Soft Cell, Marc Almond @ The Gov, Adelaide 11/4/2025
“I’m in Adelaide… it feels like a dream!”
Nostalgia is a wonderful thing and it might have taken forty-six years for Soft Cell to finally get to Australia with the planets aligning to make it happen creating a wonderful night for fans. Renown for that iconic hit Tainted Love in the 80s (Gloria Jones b-side on 1964 single My Bad Boy’s Coming Home) I would have thought that might have packed up The Gov but with Gather Round taking over Adelaide it was a decent turn out and there’s always something great about the Friday night vibe at this iconic venue.
Coming all this way after such a long period of time Marc Almond was insistent on making the night count supporting himself playing his solo hits from a career spanning over forty years. The production was massive and with a big band of elite players the sound was top shelf. It was a recurring theme throughout the show where Almond would say “I’m in Adelaide… it’s a dream!” Definitely not a dream with quite a few astounded and perhaps pinching themselves that the tour made it to Adelaide.
There’s no questioning Almond’s flamboyance and his charisma is infectious. Almond takes Adelaide through his solo career starting with The Stars We Are, Tears Run Rings and My Hand Over My Heart. No doubt this was a nice bonus for the die hard fans to see the man behind Soft Cell present a different side to his music as a support. The Idol, A Lover Spurred and Stories Of Johnny followed. Everything seemed to flow and made sense before playing some of favourite covers, “personal favourites” from an album the record company said they were not well known but he did not seem to care.
Covers included the likes of Black Heart (Marc And The Mambas), Elusive Butterfly (Bob Lind), Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart (Gene Pitney), The Days of Pearly Spencer (David McWilliams) complete with interpretative dance and finishing on stellar version of Jacques Brel’s version of Jacky leaving the stage temporarily with the statement “I’m in Adelaide… it’s a dream”.
After a short intermission and roadies making adjustments to the set up for Soft Cell the next hour was focused on Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret in its entirety start to end. Whilst there wasn’t any real surprises with the set list I think what they did with the lights, smoky haze and video projections was to recreate 1981 vibe in the West End of London in Soho. There wasn’t as much banter as such letting the music control the flow of the show and to be able to take in the whole album experience. Opening with Frustration it didn’t take long for the crowd to get up and about dancing and singing to that iconic hit Tainted Love which they have made their own. Seedy Films exemplified that whole night life vibe in Soho. The roar from the crowd on Sex Dwarf was palpable.
The crowd knew the songs and sung them back with gusto keeping that energy going on Chips On My Shoulder with singles Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye drawing a huge reaction. There wasn’t an encore as such but having played that album in full it was a chance to hear more from the back catalogue including the likes of Torch for starters. Purple Zone had an interesting back story with the Pet Shop Boys taking a liking to this one and loving it that much they wanted to do a remix. Memorabilia was another great moment as well with a couple of teasers with Into The Groove (Madonna) and Can’t Get You Outta My Head (Kylie Minogue) thrown in to lift the energy of this one. If “once is not enough” fans got to hear Tainted Love one more time which morphed in to Where Did Our Love Go which no doubt will left a lasting impression of the occasion and being able to say “remember seeing Soft Cell play Tainted Love at The Gov”. Soft Cell played The Gov and no… it wasn’t a dream!
Live Review By Rob Lyon