If you were a music fan between the late 1980s and early 1990s and bought CDs, the chances are you will have bought one on which Briana Corrigan’s voice was front and centre, for she was the original female lead vocalist for The Beautiful South. She provided the lead vocals for the band’s most successful single, a chart-topping and Brit Award-winning one, but we’ll get to that later.
Tonight, Briana was to treat us to a mix of folk-inflected love songs, ballads and the stories behind her songwriting. Her band was unusual in that it consisted of a guitarist (Colm McClean), a cellist (Seamus McAuley*) and Briana herself, playing guitar and a shruti box that provided atmosphere and a rich harmonic base to her performance.
Her band took to the stage first and played a few chords, building up to Briana’s entrance. She opened with Beautiful South’s ‘Should’ve Kept My Eyes Shut’, a song she performed on their second album, Choke, and ‘We Are Each Other’ off the third album, 0898 Beautiful South.
Briana’s storytelling before her own compositions gave her songs added pathos. ‘For Home’, for example, was written about a mermaid who longed for a world beyond her own but knew she would have to return one day. ‘Rocking Chair’ followed, then the particularly emotional ‘Dancing with Ghosts’, written about wartime dances in Blackpool and how the laughter and music from them can still be heard if the atmospheric conditions are right.
She wrote ‘Young Dublin Rose’ about her daughter and, following it with ‘Simply Beautiful’, kept the emotions running high. ‘Stay’, off her 2012 album Redbird, was next before she closed the first half with a cover of The Undertones’ ‘Teenage Kicks’.
Briana, as she should be, was extremely comfortable leaning into her Beautiful South past, even singing ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’, a song she did not perform with them. But she did sing ‘You Keep It All In’, delivering a punchy version of it. The Northern Irish singer then performed a trio of her own songs: the 2023 single ‘Sweet Songbird’, ‘Fairy Tale’ and ‘Angel of Montgomery’. Now we get to ‘A Little Time’, her Number 1 single with the Beautiful South. As it’s an unconventional love song that needs two lead singers, Briana asked for someone from the audience to join her. After a few minutes’ hesitation, a young person strode hesitantly towards the stage. Briana asked if she knew the song; she did not. Briana coached her through a verse and, when she sang it, she shocked everyone with a powerful, Cher-like voice. Briana was blown away, proving this was no plant, and feigned leaving the stage. The duo performed a heartwarming version of the song.
Two more personal songs followed: ‘12 English Bluebells’, inspired by her husband, and ‘Caledonia’, a favourite of her father’s but dedicated to her brother Mike, who had passed away suddenly three years ago.
Her encore was Beautiful South’s ‘Bell Bottomed Tear’ and she finished with ‘The Parting Glass’.
A standing ovation at the close felt richly deserved. Warm, witty and emotionally open throughout, Briana Corrigan proved that her voice, both literally and as a songwriter, remains every bit as distinctive and affecting as it was during her years with The Beautiful South.
This was the final date of her tour but my advice would be to catch her when she tours next.
*Apologies if I’ve got your name wrong
Reviewer – Adrian Cork
On – 10.05.2026
