I last saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds twenty years ago in Wolverhampton but nothing could have prepared me for what was in store tonight.
Support or special guests were Black Country, New Road not a localish band as the name could suggest but an art rock, indie-punk, folk music sextet from Cambridge, the city of perspiring dreams who shared a forty-minute set which appeared to be made up of mostly new songs which I assume will form part of a forthcoming album. Amongst the numbers tonight were the expressive `The Mayor Of Cambridge` which had vocals shared as the other five members stood playing recorders which brought back fleeting memories of infant and junior school and eclectic `Nancy Tries To Take The Night`. This well-received set finished with the quite ethereal `For The Cold Country` as the band left to wild applause.
There was little fuss as the band along with four excellent Gospel singers took to the stage and headed straight into the fairly mesmerising `Frogs` from `Wild God`, the eighteenth studio album from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released in August which has topped a number of best of 2024 album polls. The title track followed with its mantra of “bring your spirit down” along with a further track `Song of The Lake` as the singer ventured along platforms that allowed him to move amongst the faithful as if walking on water as hands reached out to be touched, to be acknowledged as if to be healed.
We head back in time for `O Children` and `Jubilee Street` where the audience’s intensity seemed to lift as `From Her To Eternity` was belted out. The show continued with old and new numbers intermingled but `Tupelo` became a kind of explosion of noise and passion. Songs such as `Conversation` had the singer repeating the line “You`re Beautiful” which became mesmerising as did `Bright Horses` and the almost overwhelming `I Need You`
`Red Right Hand` further ignited this crowd as if that were possible as Mr Cave shared that this is Birmingham`s song before ending the set with the visceral `The Mercy Seat` and `White Elephant`.
The band returned and shared a three-song encore with the all-encompassing `Papa Won`t Leave You, Henry` a song about fatherhood, the delicately beautiful `The Weeping Song` before heading to the piano and sharing the exquisite love ballad `Into My Arms`.
This two-and-a-half-hour show was full of adjectives such as compelling, overpowering, emotive, intense, impassioned and animated as Nick Cave prowled the stage at times like a maniacal crazed Evangelist revivalist preacher with members of his congregation selected for healing or redemption through a kind of laying on of hands. It was an event that really had to be witnessed to understand it and it`s intensity and having tried to accept the tragedy of not one but two son’s deaths, it appeared that it was almost cathartic for the artist.
This was the last show on the UK leg of the tour and it was a joy to be amongst those who were allowed to share in this kind of therapeutic happening.
