Voltaire Show @ Masquerade in Atlanta
Welcome back, we're glad you're here!
Mike and I are huge Voltaire fans, and we had the opportunity to see one of his shows last night at Masquerade in Atlanta. Appropriately enough, the show was in the section of the club they refer to as Hell. (If you aren’t familiar with Voltaire, see here. www.myspace.com/voltairenyc )
It was an absolutely freaking amazing show. If you ever get the chance to see him, do it without fail. Voltaire often tours solo, so it was very exciting to see him with his band, the Skeletal Orchestra, who are all awesome, but particularly the accordion player and the violinist. In addition to the top notch music, Voltaire is extremely personable and gobs of fun to watch. He swigged Captain Morgon straight from the bottle, interacted with the audience, and simulated an orgasm.
After the show I shamelessly threw myself and my camera in Voltaire’s path, so he took a pic of us together. I got to chat with him for a minute, and he admired Mike’s kilt and Celtophilia shirt. I meant to do a better job at pimping the website, but frankly I was a little starstruck and stammery. (Whoa, by the way, completely unexpected, and something that has never happened to me before, even when I’ve been lucky enough to meet other musicians that I’m really into.)
Just a word or two about the band that opened for Voltaire, The Extraordinary Contraptions. They are an Atlanta, or Terminus, as they like to call it, based steampunk band. I have to confess that I don’t know much about the steampunk scene, but they were charming and I was intrigued. The second song of their set was great and Mike and I both enjoyed it a lot. Sadly most everything else they played was a bit too cacophonous for my taste. They were good performers though, we were impressed with their barefoot drummer, their time traveling outfits, and their witty banter. You can check them out at their myspace page if you’re curious. www.myspace.com/theextraordinarycontraptions
All said, the evening would have been hard pressed to be more perfect than it was, Mike and me had a splendiferous time. (And I promise an actual Celtic music post for tomorrow!)
Slainte,
Bonnie
Mike’s Note: I totally agree with everything Bonnie said in this short review of the evening. I *thought* the highlight of the night was going to be on Voltaire’s second song, when he played my absolute favorite of his tunes, The Headless Waltz. Instead, it came later, when I learned my *new* favorite Voltaire song, Death Death (Devil, Devil, Evil, Evil Song). I’m including a video of it from a different performance (which just happened to be in Altanta also) here, so you all can make it your favorite song Voltaire song, as well.
