk Rock’ in its message. It even sounds a bit like The Pogues and is almost as rabble rousing. I also realised tonight, how many memorable songs The Beautiful South had written, and had that notion immediately proven to me by witnessing a great version of ‘Don’t Marry Her’. I must say, Rianne Downey’s vocals really compliment Paul’s lower register, but Mr Heaton can sure hit those high notes too. ‘Song For Whoever’ also got a welcome airing with its tales of love and pencil cases, and judging by the reaction from the audience, this was a big fan favourite.
Alas, it was now approaching the end of the band’s main set of the evening, which meant it was now time for a glorious rendition of The Housemartins’ jaunty pop classic, ‘Happy Hour’. We were let down gently earlier in the night, as Paul left us with the knowledge that local boy Norman Cook wasn’t available to join them on bass duties tonight for this particular song (Fatboy Slim was on tour). After we had managed to lift our bottom lips from the floor, we realised that you couldn’t keep a good song down and fully enjoyed their faithful rendition of a perfect pop song.
Paul Heaton thanked us all for turning up, and introduced the band members as well as the football teams they support. This evoked assorted cheers and jeers from the crowd, but if you want to play along in a Top Trump manner, I’ve listed the details at the end of this review.
The band ended their set with a Beautiful South song called ‘Good As Gold (Stupid As Mud)’, and the enthusiastic singalong crowd got rewarded with a room full of balloons for their troubles (Balloons are always a dead cert to put a smile on people’s faces). Once the band had left the stage and the The Prisoner props were retrieved by security, it was double encore time.
The first encore consisted of two songs by The Beautiful South (‘One Last Love Song’ & the excellent ‘You Keep It All In’), which was accompanied by a sudden explosion of yellow streamers falling from the sky. Many audience members were wearing these streamers on the way out of the venue. The second and last encore started with ‘Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)’ and the renowned acapella sing-along that is ‘Caravan Of Love’. This gentle protest song (and very big 80’s hit for The Housemartins) found the audience in good voice tonight, which was surely enough to warm the coldest of hearts. We had just enjoyed nearly two hours of almost too many hits to mention, and for £35 who could complain? It seemed rather fitting to end the night with fireworks, as Paul Heaton and Rianne Downey left the stage and waved their fond goodbyes to Brighton. “What a good place to be….” indeed.
Paul Heaton:
Paul Heaton – vocals, guitar, harmonica (Sheffield United)
Rianne Downey – vocals, guitar (Celtic FC)
Johnny Lexus – guitar (Leeds United)
Chris Wise – bass (Everton FC)
Pete Marshall – drums (Rochdale FC)
Toby Chapman – keys (Charlton Athletic)
Roland Parsons – trumpet (Manchester City)
Josh Poole – sax (Aston Villa)
Tom Berry – trombone (Bolton Wanderers)
Paul Heaton setlist:
‘Intro’ (‘Sussex By The Sea’)
‘Just Another Family’
‘Sheep’ (Housemartins song)
‘Old Red Eyes Is Back’ (Beautiful South song)
‘Bell Bottomed Tear’ (Beautiful South song)
‘Quicksand’
‘The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death’ (Housemartins song)
‘A Little Time’ (Beautiful South song)
‘H Into Hurt’
‘Moulding Of A Fool’ (Heaton/Abbott song)
‘Silly Me’
‘We’re Not Deep’ (Housemartins song)
‘Fish ‘N’ Chip Supper’
‘Song For Whoever’ (Beautiful South song)
‘Small Boats’
‘Me & The Farmer’ (Housemartins song)
‘I’ll Sail This Ship Alone’ (Beautiful South song)
‘Don’t Marry Her’ (Beautiful South song)
‘Heatongrad’ (Heaton/Abbott song)
‘Happy Hour’ (Housemartins song)
‘Perfect 10’ (Beautiful South song)
‘Good As Gold (Stupid As Mud)’ (Beautiful South song)
(encore 1)
‘One Last Love Song’ (Beautiful South song)
‘You Keep It All In’ (Beautiful South song)
(encore 2)
‘Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)’ (Beautiful South song)
‘Caravan Of Love’ (Housemartins/Isley Jasper Isley song)
As mentioned earlier, The Zutons were the openers tonight, which made the evening a bit of a double header. I most recently saw them earlier in the year at Brighton’s Chalk when they were playing a set of intimate shows around the UK – Review HERE. That was a fun evening, so my wife and I were really looking forward to seeing them back on a big stage. They are still promoting their recently released ‘The Big Decider’ album (their first in 16 years) so it would be nice to hear those songs again whilst being more familiar with them. Liverpool’s finest were due onstage at 7:35pm tonight, and as that hour descended upon us, The Zutons hit the stage running as they prepared us for a more pared down set. (all killer, no filler indeed).
The Zutons are no strangers to ‘rocking out’ and that’s exactly what they did during the opening song, ‘Zuton Fever’. The stage was bathed in pink light, as Dave McCabe and Abi Harding gave it some welly in front of their familiar logo adorned backdrop. With limited time on their hands, the band cut straight to the chase with fan favourite, ‘Pressure Point’. My wife at this point was struggling to sit still in her seat, as these songs were specifically made for dancing. Amy Winehouse famously covered one of The Zutons songs, so tonight the group returned the favour by covering her song ‘Back To Black’. This was well received by the audience and by this point of the night, the room was almost full. The title track from their latest album (‘The Big Decider’) was next on the menu, and who could have guessed this song would be such a grower. It sits quite nicely amongst the band’s more established songs, and is certainly infectious.
Another new song called ‘Creeping On The Dancefloor’ was next on the cards, and this is probably my favourite track from the new album. It also boasts a guitar hook that reminds me of a Sly Stone tune, so I am more than content. The Zutons, we have recently noticed, like to play LOUD and tonight’s gig was no exception to that rule. This ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ set was sadly approaching its finale, but not before The Zutons could massage our eardrums with one of their anthems, ‘You Will You Won’t’. This familiar song woke up the crowd from their Tuesday night slumber, encouraging them to sing loudly along with this earworm of a chorus. Now that the venue’s full attention was secured, Dave McCabe led the band into a rendition of their anthem, ‘Valerie’ which saw the venue fill up with a sea of mobile phones, hungrily capturing the occasion. It was now time for The Zutons to say goodbye, as they went full circle by playing ‘Zuton Fever Reprise’ to a fully won over crowd. The band stood front of stage and took a bow, and then suddenly they were gone in a puff of smoke. One thing is for certain, that’s the best warm up band I’ve seen in a while.
The Zutons:
Dave McCabe – vocals, guitar
Abi Harding – sax, backing vocals
Jay Lewis – bass guitar, backing vocals
Neil Bradley – keys, percussion, backing vocals
Sean Payne – drums
The Zutons setlist:
‘Zuton Fever’
‘Pressure Point’
‘Back To Black’ (Amy Winehouse song)
‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?’
‘The Big Decider’
‘Creeping On The Dancefloor’
‘You Will You Won’t’
‘Valerie’
‘Zuton Fever Reprise’
