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06 Sept 2025

Interest Heaton up for Longford show

Backstage brings Paul Heaton to play an intimate gig at the premier arts venue

Interest Heaton up for Longford show

Excitement is building in Longford as the county prepares to welcome one of the finest singer songwriters of his generation.

Backstage Theatre has announced that Paul Heaton will play an intimate gig at the premier arts venue, where he will perform classics hits from The Beautiful South and The Housemartins.

In a concert that will feature a song for everyone, or whoever, the Sheffield songsmith will present a couple of happy hours of music that are sure to score a perfect ten.

You don't have to think for more than a minute to realise that Heaton has sold over 15 million albums with his bands The Housemartins, The Beautiful South, as well as sailing his ship alone in recent years with Jacqui Abbott.

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From his early career in the 80s as the frontman of The Housemartins (the same group that gave us Norman ‘Fatboy Slim’ Cook) to his solo work all his output has been as good as gold, and local music fans would be dumb to miss out on this unique opportunity.

In the little time that has passed since he first put pen to paper Heaton has definitely not kept it all in with a catalogue that encompasses all human emotion with an extraordinary ability to connect with millions through his music.

In 2001 Heaton took a break from The Beautiful South to release his first solo album ‘Fat Chance’. The Beautiful South called it a day in 2007 citing ‘musical similarities’.

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He went on to release two further solo albums, a musical called ‘The 8th’ and after teaming up with former Beautiful South bandmate Jacqui Abbott, released five acclaimed albums as a duo with their last two both going straight into the UK Chart at Number 1.

The Longford performance will see Old Red Eyes fresh from a 3 Arena gig, and he will be joined on the night by special guest singer Rianne Downey.

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Tickets for the Paul Heaton show at Backstage, which takes place on Tuesday, March 25 at 8pm, are available for €43 plus booking fee and go on sale this Friday, February 14, at 9:30am. Demand is expected to be high so early booking is advised at backstage.ie

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