Soft Cell have been announced as the first Heritage Live 2023 headliners set for Audley End House & Gardens next summer.
The chart-topping Tainted Love duo will be joined by very special guests OMD and Heaven 17 for a synth-pop spectacle in Saffron Walden on Friday, August 11, 2023.
Heritage Live organiser Giles Cooper said: “It’s been an ambition of us all at Heritage Live to stage a show for the legendary Soft Cell, but to also have them joined by the iconic OMD and Heaven 17, will make this concert so unique within such a spectacular setting, that it’ll undoubtedly make this a night to remember for many years to come. We can’t wait!”
Pre-sale tickets are available from 9am on Wednesday, November 9. To register for the pre-sale, visit https://arep.co/p/soft-cell
Tickets for the Essex show go on general sale from 9am on Friday, November 11. General sale tickets will be available from axs.com/heritagelive.
Celebrating the most defining music of the 80s, this synth-pop showcase brings a line-up of three acts who continue to release ground-breaking new music.
Soft Cell will headline the event at the Essex estate, with the line-up also featuring Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and Heaven 17. DJs Readers Wifes will get the party started at the show from 3pm.
Having met at Leeds Polytechnic University in the late 70s, Soft Cell - Marc Almond and Dave Ball - released four UK Top 20 albums between 1981-1984, spawning hits such as Torch, Bedsitter, Say Hello, Wave Goodbye and, of course, their era-defining No.1 hit Tainted Love.
The duo performed to a sold-out crowd at The O2 in London in 2018 for what was intended to be a farewell concert, but instead led to the release of acclaimed new album ‘*Happiness Not Included’, which entered the UK album charts at Number 7 earlier this year.
In the last 12 months, Soft Cell have also toured the UK and North America celebrating the 40th anniversary of their classic debut album, ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’.
OMD were formed by Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys in the late 70s, and are known for their trademark electronic sound, achieving hits throughout the 80s including Souvenir, Joan of Arc, If You Leave, and Enola Gay.
Formed after a split from The Human League, Sheffield synth-pop pioneers Heaven 17 achieved chart success with hits including (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang, Play To Win, and signature song Temptation.
Formed in London in 1994, the Readers Wifes, aka Kim Phaggs and Chelsea Kelsey, were among the forerunners of the kind of clubbing eclecticism we take for granted these days.
DJs at London’s now legendary ‘Duckie’, their five-hour long sets mixing 80s electro, glam, punk, ska, Motown and Kate Bush were a truly revolutionary proposition back then.
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