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Soft Play were joined onstage by punk duo Bob Vylan at Glastonbury 2024 – watch footage below.
During their stint on the Other Stage last Sunday (June 30), drummer Isaac Holman told the crowd: “We’re gonna invite some friends onto the stage,” before the band joined them for a riotous performance of ‘One More Day Won’t Hurt’.
Bob Vylan have been a significant force in the trajectory of Soft Play, and were partially responsible for the duo changing their name from Slaves in 2022, following conversations between Vylan vocalist Bobby and Holman.
Soft Play and Bob Vylan…..brilliant #Glastonbury2024 pic.twitter.com/gEY0tWHPIF
— WarrenPeace (@WarrenPeace_75) June 30, 2024
When the band announced the change two years ago, it was coupled with a statement explaining that the original name was supposed to reflect “the grind of day-to-day life,” with the acknowledgement that it didn’t “change the fact that the name Slaves is an issue”.
Holman later explained he’d discussed the racial insensitivity of the band’s name with Bobby. “He basically said we were one of his favourite bands but he wouldn’t wear our merch,” explained Holman.
Guitarist Laurie Vincent also said at the time: “If he felt uncomfortable about liking us, there must be others who feel the same way.”
In their statement, the band wrote that they had “responded to criticism of the name from a place of fear and defensiveness,” and shared fears about losing their identity as a unit alongside the name.
“It took years of therapy to see past that,” Vincent told NME. “In the end, it just became tiring. I didn’t want to build a life around a name that clearly made people uncomfortable. It took a lot of growing up but now we’ve done it, it feels right.”
Reflecting on Glastonbury’s most magical moments, NME reviewer Sophie Williams wrote that their set “celebrated their friendship and looked towards a fresh start” after the band have “been through the wringer in recent years”.
“The Kent punks (FKA Slaves) have overcome respective mental health issues, life-altering grief and contention towards their name change as a band; after Vincent’s partner passed away in 2019, the duo went on an extended hiatus, and for a hot minute, it seemed like they were intending on never returning to the stage,” she said.
“Through therapy and perseverance, they made their electrifying return to Worthy Farm this year. Though the crowd spent much of the set gleefully dancing and roundhouse-kicking away, it was the reflective single ‘Everything And Nothing’ that conjured a real moment of intimacy.
As the acoustic track’s final chords rang out, Holman and Vincent hugged it out for a few minutes, proving sometimes a good cry is all you need. Here, big moshpits met even bigger emotions.”