They've been touring the States in their Superbi bus, and now The Beautiful Southare set to play a string of dates in December. North-east's finest cap a year that has included touting their acerbic soft-rock across the globe. During the summer the band played everywhere from the Isle of Man to Dublin’s Croke Park with Robbie Williams in front of 85,000 people. The band also released their 10th Top 10 album, ‘Superbi’, in May 2006, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of Paul Heaton first entering the Top 10, with his previous band The Housemartins - whose other alumni, Norman Cook, has also carved out a pretty nifty career for himself. ‘Superbi’ was hailed as a return to form with lyricist Paul Heaton at the top of his game. Even after 17 years, the South are still masters of the deceptively mellifluous pop ditty. And live, they rock. See for yourselves on these pre-Xmas dates: 10 December Birmingham, NIA 0870 730 0196 doors 6pm 11 December Bournemouth, International Centre 0870 787 0404 doors 7pm 12 December London, Hammersmith Apollo 0870 606 3400 doors 7pm 14 December London, Hammersmith Palais 020 8600 2300 doors 7pm 15 December Manchester, MEN Arena 0870 190 8000 doors 6pm 16 December Sheffield, Hallam FM Arena 0114 256 5656 doors 6pm The Beautiful South are: Paul Heaton (vocals), Alison Wheeler (vocals), Dave Hemingway (vocals), Sean Welch (bass), Dave Rotheray (guitar) and Dave Stead (drums). www.beautifulsouth.co.uk