{"id":165327,"date":"2026-09-24T12:29:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T16:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/gig_review\/chez\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T14:04:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T18:04:54","slug":"chez","status":"publish","type":"gig_review","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/gig_review\/chez\/","title":{"rendered":"At the Pioneers’ Cabaret (Voltaire)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I try as little as possible to go see pioneering bands. You buy overpriced tickets under the pretext that it\u2019s your last chance: will I really have other opportunities to see this again? Then, as soon as they take the stage, the thought hits me: fuck, I came here to torture myself\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After seeing Martin Rev of Suicide at the Ritz, I told myself: never again. I left during the third pre-programmed track on his keyboard, with a heavy heart, apologizing profusely to my poor friend whom I\u2019d dragged there. It was as if he were playing there to pay off a gambling debt, \u00e0 la Frankie Valli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I admit I felt a certain apprehension before seeing Cabaret Voltaire\u2014a band that introduced me to electronic post-punk\u2014even after listening to a compelling KEXP performance from that same year. Their set swept away my worst memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make a long story short, Cabaret Voltaire is a legendary act from the late \u201970s. Hailing from Sheffield\u2014that industrial cradle in northern England that also gave rise to The Human League and Heaven 17\u2014the band sought above all to escape the predetermined fate of working in a steel mill by making industrial music (a cool career change). These are musicians who started out without instruments and embody the very essence of DIY\u2014ferociously anti-rock \u2019n\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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