Saturday night in Bristol, just before the cold, dark nights will fully take grip, was a chance for a hot, sweaty, and colourful punk-filled evening at the city's O2 Academy.
There was only one support on the bill tonight, but what a warm-up act they were— Cardiff's own punk quartet (plus touring drummer) Panic Shack.
Despite only having one EP (Baby Shack) and a smattering of singles to date, their set was stuffed with energy, brashly in your face, and on the whole, packed full of fun.
Tracks included "The Ick," "I Don't Really Like It," and "Who's Got My Lighter." "Jiu Jits You" saw the girls throwing their best 'kung foo' shapes on stage. For what was only a brief 30-minute set, Panic Shack succeeded in getting the Bristol crowd fully on board and dancing along to their particular brand of garage-punk before the end. With songs about drinks, sandwiches, and snacks ("Meal Deal"), it's understandable why.
Having been on hiatus since 2019, the duo hailing from Royal Tunbridge Wells, "The Garden of England," returned in 2022 under a new name and with a renewed vigor to perform. Formerly known as Slaves, the pair now go by the moniker Soft Play, a change that they explained in a post announcing their return:
"When we called our band Slaves, it was intended solely as a reference to the grind of day-to-day life. As younger men, we responded to criticism of the name from a place of fear and defensiveness." ... "However, we now recognize that our original intent doesn't change the fact that the name Slaves is an issue. In this day and age, we believe it is very important that people change and make improvements no matter how far down the line they are. The name doesn't represent who we are as people or what our music stands for any longer. We want to sincerely apologize to anyone we've offended." ... "With that being said" ... "Our new name is 'SOFT PLAY'." Although if the boys from Bob Vylan are to be believed, it was all down to them so that Bobby could finally represent and wear their merch.
Tonight saw the lads touring their latest album, this past summer's release, Heavy Jelly, with the sold-out Bristol crowd not only treated to all tracks from the album but also a smattering of older Slaves favorites.
We were all transported back to primary school assemblies as Soft Play walked out to a choral "All Things Bright and Beautiful," signaling the opening track from Heavy Jelly, "All Things". What followed was a high-energy blur of strobe lights, high kicks, big jumps, deep splits, and all manner of organized mayhem.
As is customary, shirts were never on to begin with, so as we moved into the next Heavy Jelly track, "Mirror Muscles," the boys were already primed for the necessary flexing to follow. "Isaac Is Typing", "Bin Juice Disaster," and "Act Violently" swiftly followed. The latter acted as a queue for the already frenzied crowd to take it up a gear and match the energy of Isaac and Laurie on stage.
A brief pause saw both members of the band over the barrier and into the crowd, and once composure was regained, we were into Take Control's "Fuck The High Hat."
The assembled masses were back in full voice for Are You Satisfied?'s "Sockets." The crowd favorite "Punk's Dead" came next and saw the audience quite literally losing their shit. "Is this another publicity stunt; Thought you were rowdy; Thought you were punks; What the fuck's with the new name anyway; Soft Play more like soft cunts"; on queue to which the plain black curtain behind the band dropped and revealed, to mass cheers, the huge 'Soft Cunts' banner behind.
"Worms on the Tarmac" followed, but before any music could be played, hands full of jelly-worms were pelted onstage. Isaac was then able to have his 8-mile moment, up on the precipice of the stage "everybody in the 313" etc, before launching himself into the crowd for the remainder of "Working Title".
During one of the brief interludes, Laurie thanked the crowd, mentioning that the in the earlier days of Slaves, they played in Bristol to maybe 5 people (including the other band on the bill), and that they never thought that they would be back on stages like this playing to crowds like these.
Things slow down as Laurie broke out his mandolin for the emotional "Everything and Nothing," a deeply passionate yet vulnerable number that touches on the loves and losses suffered by both Isaac and Laurie. The connection felt not only between the two, but between the band and the audience, was clear— with the crowd passionately belting out every word of the song along with Isaac.
The night drew to a close with a final pair of older tracks: initially Sugar Coated Bitter Truth's "Beauty Quest", followed by a credit to the band. In all of the euphoric carnage, something had happened in the audience that required the assistance of the venue staff. The boys were quick to get the music cut, the floor lights up, and the crowd marshaled to allow the situation to get sorted, followed by checking that everyone was okay before getting back to the performance. The curtain was well and truly brought down with Are You Satisfied?'s "The Hunter," which saw the crowd spending any last bits of energy that they had, almost acapella style, taking over from Isaac, and belting out every lyric to the opening verse.
Tonight's set proved that big staging and theatrics are not needed when talent and energy are present in spades. For the most part, just a stack of amps, six strings, part of a drum kit, and a plain black backdrop was all Soft Play needed to have the Bristol crowd eating out of the palm of their hands.
