For 15 years, the Beautiful South have made pretty songs about ordinary people trapped in self-imposed prisons. Their pop is soggy with cynicism, the white-boy soul and watered-down country blunting the barbs. And as the instantly recognisable melodies flow - from the war of words of A Little Time to the tragicomedy of Old Red Eyes Is Back - it's the bouncy pop tunes that beat the clever lyrics, despite singer Dave Hemingway's attempts at pained sincerity.

Leader of this merry dance through misery is Paul Heaton. Wearing a black cap, black shirt and jeans, he looks as though he has come straight from the terraces. But he sings like a fallen angel.

It is his voice, along with some unexpected arrangements, that rescues the band's latest album, Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs, from being an uninspired collection of covers. Seemingly finding freedom in other people's words, Heaton turns on the charm, wiggles his hips and turns into Hull's answer to Elvis. "I've never done this before," he says, embarrassed, then adds: "I dedicate this to all the ladies in the house."

The song is You're the One That I Want from Grease, Heaton sharing vocals with Alison Wheeler, the latest in the band's succession of female singers. Wheeler is confident and sultry, the duet a slow-burner that has Heaton ooh-ooh-ing in a low approximation of sexy and similarly uh-uh-ing all over a jazzy version of S Club 7's Don't Stop Movin'.

He dances, too. While a three-piece horn section blows hot and cold, Heaton reveals the hidden Northern Soul star within before kicking beach balls into the crowd. It's the nice ones you always have to watch.

· At the Manchester Apollo (0161-832 1111) on Thursday. Then touring.