The Beat Surrender

Just what I wanted on a wet and miserable Saturday night, getting in the car was the last thing I needed, my mood wasn’t improved when it took over twenty minutes to find a parking space. I also wasn’t best pleased either by the jerk in the Merc who nicked the space I was indicating to go in!

More disappointment followed as I went into The Cockpit the support band sounded great however I only caught one and half tracks, shame… what I heard I liked, great melodies, a crescendo of guitars and infectious pop sound, wished I’d heard more, note to self SET OFF EARLIER NEXT TIME.

In the gap waiting for Paul Heaton, I got a drink and took in the punters; bald, shiny heads, stripy t-shirts/checked shirts and potbellies seemed to be the order of the day. The last time I saw Paul Heaton was around Ten Years ago with The Beautiful South, think many of us here tonight were of the same era. Time marches on (as they say) but as Paul Heaton arrived on stage my only thought was, he’ stuck in a time warp (either that or he definitely has a picture of himself in the attic) Maybe a few more lines, a bit slimmer but other that that nothing had changed. Musically it’s the same, very Beautiful South with slight sound of The Housemartins.

Evan though few tracks were introduced and I haven’t heard any of Paul Heaton’s solo stuff I managed in the main to work out which track was which. However I didn’t catch what the opener was but this wasn’t a great loss, for me it was monotonous, over running time wise. Next number The kids These Days, great humour in the lyrics however the style and pace just jumped and changed a little too often, spoiling my enjoyment, however perhaps this is a track I would need to listen to over and over to fully appreciate. This is the quietest crowd I’ve come across in The Cockpit, however between the tracks the appreciation was loud and genuine.

I loved the next number he played, the intro was very Arcade Fire, Deckchair Collapsed has a country/Latin feel, very exciting and held my interest right to the end. However on a negative note while the backing vocals are good its about now you realise that the strength of Beautiful South was the lovely vocals of Jacqui Abbot, the balance between her and Paul Heaton was for me the strength of the band. I wasn’t too keen on the next track, The Ring From Your Hand, very country/folk feeling, melancholy lyrics reminded me of a male, northern version of Tammy Wynett, not a happy sound.

A Good Old Fashioned Town moved into Little Red Rooster, a track about love for an older woman (nothing wrong with that………..) best bit about this track was the chorus, quite infectious. Liked the fact Paul Heaton took time to plug the latest single by the support band, what a nice man.

Loving You Like I Do (Is Killing Me) went on a little to long for my liking, and I’’ sad to say was a little boring. God Bless Texas, faster in pace I liked this one, quite country influenced as is most of Heaton’s music oddly while the thought of a Yorkshire man (can’t help but think of him as a Yorkshire man even if not strictly true, he has the right dour humour to be one). Singing about his love for America with the worst American twang ever shouldn’t work…but it did.

The stage banter moved on to Paul Heaton’s resent house move, its easy to see where he gets the inspiration for his song writing from. He must see or hear humour everywhere, he claimed to have overheard the following in his local “She was brought up in East Germany and didn’t see a squirrel until she was fourteen”. Two old chaps having a conversation about Pingu “There’s no way a Penguin would live in a house like that” ” what not even f@~+ng Pingu” replied the other.

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