Soft Cell will return to the stage in 2023 with a headline performance as part of Heritage Live’s concert series. 

The synth pop duo will take the stage in the grounds of English Heritage’s Audley End House & Gardens in Saffron Walden, Essex, for the August 11 performance. 

Marc Almond and Dave Ball – who released their Top 10 fifth album ‘*Happiness Not Included’ earlier this year – will be joined by OMD and Heaven 17 for the show. 

DJs Readers Wifes will get the party started at the show, which opens at 3 pm.

On the show, 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!”

Tickets for the gig go on general sale November 11 at 9 am GMT.

Over the summer, Soft Cell performed their debut album ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ in full during a US tour, alongside recent releases from their current long-player, ‘*Happiness Not Included’.

The album features 10 new tracks and, according to Dave, “reflects the dreadful government we have at the moment and the levels of hypocrisy and incompetence”.

Marc adds: “In this album, I wanted to look at us as a society, a place where we have chosen to put profits before people, money before morality and decency, food before the rights of animals, fanaticism before fairness and our own trivial comforts before the unspeakable agonies of others.”

“I think it’s very much reflective of what’s going on in the world,” Dave continues. “The fact we had someone like [Donald] Trump in power. We’re not in a very good place globally. 

“Whatever your political beliefs are, the state [of the world] isn’t too good. And obviously, with all the global warming and all that sort of stuff going on, it’s not fantastically happy times.”

‘*Happiness Not Included’ is available now.