Watson and Mallinder honor 50 years since violent Sheffield Students Union debut performance

Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson have extended their 2025-2026 anniversary performances with an additional show at London’s Roundhouse on 22 October 2026. The expanded run opens with the original Sheffield date at FORGE Warehouse on 25 October 2025, part of the Sensoria Festival, before moving through Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London’s ICA, and Brighton.

Featured image: Pete Hill

The October-November dates mark five decades since Cabaret Voltaire first appeared live at Sheffield Students Union Refectory on 13 May 1975. Support acts have been confirmed across the tour: Soborgnost (Jim Osman’s lo-fi dubwave operation) appears in Sheffield and London; CURRENTMOODGIRL (Greta Caroll’s experimental pop project) takes Glasgow; I Am Fya (Manchester experimentalist and Brownton Abbey member) supports the Manchester show; Vanishing (Gareth Smith’s artist-engineer hybrid) appears in Birmingham; and MICROCORPS (Alexander Tucker’s modular techno incarnation) closes Brighton.

Both founding members describe the undertaking as a reconstruction rather than revival. Mallinder states the live set has been “built from scratch but faithful to the original tracks,” with everything “painstakingly reconstructed with the original technology and processes.” Watson frames his return as honoring the band’s legacy while acknowledging that “Dadaist interventions of Cabaret Voltaire remain essential.”

The performances will span material from initial tape experiments through the Rough Trade and Factory releases, the band’s Doublevision video work, and their collaborations with Adrian Sherwood and Marshall Jefferson. Mallinder emphasizes the element of unpredictability remains: “as with all Cabs live shows there is an element of unpredictable, the new. Chance meets causality.”

Stephen Mallinder was born on 1 January 1955 in Sheffield. He joined the group in late 1973 to provide vocals and bass guitar after Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson had begun their initial experiments. Mallinder recorded as a solo artist in the 1980s, including the Pow-Wow album, released in 1983. In 1988, he recorded with members of Soft Cell in the band Love Street, and in 1989, he was a member of Acid Horse. Mallinder remained with Cabaret Voltaire until 1994.

Chris Watson was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire and remained with the group until 1981. Watson later formed Hafler Trio and his sound recording career began in 1981. As a freelance composer and sound recordist Watson specialises creating spatial sound installations. His solo albums for Touch include Weather Report (2003) and El Tren Fantasma (2011). His television work includes many programmes in the David Attenborough ‘Life’ series including ‘The Life of Birds’ which won a BAFTA and Frozen Planet (2012).

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