The Quench Tour

21 Oct 1998
Written by Tracy Fletcher

Courtesy of S. Frankis

A PACKED and appreciative East Yorkshire crowd gathered to witness homegrown band The Beautiful South play in the region for the first time in two years last night.

Around 3,200 fans crammed into Bridlington Spa to see a performance which the band said was special because of the position of their new album Quench at the top of the charts.

Speaking before the show, vocalist Dave Hemingway said: "It's always special to play in our home area, especially this week as we're celebrating Quench going to Number One."

"We decided to play at the Bridlington Spa instead of Hull Arena because we like the acoustics in Bridlington."

The band took to the stage with a medley of old favourites, including Your Town [Pretenders to the Throne] and Don't Marry Her, before launching into the first offering from Quench, a song called Big Coin.

Predictably, a roar went up when the band got to the line in Your Town [PTTT] which refers to Hull's musical flair. And musical mastery is the only way I can describe the performance by the talented five-piece.

Frontman Paul Heaton was his usual tongue-in-cheek self, dressed in a baseball cap, dark glasses and trademark anorak, with a cigarette in hand. Behind him, Jacqui and Dave's harmonies effortlessly sent shivers down the spine of everyone in the house.

Yvonne Terry, facility manager at the venue, said: "We are really pleased how it's gone and pleased to be hosting The Beautiful South. We could have sold the tickets three times over."

Group spokesman Rob Kerford said: "We're really pleased with the success of Quench. I think it's down to the fact it has a lot of singles on it and people like that."