By Henry Groves
After releasing their latest album, ‘Heavy Jelly, ’ back in July and having a hectic festival summer, Soft Play (fka Slaves) were back headlining packed-out venues. Their 13-date tour had them travelling around the country before finishing in London on Halloween. We were lucky to see them on their first night of the tour, starting at the iconic Brighton Dome.
They are joined on tour by Welsh garage-punk band Panic Shack. Their set was a superb start to the night. Full of energy, with their brash, powerful and fun performance, they certainly got the crowd moving. This is a big moment for Panic Shack, who have taken their emphatic punk show to much bigger venues, and the only way is clearly up for the 5-piece. Their set was fun, focusing on crowd involvement between songs, and the crowd were loving every minute. They finished the sets with their most popular songs ‘The Ick’ and ‘Who’s Got Me Lighter?” Before leaving the stage and heading straight to their perch stand. They had clearly made an impression on the Brighton crowd, as the perch stand queue was packed quickly after the band finished.
It was then time for the main event. Whilst waiting for Soft Play to take to the stage, I sat down in the unreserved seating at the back of the standing area of the Brighton Dome. I soon realised that I had managed to sit down next to none other than Jedward. Not really relevant to the review, well, at least not yet.
It wasn’t long after when the lights dimmed, and a version of ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ starting playing through the speakers. This was the angelic calm before the Soft Play storm erupted. Soft Play are known for raucous Brighton gigs, with a Great Escape show a few years ago leading to the pier being shut down due to risk of collapse due the riotous crowd. So I had high expectations for the Tunbridge Wells duos return to the south coast. They opened the set with 5 songs from the new album, including ‘Mirror Muscles’ and ‘Isaac is Typing’. It didn’t take long before the energy across the venue was up, with Laurie running around stage playing his guitar, the crowd opening up mosh pits, and the upstairs were all standing. Then Isaac and Laurie both ended up in the crowd, as they had their first interaction with the crowd. “Laurie wants to do knee slides but the floor’s too dry”, Isaac says from somewhere within the crowd. They then go into their famous intro to ‘Fuck The Hi-Hat’ and the crowd were instantly chanting the title back to the band.
The setlist was made up of old Slaves’ classics and new Soft Play hits, as they played through ‘Sockets’, ‘Punk’s Dead’ and live debuts of ‘Worms on Tarmac’ and ‘Working Title’. It was at this point that Isaac pointed out that Jedward were in the crowd. After bumping into each other in Crawley TK Maxx, the Irish X-factor duo had come along for a proper punk rock show. This started the crowd chanting “We love you Jedward, we do, Oh Jedward we love you’ and the brothers were up waving at the crowd. Two songs later, when introducing 15 second long, ‘Girl Fight’ Isaac and Laurie joined Jedward in the seats, with Isaac sat in the middle of the boys, and Laurie leant across their laps. Still playing his guitar. The whole evening was becoming particularly surreal, especially being sat directly behind.
Isaac and Laurie played a few more songs before ending the night with ‘Beauty Quest’ and ‘The Hunter’. Slaves’ made a name for being one of the most exciting live bands, and this has certainly continued into Soft Play. I always believe it can be a risk returning after a long hiatus. Will the new music match up to the old? Will they still bring the same crowds in? And will they still perform such incredible live shows? The answer in the case of Soft Play to all of these in absolutely yes. The rest of the tour has already sold out, so if you haven’t got a ticket, you have to make sure you go and see them on their next tour.
