Paul Heaton scored a ‘Perfect 10’ as he played to a sold-out crowd at the Balor Arts Centre last night.
The Housemartins and Beautiful South frontman selected Ballybofey as a stop on his Ireland tour this year in his quest to play every county in Ireland. Now that Donegal is ticked off the list, he told fans he has 13 left to play.
The rest of the tour takes in major venues such as the 3Arena, SSE Arena in Belfast and the Millenium Forum tomorrow, but the intimate Donegal crowd of 300 made sure Heaton and his band got a massive welcome.
Sadly, The Beautiful South lead vocalist Jacqui Abbott had to pull out of the tour due to illness, but support act Rumer stepped up and impressed with each duet.
Paul Heaton and Rumer play The Balor Arts Centre in Ballybofey
Despite being a little under the weather himself, Heaton was his usual jovial self and hit all the right notes with the audience.
Opening with ‘I Drove Her Away With My Tears’, the songwriting genius cruised through his hits over two hours. The crowd wanted more, and two encores delivered the favourites: ‘Happy Hour’, ‘Perfect 10’, ‘You Keep It All In’ and ‘Caravan of Love’.
Heaton’s visit to Ballybofey was highly anticipated since he had to cancel a Balor gig as the pandemic struck in April 2020. The Twin Towns soon built up a soft spot for Heaton on his 60th birthday last year. He celebrated in typically idiosyncratic style by putting £1,000 behind the bar at Bonnar’s so that fans could have a drink on him!