Soft Machine, Band on the Wall, Manchester 4 March 2025

Another year and another new chapter in the history of Soft Machine as the band launch their 2025 dates with a Tuesday night gig at a favourite stomping ground, the Band on the Wall in Manchester. The amount of social media ads about this had made me think that this mini-UK tour might be slightly going under the radar, but the place appears pretty full, filled seats stretching so far back that the merch stall is relocated upstairs, and genuine roars greeting the band as they power their way through a repertoire both new and old.

We’re treated to no less than 4 ‘world premieres’ – tracks that will soon take their place in what will be the third studio album since the band became Soft Machine again rather than Soft Machine Legacy, and shows that the growing coherence of this lineup as both a compositional and performing act is palpable: Theo Travis’ ‘Seven Hours’ continues some of the impressionistic free work seen on ‘Other Doors’ before finally settling on a more etched out theme; ‘Green Books’, possibly the highpoint of the evening has a funked out guitar and bass intro from John Etheridge (its author), and Fred Baker, which returns throughout the pieces, as does a strong angular line played in unison by Etheridge and Travis (on tenor sax). The second set opener ‘Open Road’ sees Travis bestride the stage, knees bent, in an extended, fulsome tenor rant – I’ve seen him many times over the years, both with Gong and Soft Machine, but for me this might well have been the most commanding performance from him I’ve witnessed.

In between times, there is the usual handpicked blend of band standards and newer pieces: ‘Facelift’ opens proceedings with impressionistic noises and rumblings before carving out those all too familiar riffs in a sadly truncated rendering; ‘Burden of Proof’, a title track from those Legacy day albums is another unexpected highlight, a fluid swingalong which morphs into guitar and sax call and response. There are Etheridge’s beautiful ballad pieces ‘Heart Off Guard’ and ‘Stars Apart’ from the last 2 albums; Asaf Sirkis’ thunderous assault on his drum kit before and during the otherwise tranquil ‘Tales of Taliesin’, him otherwise being a figure of zen-like precision throughout; and Fred Baker’s showpieces: the vintage renditions of ‘Joy of a Toy’ and, briefly,‘1030 Returns to Bedroom’, a cacophonous outpouring of fuzz bass. Hugh Hopper’s ‘Kings and Queens’, always a highlight, enjoys yet another re-interpretation: this piece has the ability to suspend time for a moment, and yet, normally, dominated by Travis’ looped flute, tonight appears to have gained a glorious 4-way improvisational section where each member subtly interweave.

Perhaps the only surprise of the evening was the lack of a Mike Ratledge-penned setpiece: ‘Slightly All The Time’ and ‘Out-Bloody-Rageous’ have received recent reworkings by the band, who have also provided re-interpretations of more tranquil pieces such as ‘Chloe and the Pirates’ and ‘The Man Who Waved At Trains’. Perhaps this omission was the rawness of recent events: most if not all of the band had attended Ratledge’s funeral a few days previously, which was alluded to within Etheridge’s between-piece monologues – his repartee is as undiminished as the fluidity of his soloing. What we did get as a first encore is the fourth new piece, dedicated to the original Soft Machine’s last surviving member: ‘Waltz for Robert’, a plaintive Asaf Sirkis piece with a beautiful Baker bass solo, before the a more rumbustious second encore of ‘Grapehound’ (Grey Pound – geddit?) saw the crowd off into the Manchester evening.

One thing that strikes me about this Soft Machine is that this version always sounds remarkably fresh: their sound is heavy enough to easily sit outside other technically adept but sometimes musically insipid areas of jazz fusion. As a fellow gig-goer commented, they play with a joy and energy which doesn’t detract from their expertise. It’s a very fine evening’s music all told.

Soft Machine play another 6 UK gigs in March, starting with Kinross tonight before heading out to Scandinavia in May. Full gig details below:

March 4 – Manchester, UK (Band on the Wall)

March 5 – Kinross, UK (Green Hotel)

March 7 – London, UK (New Cross Inn)

March 9 – Exeter, UK (Exeter Phoenix Arts Center)

March 15 – Worcester, UK (Huntington Hall)

March 18 – Milton Keynes (The Stables)

March 21 – Lichfield, UK (Guildhall)

April 4 – Vortex, London https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/soft-machine-a-celebration-of-john-etheridges-50-years-with-the-band/

May 9 – London, Uk (Signature Brew)

May 13 – Malmoe, Sweden (babel)

May 14 – Halmstad, Sweden (Kulturhuset)

May 15 – Goteborg, Sweden (Playhouse)

May 16 – Oslo, Norway (Cosmopolite)

May 18 – Stockholm, Sweden (Fasching)

May 20 – Pori, Finland (Validi Karkia)

May 21 – Espoo, Finland (Louhisali)

May 24 – Muenster, Germany (Hot Jazz Club)

May 25 – Zoetermeer, The Netherlands (de Boerderij)

Thanks to Nick Utteridge

https://softmachine-moonjune.bandcamp.com/