The Past of the Cabaret Futura

It was 1982. The new wave was waning; new romanticism was still in fresh flower. In New Orleans, despite a weird tax structure that penalized anyone who wanted to perform in the city, we still were lucky enough to get quite a few performers who were willing to trade money for the mystery and cachet that (they felt) New Orleans held.

Many nights of those days remain vivid. One I've been thinking about lately is the Cabaret Futura tour of the USA. The Cabaret Futura was a concept and a place in London, headed by Mr. Richard Strange. Knowing what I know now of the pain it is to bring a troupe onto the road, I'm even more amazed that the people involved in the Cabaret Futura managed to get it together and tour the USA. The main reason I went was to see The Passage , whose song "XOYO" I loved (and still do).

The surprise of the night, though, was Cabaret Futura head Richard Strange's set. I just he was just terrific. It was much more akin to performance art than a rock show and he pulled the attitude off beautifully. Richard Strange was also surprisingly funky for a British white boy (much more so than the sadness that resulted from Spandau Ballet after they told us that they didn't need that pressure on). 

I don't know what it says about how the show was received generally in the USA, but Richard Strange disbanded the Cabaret Futura after returning to the UK. 

For more details, you can read The Cabaret by Lisa Appignanesi. And for your listening pleasure, I give you the long out-of-print Richard Strange 12" single of "International Language," his closest-to-a-hit single. You can hear the funkiness on the b-side, "God is Science."

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