Marking 50 years since the live launch of one of Britain’s most influential electronic bands, Cabaret Voltaire announce a headline Limelight, Belfast show for Thursday 8th October 2026.
Talking about the newly announced dates, Stephen Mallinder, says: “What a wonderful opportunity to go round the block one more time and share that with one of the most unique and spectacular artists we know. The connective tissue between ourselves, our history, and the world Gazelle Twin now conjures up, will be out there and shared with people. It seems like a special, magical moment.” Composer, producer, and performance artist Elizabeth Bernholz, aka Gazelle Twin, will be special guest across the tour: “Pinch me. Go on. I’m feeling excessively lucky at the prospect of touring with Cabaret Voltaire in 2026. They are electronic music pioneers, but also the loveliest, kindest folk in music that I could ever hope to share the stage with.”
The current tour continues next month, with supports confirmed: dark experimental pop musician, producer and performer Greta Caroll aka CURRENTMOODGIRL will perform at Glasgow’s SWG3 Warehouse; bass-pushing experimentalist and member of Afro- Futurist performance collective Brownton Abbey, I Am Fya, will support at Manchester Gorilla; engineer turned artistic world builder, Gareth Smith, brings Vanishing’s evocative music and resonant lyrics to Birmingham’s Xoyo; Soborgnost, lo-fi dubwave dancepunk mutation from Jim Osman, will join the bill at London’s ICA, and Alexander Tucker’s electronic guise, MICROCORPS, brings heavy mutant techno modular systems to Brighton’s ACCA.
In the current climate of social turmoil and political manipulation, the prescient work of Cabaret Voltaire continues to be necessary. The sounds, words, images and films of the band still resonate loudly, continuing to challenge the status quo.
The events in 2025 and 2026 will curate this essential work and to acknowledge the timeless energy and to mark the continuing significance and power of what Cabaret Voltaire achieved. Original members Chris Watson and Stephen Mallinder are committed to stay true to the enduring vision of Cabaret Voltaire.
The performance will cover the arc of their formidable output – from early experiments, and the first Rough Trade / Factory releases, through the band’s Doublevision video label and into the work with renowned producers such as Adrian Sherwood and Marshall Jefferson. Stephen 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 unpredictable, the new. Chance meets causality.
”Chris Watson goes on to say, “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 Cabaret Voltaire’s legacy will be a unique privilege, whilst remembering that in the current times – as back then – the Dadais interventions of Cabaret Voltaire remain essential.”
Originally active between 1973-1994, Cabaret Voltaire featured Chris Watson until 1981 and Stephen Mallinder until 1994. The group were inactive for 20 years until – with Richard H Kirk as the sole remaining member – the 2014 performance at Berlin’s Atonal festival. An interconnected series of releases – Shadow of Fear, BN9Drone and Dekadrone – followed in 2020 and 2021 before Kirk’s untimely passing in autumn 2021. Mallinder and Watson have stated that there will be no new recordings under the name Cabaret Voltaire.
CABARET VOLTAIRE
8TH OCTOBER 2026
LIMELIGHT 1, BELFAST
Tickets on sale Friday at 10 am via Ticketmaster.ie
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