The Return of Cabaret Voltaire at the Bellwether, L.A.There was something in the water in the county of Yorkshire, England in the early-to-mid '70s. In 1975, proto-industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle formed in Hull. But two years prior, 68 miles south in Sheffield, Cabaret Voltaire was born.

So the story goes that founding member Chris Watson, inspired by Brian Eno, was experimenting with making "music without musical instruments." He was a telephone engineer, and that work informed his creativity too. Watson soon joined forces with Richard H. Kirk, and the pair were joined by Stephen Mallinder.

The rest is history. The Mix-Up album dropped in '79; the last Cabaret Voltaire album, BN9Drone, was released in April 2021, though by that point Kirk was the sole remaining member out of the original three. Five months later, in September 2021, Kirk passed away.

So here we are in 2026. Cabaret Voltaire is Mallinder and Watson, through the latter struggles to travel so the touring lineup is Mallinder and friends. One of those friends is Tara Busch, aka opening act I Speak Machine, who performs Watson's parts with aplomb.

There were no songs performed from the first three albums at Cabaret Voltaire's Bellwether show (their return to Los Angeles after years away)--the set was weighted heavily towards 1983's The Crackdown and 1984's Micro-Phonies. CV kicked off with "24/24," "Animation," and 'Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself)" from the former, before diving further into the past with "The Set-Up" from 1978's Extended Play EP, and "Landslide" from 1981's Red Mecca.

"Crackdown" and then "Yashar" (the latter from 2X45) were set highlights, "Sex Money Freaks" betrays their early Berlin nightclub inspirations, and set closer "Do Right" was a crowd pleaser. Encores "Nag Nag Nag" and "Sensoria" proved to be the perfect way to end the night.

The Bellwether was packed for this one. CV seemed to bring out all of Los Angeles' beautiful freaks, from the goths to the cyberpunks and everyone in-between. They all will have left happy.

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