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Live Review
by SashaS
11-11-2004
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More on: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
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| Nick Cave warms up for a night's show |
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Live: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Brixton Academy, London
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Nick Cave: the dark Lord’s triumphant act
The white shirt is there, the dark, sharp suit, the longish hair, the lyrics to give you a cerebral parting, the charisma to fill in three halls of this size [erm, at least]… Nick Cave is on stage and you simply can’t help but be in awe of this man. Probably the singularly most important songwriter of his generation…
And, the bloody thing is - he is getting better: his ballads get more soulful, his lyrical musing’s deeper and deeper, his intellectual pursuits to counter-trivial pop agenda broader… Nick Cave’s never dealt in instant gratification but aspired to bookmark memories, to indelibly brand our time. Tonight is only the first, of three sold out, dates at once proud ‘Republic’ of Brixtonia‘s venue.
He’s been doing it for a quarter of a century, and to the disgust of his detractors, is getting better at it, unlike artists such as Elton John or Rod Stewart [not a comparison]: his singing more confident, stage presence natural, commanding and nonchalant. This is a man at ease with himself, secure in knowledge of how much he knows and how much he still needs to learn. The man on a mission to fully understand…
Human’s main motivation - tragedy; Cave is well aware that happiness and joy are episodes in a long tunnel we travel with hardly any lights on, and often intoxicated, although his take makes it sound like a lesson in passion, about melancholy being something you should cuddle like Kylie Minogue on a bed of your dreams, that pain can sometime be as enjoyable as humour. His songs are full of obsessions, processions and stimulations.
Energetically stalking the stage front when not behind a piano, this man simply demonstrates that pop music can still be - sonic equivalent to belle arte. Variously recalling and bridging to different times, Cave is a genuine heir to Jacques Brel, Lenny Cohen, Scott Walker, Tom Waits and, most importantly - Johnny Cash. There is no artist like Cave around the world nowadays…
Stage is not dressed up but kept rockingly minimalist, with players and backing singers dotted in front of a backdrop that had some amazing lights projected onto for a show that was just ****ing majestic. The change of guitarist - Blixa Bargeld left after a twenty-year membership - has had no effect because this has always been one man’s vision, expression, performance. Whatta giant he’s grown to be for the difference of the jerky, gangly, high on frontman of The Birthday Party.
Give a man enough rope… and some will climb it. At the period when parents of the contemporary youth - all gone so sensible and predictable now - are more avant-garde in their taste, Cave’s vast back catalogue is revisited during the splendid set, 'Deanna', 'Stagger Lee', 'The Mercy Seat', where the new stars of the night are songs from the current double-CD ‘Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus’ with the new single, ‘There She Goes, My Beautiful World’, glistening like a pearl earring baiting a girl.
Nick Cave, he puts the spell on one as on four thou. Still… Recently commenting that the Bad Seeds make two kinds of records, “slow, sad and pathetic” and “extremely violent”, they are masterful display of wholehearted power. Now, lemme take my Kangol flattie off before keying the byline…
SashaS
11-11-2004
Nick Cave's double A-sided single 'Breatless/There She Goes, My Beautiful World' is released 15 November 2004 by Mute
NC&BS' double LP 'Abattoir Blues/Orpheus Lyre' is available on the label
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