On May 13, 1975, Cabaret Voltaire made the transition from the studio to the stage with the band’s first live performance at the Sheffield Students Union Refectory. Now, surviving members Stephen ‘Mal’ Mallinder and Chris Watson are celebrating this momentous anniversary with a special performance to take place at this year’s Sensoria Festival this October in Sheffield. Watson comments on the privilege of sharing the stage once again with Mallinder, “whilst remembering that in the current times – as back then – the Dadaist interventions of Cabaret Voltaire remain essential.” The performance will cover the breadth of the band’s output, from the early experiments and releases with Factory Records and Rough Trade to the later work with producers like Adrian Sherwood and Marshall Jefferson. “Everything has been painstakingly reconstructed with the original technology and processes to build the tracks,” Mallinder explains, stating that although the material has been built from scratch with today’s technology, he and Watson sought to be faithful to the original sounds, embracing the “chance meets causality” unpredictability that may ensue. The original performance in 1975 had famously led to violence due to the band’s confrontational and abrasive punklike attitude, resulting in Mallinder’s hospitalization.
Cabaret Voltaire’s 50th Anniversary performance will take place on October 25 at the FORGE Warehouse in Sheffield, with tickets to go on sale tomorrow, May 14 at 12:00pm via the SeeTickets and Resident Advisor.
With tonight marking the actual 50th anniversary of that iconic first performance, Sensoria Festival will be celebrating with CV50, taking place at Gut Level in Sheffield, featuring performances by AYA, MYNA, and Alex.Aubyn. There will also be a series of other events surrounding the anniversary, beginning with the launch of Studio Electrophonique: The Sheffield Space Age, from The Human League to Pulp on May 14, with Mallinder in conversation with author Jamie Taylor and Adi Newton of Clock DVA, hosted by writer Travis Elborough. Next will be the 50 Years of Sonic Shock show on May 16 featuring live performances by Russell Haswell, Prangers, and Synth Club, and an exhibition from May 15-18.
