Just reading the fails write up for Paul Heatons gig... HE was greeted like a long-lost son, albeit an adopted one. Of course, Paul Heaton has been back to Hull since the break-up of the Beautiful South but this was an altogether different return. With his former Beautiful South co-singer Jacqui Abbott in tow, the pair took to the stage of City Hall to deafening cheers. Here to promote their new album What Have We Become, their new songs - from the hit single DIY to their next single Moulding of a Fool â were received well by the crowd packing the main hall and dancing in the balcony. But this gig had a far more intimate feel â they knew us and we knew them. There was a warmth as the crowd chanted âHeato, Heatoâ and the singer responded in kind, regaling them with memories of his 20 years in the city, dropping in familiar names from Silhouette to the Old Zoological. At one point, the singers had to wait until the crowd had finished roaring âWe Are Hullâ as their passion for their city overcame them. Jacqui took more of a central role than from back in the day, her rich, deep voice treating the crowd to Loving Arms and Rotterdam. When Paul quipped about the thousands of letters he received demanding he link up once more with her, the crowd showed their appreciation by chanting her name, much to her obvious pleasure and embarrassment. This was an older crowd, a middle-aged mix of people who had grown up with the Housemartins and the Beautiful South and Paul Heatonâs latest collective of musicians embraced that. Beautiful South classics Donât Marry Her, Iâll Sail This Shop Alone and Good as Gold were thrown into the mix alongside even older favourites from Paul Heatonâs Housemartins catalogue, Build, Me and the Farmer and, of course, Happy Hour. Twice, they tried to leave the stage and twice the crowd roared them back. There was an expectant air as the band gathered for what everyone knew would be the last song of the night. The band lined up at the front of the stage to sing Caravan of Love, the a cappella Number One hit of 1986 for the Housemartins. And, in truth, there could have been no fitter ending to a brilliant sort of homecoming. http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Hull...utiful-South/story-21172558-detail/story.html
