Paul Heaton has announced a new Ian Broudie-produced solo album, ‘Jenius’, as well as a UK arena tour with The Lightning Seeds. Find all the details below.
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The former Housemartins and Beautiful South member will release the 15-track record on August 21, following up on 2024’s ‘The Mighty Several’ – which was also helmed by Broudie. Pre-order/pre-save here.
Heaton has previewed the forthcoming LP with an infectious, romantic single called ‘Favourite Kind Of Idiot’, featuring his regular live vocalist Rianne Downey.
“It’s a love story between two people who see the same fallibilities, the same daftness, in each other, and instead of moaning – ‘God, it’s taken you two hours to change that light bulb!’ – they see it’s what brings them together,” Heaton explained of the uplifting song.
“I point out the niceness in not getting things right and not being perfect, especially with [the lyric] ‘You ain’t no beaut/ But I don’t date you for the view…‘.
“It’s a song in favour of the idiotic people and how charming they can be, in a similar vein to Chip Taylor’s ‘Fuck All The Perfect People’. Even though it’s a bit silly, I think it’s probably the most romantic song on the album.”
As for ‘Jenius’, the album was produced by Lightning Seeds frontman Broudie at Blueprint Studios in Manchester, with the title being a reflection of Heaton’s modesty as an artist.
“If anybody ever calls me a genius, I always say, ‘What?! With a J?!’ The spelling would obviously be wrong,” he said.
The songs see Heaton sing of love and loneliness, pubs and booze, community and counsel, and the state of the nation, while he also gives a nod to football.
“If I can get a variety of people of all sorts of backgrounds to say, ‘Oh, that could be about me or you’, then I’ve been successful,” he went on.
Heaton and his live band are joined by singer Downey across the project. Additional vocals on ‘The Whisky Did’ are provided by Irish singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke.
The musician will embark on a UK arena tour this autumn. He’ll perform tracks from throughout his career, including classic hits by The Beautiful South and The Housemartins. Special guests on all dates will be Lightning Seeds.
All tickets are affordably priced at £39.50 (plus fees). The general sale goes live at 9:30am BST next Friday (June 5) – you’ll be able to buy your tickets here. Alternatively, fans can access a pre-sale at the same time on Wednesday (June 3) by signing up here.
Paul Heaton’s UK arena tour dates for 2026 are:
OCTOBER
29 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle
30 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
31 – First Direct Bank Arena, Leeds
NOVEMBER
02 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff
03 – Arena, Plymouth
06 – Utilita Arena, Sheffield
07 – The O2, London
10 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
11 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
13 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
14 – Co-op Live, Manchester
The full tracklist for ‘Jenius’ is:
1. ‘Can’t Get Next To You’
2. ‘Favourite Kind Of Idiot’
3. ‘I Want The Job’
4. ‘Sad Songs And Lawsuits’
5. ‘She Ain’t Pretty’
6. ‘One Eye Open’
7. ‘Send In The Clowns’
8. ‘Do Not Ask Me’
9. ‘Don’t Lean On Me’
10. ‘Jet Black Sky’
11. ‘The Whisky Did’
12. ‘Before Before’
13. ‘Good For The Bees’
14. ‘Go Upstream’
15. ‘A Son A Father’
Last year, Heaton hit out at the “greedy” people who won’t make gig tickets more affordable for fans, insisting that it is “doable”. As he’s done for the newly-announced tour, he previously capped tickets for his 2024 UK arena dates at a lower price.
Heaton explained that he still “made a massive profit” despite keeping the cost of tickets reasonable.