Cabaret Voltaire – Iconic Sheffield Band Reunite to Celebrate 50 Years

Cabaret Voltaire were one of the most influential and innovative electronic music acts of the twentieth century. This week, they celebrate fifty years since their first gig, and – in an exciting announcement – the band will be reuniting in October for an exclusive hometown show in Sheffield, featuring founding members Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson.

Additionally, a new free exhibition around the band, including film screenings, will take place this weekend – 15th May to 18th May – at the University Theatre Workshop, with a main event featuring DJs and a conversation with Mallinder and Watson on Friday the 16th May.

Originally a trio, Cabaret Voltaire formed in Sheffield in the early 1970s, experimenting with DIY electronics to create unorthodox performances. They played their first official gig at Sheffield Student’s Union Refectory on the 13th of May, 1975 – a gig that apparently ended up in violence, with frontman Mallinder hospitalised in a fight between the band and their audience.

The band’s notoriety grew with the arrival of the punk movement, and they regularly shared billing with other iconic and provocative acts such as Joy Division and Throbbing Gristle. Their unique sound became foundational to the genre that is now known as industrial music, and their 1981 LP Red Mecca is regularly cited as one of the greatest industrial records of all time.

Founding member Chris Watson left in 1981 to work in television, leaving Mallinder and Richard H. Kirk as a duo. During the 1980s, they extended their sound into a more commercial one, incorporating synthpop, electro and funk. LPs such as The Crackdown and Micro Phonies and singles like ‘Sensoria’, ‘Just Fascination’ and ‘I Want You’ would become underground dance hits. By the 1990s, the duo began lending their sound to house and techno music.

The duo split in 1994 to work on solo projects. Richard H. Kirk revived the Cabaret Voltaire name in 2009, performing sporadically, and released a new album, Shadow of Fear, in 2020. Kirk died in 2021, aged 65, leaving the future of the act in uncertainty.

The announcement of a reunion comes as a surprise. Through the years, the members have been reluctant to be seen as a ‘nostalgia act’, rarely if ever opting to perform their old material and always pushing for innovation. Mallinder explains, “The live set is built from scratch but faithful to the original tracks. Everything has been painstakingly reconstructed with the original technology and processes to build the tracks. But as with all Cabs live shows there is an element of the unpredictable, the new. Chance meets causality.”

Mallinder has continued to perform experimental electronic music under his own name and various other group projects over the years. As a solo artist, he last performed in Sheffield in 2022 at The Leadmill, opening for synthpop group Blancmange and dedicating the performance to his late bandmate Kirk.

Chris Watson, who will be performing as part of Cabaret Voltaire for the first time in 44 years, says: “I’m delighted and totally thrilled to make a contribution to the band’s 50th anniversary. To share a stage once more with Mal and to honour Richard’s legacy will be a unique privilege, whilst remembering that in current times, such as then, the Dadaist interventions of Cabaret Voltaire remain essential.”

Half a century on, Cabaret Voltaire’s spirit is as timely as ever, with their macabre mediations on fascism and brutality still cutting deep. Their influence gave way to huge acts such as New Order, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails.

The reunion performance will take place at Forge Warehouse on Saturday the 25th of October, hosted in collaboration with Sensoria Festival. More information can be found at this link.

’50 Years of Sonic Shock: Celebrating Cabaret Voltaire’, which features a main event on Friday the 16th of May and free exhibitions throughout the weekend, will take place at the University of Sheffield Drama Studio and Theatre Workshop. More information can be found at this link.