Marc Almond, the face and voice of Soft Cell, absolute fashion icon, and the one who blessed us with “Tainted Love”, has finally toured Australia after a 47-year career. And it seems he loved it just as much as we did!
At the conclusion of the Australian tour, Almond played the Palais Theatre in Melbourne, an absolutely beautiful venue that was honestly the perfect highlight of the performance.
Almond started with some of his solo work and covers, walking on stage and playing “The Stars We Are” with no formal introduction. It was damn good, and the crowd was beyond ecstatic. Notably, a woman shouted, “We love you, Marc!” just before the first song, to which the crowd definitely agreed, erupting into applause again.
He played quite a few covers, all of which were just as good as the originals—especially “Elusive Butterfly”, “The Days of Pearly Spencer”, and “Jacky”. He spoke very highly of all the musicians he was covering and noted some of their personal significance to him. Before playing a cover of “What Makes a Man” by Charles Aznavour, a song exploring queer identity, he spoke about the importance of being yourself, even if the world seems against you, and his support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Every single song was incredible, and his live voice is unforgettable. I had some doubts going in, as I hadn’t liked his new music as much, but seriously, his live performances are something else. His stage presence was wonderful as well! He was very interactive and talkative with the crowd as well as the band he was playing with, shouting out each of the other performers and bringing deserved attention to their skill.
There was an intermission at 9pm, and then Almond came back to play Soft Cell’s hits. Despite having already played for an hour straight, every song was still performed perfectly, with even more energy, and some lyrics were changed to include more interesting interactions between Marc, the fans, and the backup singers. During “Seedy Films”, he and the two backup singers joked back and forth in place of the lyrics “Isn’t that you on the screen?”, which I found fun. The visuals were well put together too, including clips from old music videos and Marc’s awesome 80s eyeliner—which I miss dearly.
During the encore, they played “Torch”, “Purple Zone”, “Memorabilia”, and—obviously—”Tainted Love” one more time for good measure, which the crowd was more than happy about. My personal favourite part of the encore was Almond talking about the Pet Shop Boys, their collaboration with him for “Purple Zone”, and his appreciation of their remix of the song, saying that originally hearing it had moved him to tears.
All in all, he’s awesome, he knows how to put on a good show, and my ears are forever blessed. He seemed to have loved his time in Australia, so keep an eye out and make sure to go see him if he comes back!
Setlist (Marc Almond):
1. The Stars We Are
2. Tears Run Rings
3. My Hand Over My Heart
4. Child Star
5. What Makes A Man (Charles Aznavour cover)
6. A Lover Spurned
7. Stories Of Johnny
8. Black Heart (Marc and the Mambas song)
9. Elusive Butterfly (Bob Lind cover)
10. Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart (Gene Pitney cover)
11. The Days Of Pearly Spencer (David McWilliams cover)
12. Jacky (Jacques Brel cover)
Setlist (Soft Cell):
1. Frustration
2. Tainted Love (Gloria Jones cover)
3. Seedy Films
4. Youth
5. Sex Dwarf
6. Entertain Me
7. Chips On My Shoulder
8. Bedsitter
9. Secret Life
10. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Encore:
11. Torch
12. Purple Zone
13. Memorabilia
14. Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go