Acid House-martin

It feels a little odd to be advocating concerts that I’ll never attend in promotion of an album that is unlikely to be released in Australia, but since Paul Heaton is afraid of aeroplanes and unlikely to tour here any time soon I have to live vicariously to get my Heato-related kicks.

The musical world's foremost collector of crisp packets (and former Beautiful South and Housemartins frontman) releases his new album, Acid Country next Monday in the UK and whilst I've only heard the snippets available on his website and MySpace page it's enough to make me part with my money. There's unquestionably more of a raw, jangly Housemartins feel to Paul's recent material compared to some of the more polished Beautiful South stuff. This is no bad thing at all as you can see from this live performance of Acid Country's lead single The Ladder's Bottom Rung (though don't look at the audience who all seem like they've ended up there by mistake...)

Mr Heaton will be promoting Acid Country with his second solo tour of 2010 and, as I said back in June, those attending will be chuffed to know that Paul has been playing a few Housemartins songs in his set for the first time in over 20 years. The Acid Country tour starts in Liverpool on the 20th September, winding up in Wexford, Ireland on the 8th October. Tickets are available now from gigsandtours.com. Enjoy it you lucky swines.

Elsewhere Heaton is also the support for the evergreen Madness on their Do Not Adjust Your Nut tour from 26 November to 17 December. Madness were surprisingly wonderful when they toured Australia 18 months ago, so that's not a bad bill, even for a bit of a nostalgia show.

However if, like me, you can't make it to either tour then why not treat yourself to a bit of Heaton live, from his own kitchen table no less, with this acoustic version of I Do from his last album, the Cross Eyed Rambler

Paul's Solo Tour (Tickets on sale from gigsandtours.com)

UK - September

· 20 - O2 Academy, Liverpool

· 21 - King Tuts, Glasgow

· 22 - O2 Academy, Newcastle

· 24 - O2 Academy, Manchester

· 25 - Thekla, Bristol

· 26 - Glee Club, Birmingham

· 28/29 - Borderline, London

· 30 - Leadmill, Sheffield

IRELAND - October

· 2 - SET Theatre, Kilkenny

· 3 - Ruby Rooms, Castelbar

· 5 - Cyprus Avenue, Cork

· 6 - Academy, Dublin

· 7 - Auntie Annie's, Belfast

· 8 - Arts Centre, Wexford

Paul’s new album Acid Country is out on 13 September 2010. For more details visit Paul's website at paulheatonmusic.co.uk