That is no joke, the title.
A few weeks ago, on the 6th of August, I went to see Voltaire’s first live show in Sydney, Australia; as well as Australia altogether.
The entire night was just fucking sensational. The first opening act was Brillig, an Australian band that was very versatile. The recording — more a test for me of how well my iPhone could record audio while in my pocket than to capture the band — is of them while the main guitar was a banjo and some kind of mini-harp thing as the melody. (I don’t know musical instruments that well. Sound comes out of weird shaped things?)
The songs were all right, but when they did small sort of comedy bits in between the songs — and I want that to be stressed: the attempts to be funny were only in those parts — it felt like they were trying to be like Voltaire is. Unfortunately, that only really made the fact that the songs are not trying to be funny at all so much more obvious. The songs were good, and they were nice mood music, a great fit for the low-key lighting, but it just didn’t bring the energy up for what Voltaire’s show usually is.
The following act, however, did. Very much so.
Burlesque dancers are always great at getting spirits up; and before you ask, yes I was one of the people that was cheering and clapping with every article of clothing removed.
Ultimately, though, the best part of the show was the longest: Voltaire himself. The first hour-and-a-bit of the show I managed to record on my iPhone, but the battery — which was coincidentally at 42% when I started recording — died after holding out for a surprisingly long time.
Voltaire Show(It’s a playlist, so just press play and watch)
The crème de la crème, though, naturally came after the video stopped.
I. Got. To. Sing. On. Stage. With. Fucking. Voltaire.
With a choir of about 7-8 other people that he picked out, we helped him sing “When You’re Evil” to ‘close’ the show. That is the single part that makes it the best night of my life so far. I’ll have to see if I can hire him for my wedding to make sure that it beats this night out whenever that may come around.
The reason I air-quoted ‘close’ before was because after the song ended and he went backstage, the calls for an encore began. He came out for a few more songs. First, he did “The U.S.S Make Shit Up”, talking through each verse as the version of Star Trek it’s making fun of. Then he did “The Vampire Club”. Not the normal version, though. This was his special Twilight version that he wrote for the ‘kids’ record that he made.
If you can call enough of his songs kid-friendly to make a record out of it.
As with which version of “Day of the Dead” to sing, he had us ‘vote’ on which version of “The Vampire Club” to sing. I think everyone but the two girls at the table next to me were cheering loudly for the “raping Twilight in the ass” version to be sang.
The final closing number was the great “Science Fiction/Double Feature” from Rocky Horror. And really, there is no other song that isn’t his that he could have played which would have been better.
Afterwards, I picked up all the merch on the table I could. Got the DEADY hat, the DEADY shirt and the DEADY keyring. There was also his key pendant and two of his CDs, but as I already had them, I had to decline the sales offer of “Buy one, then buy the other one, then buy the other one; all of them at full price!”
Did get Voltaire’s signature on my tablecloth; a sentiment that’s much less disgusting than it might sound, as they were just pieces of paper. There was no food on them anyway. I and my mother (who came up to see the show with me) spent all of our time that wasn’t clapping or eating drawing on the tablecloth with the three tools — my felt tip for writing, a permanent marker and red pen that she had for no reason — available to us.
Only downside was that since I spent all the battery recording, I had nothing left to take a picture with him. But since he clearly wants to — and is — playing again in Sydney, I’ll just wait and remember to have full battery the next time. Upside is that from singing onstage with him, I got to touch him with both hands.
From dinner to the end of the show, I was there from 7:30 to about 12-Midnight; and every minute of it was sensational. I will never forget that night as long as I live.
You’ll probably notice from the videos that he does a lot — a fucking lot — of talking and being generally funny outside of his songs. He’s really less of a musician, being restricted to that profession, and more of a general entertainer. I mean, he’s done everything. Written books, graphic novels, made stop motion animation, music, designed toys, drawn artwork for his records…everything.
Both his style and the type of show he treats you to are entirely unique. No one can replicate the hilarity and magic of a Voltaire live show, nor can it be fully defined as one specific type of show; just like his music.
Truly just a fantastic night; I’m still smiling just thinking about it. I want to keep going on about it, and I would, but now I’d just be rambling about the same stuff without it making any real sense. I guess I’m done for now.
…Fuck, that was a great night…
Regards,
≈Roy42