A perfect 10 with sell-out show

Tickets to see award-winning singer-songwriter and frontman to the Housemartins and Beautiful South Paul Heaton play Cavan’s Townhall Theatre have sold out in record time.

All 400 tickets for the February 23 gig were snapped up within 12 minutes of them first going on sale last Tuesday morning.

The pop-legend’s song-writing genius was recognised earlier this year at the prestigious Ivor Awards 2022 where noted author/radio DJ Stuart Maconie presented him with a long overdue gong for ‘Outstanding Song Collection’.

First coming to prominence in the early ‘80s as frontman of The Housemartins, the same group that gave us Norman ‘Fatboy Slim’ Cook, Heaton went on to form The Beautiful South, who released 10 hugely successful albums, including signature hits including ‘Rotterdam’, ‘Perfect 10’, ‘Don’t Marry Her’ and ‘Dream A Little Dream’.

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, however fellow lead vocalist Jacqui Abbott continues to perform with Heaton.

Last year 2022 saw Heaton reached a significant birthday, which he celebrated in typical 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.

“It’s been an incredible response,” says a delighted Padraic McIntyre, Venue Manager for both the Townhall Cavan and the soon to reopen Ramor Theatre.

Padraic says the Townhall reached out to Heaton to play the venue after the singer expressed a desire in an interview to play “every county in Ireland”.

“We took him at his word,” laughs Padraic, who says that Townhall staff had been feverishly working behind the scenes for several months to secure Heaton’s attendance.

Heaton is currently touring Ireland, playing Dublin’s 3Arena, Galway’s Leisureland, Derry’s Millenium Forum, Belfast’s SSE Arena and Killarney’s Gleneagle INEC to name a few.

Padraic is well aware of what a coup it has been to land both Heaton and Irish singer-songwriting star Declan O’Rourke , and to announce them in the same week as Cavan’s Lisa O’Neill launched her new album ‘All of this is Chance’, but says that this is the level of ambition with which the venue is looking to do business.

“You’ll never hear about the ones we don’t get to come,” he says. “But it’s great to when it does happen.”