Billy Bragg / Paul Heaton
Westonbirt Arboretum – 20th June 2025
Westonbirt has been hosting concerts as part of the Forest Live series of summer concerts for a number of years and offers a gorgeous, spacious and almost perfect venue, apart from the single road in and out. Earlier in the week the venue had seen shows from the likes of Sting and Elbow but Friday night belonged to the socially conscious pairing of Billy Bragg followed by Paul Heaton and Rianne Downey. It is no surprise that the VIP Glade area has been, unusually, removed for this show, presumably at the request of the performers, the evening was filled with songs about regular people, tearing down barriers and bringing people together.
Billy Bragg takes to the stage with a small band but an abundance of energy, anecdotes and songs. The band haven’t performed together for eight-months which is often apparent and recognised by Bragg, but it makes the show more real and less polished. Bragg hasn’t moved away from his political/social commentary storytelling which made him so respected in the 80’s. He not only introduces songs he educates the audience with his anecdotes about America not having kings or what Woody Guthrie was really like. Performing tracks like ‘Waiting for the Great Leap Forward’ and ‘St Swithun’s Day’ he immediately engages the audience, whether those who have followed him since the 80’s or those who are new to him. Following an impassioned version of ‘Sexuality’, a co-write with Johnny Marr and one of Bragg’s biggest hits from the 90’s, he gives an impassioned speech about the development of the LGBTQ+ movement and how issues such as violence against women still haunt our society and require all of us to act now. His passion and commitment to social change are inspirational and receive rapturous response from the crowd. Bragg closes his set with spirited versions of ‘Levi Stubbs Tears’ and ‘Shirley’. His support hour passes too quickly, he was just getting warmed up, as he bids farewell as the crowd await the headlining Paul Heaton.
Heaton is best known as frontman of 80’s band The Housemartins and subsequently the Beautiful South. His rich catalogue is performed over the next 90+minutes as an almost greatest hits set drawing heavily on Housemartins and Beautiful South tracks but also introducing a number of more recent songs, recorded with Rianne Downey, such as ‘Fish and Chip Supper’ and ‘Quicksand’ and the quality never lets up.
Taking to the stage in shorts and clearly suffering with a sore throat/cough Heaton delivers a masterclass in entertaining and storytelling. He presents as a regular bloke with some tales to tell via song and plenty of humour. Kicking off with ‘Old Red Eyes is Back’ and ‘Sheep’ the crowd are loving it. Watching the interactions between Heaton and Downey brings the conversational aspects of so many of his songs, like ‘Don’t Marry Her’ and ‘A Little Time’, to life in a way that just listening can fail to do.
The twenty-six song set never lets up, there is no mid-gig slowie or drum solo, just wall to wall hits, ‘Me and the Farmer’, ‘Sail This Ship’, ‘Build’, as we are reminded what a fantastic song-writer Heaton is and how just how many of his songs have penetrated into our psyche with their glorious hooks.
Introducing the band via name, instrument and their football team brings more humour to the fore as the crowd cheer Charlton Athletic and are less generous for some of the premier league teams, all of which brings a grin to Heaton’s face. Heaton is humble as he recalls his first Top of the Pops performance, not knowing if he would ever have more hits, talking about the support The Housemartins received early on from Billy Bragg all whilst clearly struggling with his throat, not that this appeared to affect his vocals.
As the main set draws to a close, Heaton makes it clear that encores will be coming soon as giant balloons are thrown into the audience. The band return to the stage as the balloons are bounced around the audience, and stage, and the band launch into an energetic encore closing with ‘Rotterdam’ and the acapella cover of the Isley Brothers ‘Caravan of Love’. This last track is introduced poignantly by Heaton recognising the state of the current word news and the need for ‘everybody take a stand, join the caravan of love , stand up…’. It is a fitting close to an uplifting show and a reminder that, at his core, Heaton is a man of the people with a focus on community not commodity. He’s lifted spirits, made wry comments about the complexities of relationships and, for a short time, brought a group of 9,000 strangers together to sing out their hearts and feel the joy of communal singing on a perfect summer evening.
By: Dave Roberts