“AND HERE YOU F**KING ARE GLASGOW” | SOFT PLAY REACH SCOTLAND
What do you and your best mate do when nobody wants to join your band? Well, you form one anyway. That’s exactly what friends Laurie Vincent and Issac Holman did back in 2012 when they introduced Slaves; and it worked out pretty well for the pair. Three top 10 albums and a Mercury Music Prize nomination (Are You Satisfied 2015) later, the duo made the bold move to drop their established Slaves title and going forward would be referred to as Soft Play. And with that simple change, Laurie and Issac have found themselves recharged and quite frankly, better than ever. After smashing the festival circuit this year and achieving their highest ever album charting with new album Heavy Jelly (Official UK Album Chart #3), Soft Play have just added an incredible sold out run of UK shows. I headed along to the their most northern date at Glasgow’s Barrowlands.
Warming up crowds across the tour were Welsh punk rock band Panic Shack. Arriving later than planned, I unfortunately missed most of Panic Shack’s opening set – something that I regretted instantly. They were sensational. The energy was ripping through the room – how have I got this far in my life without Panic Shack?? Female dominated and gushing with authentic punk attitudes, this band were absolutely in the right company tonight. I caught about four tracks from them before they had to vacate the stage for the main event; thankfully they never left us hanging too long.
Soon enough, Soft Play made their very welcome arrival in Glasgow and burst in no nonsense with Heavy Jelly intro ‘All Things‘. This isn’t really a crowd who needs any real warm up; the majority are there with the intention of breaking a sweat and waste no time brewing that energy into something magical. ‘Mirror Muscles‘ does nothing to ease us into the madness and by the time the song is over, I seem to have gravitated about 20 feet forward and for the rest of the show that constant flight doesn’t stop.
The Heavy Jelly tunes just keep coming ‘Issac Is Typing…‘ ‘Bin Juice Disaster‘ and ‘Act Violently‘ played in succession ensures the stamina doesn’t dip for a second. If you haven’t seen Soft Play live before then you should know that it really is just the pair of them. Issac leads the show as vocalist whilst at the same time pounding his drum kit and charming the crowd. A few tracks in and Issac jumps amongst the crowd for a bit of banter before ripping into the furious ‘Fuck The Hi-Hat‘ preceded by infectious chants of the same sentiment.
Soon enough, the most anticipated song of the night drops mid set and the crowd unbelievably manages to take it up a few notches. ‘Punks Dead‘ is probably Soft Play’s finest moment and the track which will define them for generations to come. Written humorously in response to the negative backlash they endured following their name change, ‘Punks Dead‘ collates the antagonism felt and loudly declared by their hardcore fan base. Best part, the lyrics parody the actual comments made towards the band: “I don’t like this spineless shit, not one bit” or “Johnny Rotten is turning in his bed, I was gonna say grave, but the fucker ain’t dead”, and the finest remark “Soft Play? More like SOFT CUNTS“, before the banner drops to display the words ‘Soft Cunt’. There’s a warming moment when Issac and Laurie stand side by side whilst delivering the line “But I’ll still see you at your show” before smirking and saying “and here you fucking are Glasgow”. The pair look genuinely humbled by the response in the room for a brief second whilst they take in the moment in. But just for a second, before bursting back into the chaos.
Kudos where it’s due to the Barrowlands security team tonight, with a constant stream of bodies being catapulted towards the stage, the staff barely raise an eyebrow and safely retrieve those from the crowd everytime; almost preempting the crowds next move before it’s actioned. Just one of the reasons that the Barra’s is one of the finest music venues in the world.
Whilst Issac tends to play lead in every sense with Soft Play, Laurie is the true back bone of the pair. Rotating between guitar, bass and even mandolin for ‘Everything and Nothing‘, Laurie positions himself wherever he is required without demanding the spotlight like his buddy Issac. The bond between these two is evident, so many little moments tonight and brotherly embraces only highlight that sentiment even more.
At this point of the show there are moments where I feel it’s time to retreat to the side. The wrong side of my 30’s and accutely aware it’s a “school night” that I should know better than to let the pit take me, but I don’t. Before I know it I’m gazing flirtatiously at the sweat showering half naked bodies in the heart of it and I’m being anchored their way. There’s no fauxplay encores from these guys, they continue to deliver until the lights go back on. Ending on the high with a throwback to their earlier hits ‘Beauty Queen‘ and the epitome of Soft Play’s breakthrough ‘Hunter‘.
The fine combination of anarchy and humour is always well received by Scottish crowds and Soft Play have that nailed. Leaving the venue pumped with adrenaline, this pair can confidently proclaim ‘job done’ in Glasgow. Until next time guys!
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