SOFT PLAY are supporting Robbie Williams in Hyde Park

In one of the less likely booking we thought we'd see this summer, SOFT PLAY have been revealed as one of the supports for Robbie Williams' London show next month.

Hot on the muddy heels of their storming show at Download last weekend, on July 6 the Tunbridge Wells duo will be bringing their spiky punk noise to Hyde Park at the invite of the former Take That singer. Joining them on the bill will be Seal, Gaz Coombes, Shaun Ryder’s Black Grape, Kate Nash, James Smith, Ellur, Davina Michelle, Ryan Gibb, and Ben Kidson.

This comes ahead of the band releasing their first album in six years, and first under the SOFT PLAY banner, HEAVY JELLY, on July 19. Explaining their inspiration to go heavier and bitier this time around, guitarist/vocalist Laurie Vincent told Kerrang! it was down to realising they already were such a band at heart.

“I wanted to make nu-metal riffs, I want to reference Korn and I just want to accept that I grew up listening to emo music and I had a Kerrang! subscription," he said. "And what turned out was that those sort of influences leant themselves to what we did completely perfectly. So by embracing the stuff that that actually made us, we’ve made better music – and then in a beautiful, full-circle moment, we became a Kerrang! band, which is kind of what I’ve always wanted to be anyway.”

So, that'll be nice for Robbie fans. For those who don't fancy spending a night bellowing along to Angels and Let Me Entertain You, you can catch SOFT PLAY on their own headlining tour in October.

SOFT PLAY UK tour 2024

October

15 Brighton The Dome
16 Cardiff The Tramshed
18 Birmingham O2 Institute
19 Bristol O2 Academy
20 Leeds O2 Academy
22 Sheffield Tramshed
23 Manchester O2 Academy
25 Liverpool O2 Academy
26 Newcastle NX
27 Glasgow Barrowland
29 Nottingham Rock City
30 Norwich UEA
31 London O2 Academy Brixton

READ THIS: SOFT PLAY: “We need to do this together… the magic of our band is both of us”