From dance club to sex club, Soft Cell cheers on the freaks one final time

In the ’80s, San Francisco offered Soft Cell singer Marc Almond a safe haven when being openly gay in British pop meant confronting open hostility. “I’ve always loved San Francisco and thought it was a great place to feel free and be who you are,” Almond told 48 Hills. That connection gives Soft Cell’s Wed/11 appearance at the Regency Ballroom particular weight. After musical partner Dave Ball’s death in October 2025, Almond has kept performing their songs but is now preparing to close the duo’s story. “I don’t think I’ll come back to San Francisco again with a full Soft Cell show,” the singer says. “It’ll probably be the last time I get to do some of these songs for a San Francisco audience, so it’ll be meaningful to me.” Soft Cell’s local history includes two nights at the Kabuki Theater in 1983; the Cruelty Without Beauty reunion tour at the Warfield in 2002; the Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret anniversary show at the Masonic in 2022; and the “Generations Tour” with The Human Le