Madge vs Kylie - The Ultimate Showdown

For a venue that sells itself on "breaking boundaries in music", Cabaret Voltaire was the ideal venue to host this one-off tribute to pop's cutting-edge chameleons. With the music policy simply being to alternate tracks between Kylie and Madonna, DJs Jon Pleased and Kaupaus made things interesting by spinning the best remixes and mash-ups spanning the last twenty years of dance music. The atmosphere was one of elation all evening, aided by a schizophrenic crowd made up of showgirls and showboys dressed to the nines in sequins and feathers, glamorous party girls drowning in a vat of make-up and the bemused straight boys looking on in horror/amusement. Cabaret Voltaire was stripped of its usual po-faced muso reputation for the evening as drag queens mimed on stage prior to a fierce vogueing contest and a "best ass competition". It was good to see a queer crowd outside the gay ghetto of Ego - especially one that danced the night away with such abandon. [Gregor Laird]