Tag: Soft Cell

Gig Review: Soft Cell at O2 Academy Leeds, 13th November 2021

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I cannot believe this was four years ago. I have been procrastinating so badly when it comes to these gig blogs.

Leeds is always a vibe though! And we bumped into Geth’s mate Sam and her husband Wayne in the queue. This was for the best because the queue was HORRIBLE. We’d arrived in plenty of time but it took hours and we didn’t get inside until they’d already started ‘Torch’. Thankfully it was the first track, which wasn’t clear from outside!

Marc and Dave! What a duo.

Full setlist was posted by a lovely setlist.fm user here! My highlights:

‘Sex Dwarf’ – this is Geth’s favourite Soft Cell track and we finally got to see it live. Marc Almond doesn’t perform it at his solo gigs as far as I’m aware, so it hadn’t been in the set when we saw him at Electric Dreams.

‘Bedsitter’ – a personal favourite. Great to hear this one again.

‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’ – other than the fact that the blimmin’ inflatable pink flamingoes were everywhere again! Put them away, they’re too silly for this lovely song!

‘Purple Zone’ – this was a recent collaboration with Pet Shop Boys. I quite like it.

After the gig we met up with Sam and Wayne again and went for a debrief in the pub, which was lovely!

Debriefing!

Having not got around to posting this until December 2025, I will finish with this: RIP Dave Ball. What a legend. When the news broke, Geth and I were just so glad that we’d had the opportunity to see them play together.

Playlist Pick: Soft Cell, ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’

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I’ve been working on both of my ’80s chart playlists this week: my ‘proper’ one, which is ongoing as part of my decade-long video-watching project (explained last week), and my ‘holding playlist’ for favourite tracks I’m yet to get to. Strangely, given that it’s only the alphabet that separates them, the two lists seem to have slightly different tones; the first seems to contain more serious tracks, while the second is more frothy. Maybe it’s just the particular tunes that seem to be coming up regularly at the moment!

An exception to the trend is one of my favourite tracks by a band from the latter half of the alphabet, Soft Cell. ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’ is beautiful and epic and not at all frothy, and I was privileged to see it performed live when Geth and I saw Marc Almond at Electric Dreams 2018 (though I was less impressed by the audience members wearing inflatable pink flamingoes, as I feel the song deserves a little more reverence).

The video is early ’80s perfection and I’m always disappointed when nightclubs don’t look like this. Not that I go to nightclubs that often these days, even in non-pandemic times!