Chart-topping musicians Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott are making a welcome return to Ballybofey in 2023.
The duo announced a date at the Balor Theatre on 19th February, much to the delight of local fans.
Tickets go on sale at 10 am on Friday 7 th, October from Ticketmaster.
The duo was due to perform in The Balor Theatre in Ballybofey in April 2020, but the pandemic put paid to the much-anticipated gig. The postponed concert was replaced by a one-off headline show in June at St. Anne’s Park in Dublin, with support from Deacon Blue.
But Heaton & Abbott are now coming back with six Irish tour dates in February 2023:
Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott’s new album ‘N.K-Pop’is released on 7 th October. They have already made two songs available from the album – the poignant ballad ‘Still’, which was described as ‘ beautifully heartbreaking’ by Dawn French, and the gospel pop song ‘Too Much For One (Not Enough For Two). Paul & Jacqui’s previous album ‘Manchester Calling’ went straight to No 1 on its release in March ’20.
Paul Heaton ’s songwriting genius was recognised at the prestigious Ivor Awards 2022 where noted author/radio DJ Stuart Maconie presented him with a long overdue gong for ‘Outstanding Song Collection’. Heaton is one of the UK’s most successful songwriters with some 15 million album sales under his belt. He first came to prominence in the early 80s as front man of The Housemartins (the same group that gave us Norman ‘Fatboy Slim’ Cook).
The Housemartins released two albums ‘London 0 Hull 4’ (’86) and ‘The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death’ (’87). In ’88 Heaton formed The Beautiful South, who released 10 hugely successful albums – ‘Welcome To The Beautiful South’ (’89), Choke (’90), ‘0898 Beautiful South’ (’92), ‘Miaow’ (’94), ‘Blue Is The Colour’ (’96), ‘Quench’ (’98), ‘Painting It Red’ (2000), ‘Gaze’ (’03), ‘Golddiggas, Headnodders & Pholk Songs’ (’04) and ‘Superbi’ (’06). In 2001 Heaton took a break from The Beautiful South and released his first solo album ‘Fat Chance’.
The Beautiful South called it a day in 2007 citing ‘musical similarities’. Jacqui Abbott was lead vocalist in The Beautiful South from ’94 to 2000 and she sang many of their signature hits including ‘Rotterdam’, ‘Perfect 10’, ‘Don’t Marry Her’ and ‘Dream A Little Dream’.
Paul Heaton went on to release two further solo albums: ‘The Cross-Eyed Rambler’ (’08) and ‘Acid Country’ (’10). In 2011 Heaton wrote a musical called ‘The 8 th’ based on the Seven Deadly Sins and asked Jacqui to sing one of the parts. They have since released four acclaimed albums as a duo: ‘What Have We Become’ (’14), ‘Wisdom, Laughter and Lines’ (’15), ‘Crooked Calypso’ (’17) and ‘Manchester Calling’ (’20).
In 2019 Paul released a career spanning compilation of his biggest hits entitled ‘The Last King Of Pop’.
2022 saw Heaton reach a significant birthday, which he celebrated in typically idiosyncratic style by putting £1,000 behind the bar of 60 carefully chosen pubs across the UK and Ireland so that fans could have a drink on him. Bonners Bar in Ballybofey was hand-picked by Heaton to toast to his milestone birthday.
