Soft Play/Panic Shack – Liverpool, O2 Academy – 25 October 2024

A local gig of not so local people is the thing for tonight, as southern punks Soft Play are in town, with Welsh punk quintet Panic Shack spreading their own take on the riot grrl scene in perfect support. A cold evening outside with the change of seasons is against the warm, sweaty room that the upstairs room of the local Academy venue always becomes with a sellout show, a great setting for the tour.

I’ll admit that Panic Shack are complete unknowns to me before the set, but it is hard not to be swept along. Old school punk with four way vocal harmonies, laced with all the attitude, energy and poise that belies their relatively young career, they capture the room’s attention with ease. Spitting out high octane riffs in the main, there’s more to the song writing than may initially come through. The opening song itself has a bass lead, slowing and speeding up at different points to emphasize the energy, they show they are very capable in their respective rights.

The crowd rightfully take to them quickly, showing s lot of love as the crowd swells throughout the 30 minute set. They get a huge cheer and applause as they finally finish their frenetic set and have undoubtedly won themselves many new fans.

Soft Play time and the room is well and truly warmed up. The intro song blares out to a loud cheers, but it’s nothing compared to the deafening one when the duo take to the stage.  The energy is already high after Panic Shack but it ramps up even more as the set starts off. It is impossible not to be swept along, regardless of how much you do or don’t know by them. The crowd are more than up for it all and show it from the very off, making sure they almost drown the band out as they all shout loudly along.

For what is a fairly simple set up – drums, guitar and backing – it’s a hell of a noise and a much better one, despite the rawness that comes with punk, than the likes of Royal Blood and similar two pieces that I’ve previously encountered. The room becomes its usual sweatbox self with 1500 people dancing, moshing and partying – enjoying themselves in every which way you can at a live show.

Kicking the set off with ‘All Things’ we get a lung busting (for the duo at least, the crowd don’t seem to ever give up!) 19 song set, sans encore. We get a couple of interruptions…ish, with the likes of ‘Fuck The Hi-Hat’ giving them some kind of respite,  briefly, which the band use to venture out into the crowd, something they repeat with a later track.

The energy exchange is constant, despite just how warm and sweaty the room becomes and the love is reciprocated constantly. Ending on ‘Beauty Quest’ and ‘The Hunter’,  they absolutely bring the house down.

Phenomenal performance.