There's a folklore around Nick Cave. A sacred bond with his fans that pulls them into his orbit. It's something I hadn't understood, until now.
Back in Adelaide with The Bad Seeds for the first time since 2017, Cave arrived onstage (20 January) with unbridled energy, standing tall in his trademark black suit and tie, ready to share music from The Bad Seeds' latest offering, 2024's 'Wild Gods'.
They opened with new songs from the album; the gentle and soaring beauty of 'Frogs' lured us in, with backing vocalists Wendi Rose, Janet Ramus, Miça Townsend, and T Jae Cole's gentle harmonies building it to an ethereal crescendo.
The powerful call to 'bring your spirit down' from the album's title track was inhaled and screamed, with fist pumps and raised hands reaching for Cave as he strode front of stage, a place he spent most of the show, always in touch with his congregation.
The lullaby sensibilities of 'Song For The Lake' set the tone for a performance that would build and drop, carrying emotions from reflection to elation throughout the night.
This trio of songs demonstrated how seamlessly new material slots into the Nick Cave songbook. Undeniable and striking, powerful and reflective, immediately familiar and loved.
After taking a moment to wander the front row and address the crowd, Cave was bemused by a fan filming him. He stopped to pose and smile, but as he started to talk and the phone didn't disappear, growled "OK, now put the f...ing phone away". Lesson learned, this was a time to be in the moment.
Cave's long-time collaborator Warren Ellis moved into the spotlight during 'O Children', his soaring and harmonious violin in hand lending power to the song's 'entreaty to do things differently'.
A double-punch followed, with 'Jubilee Street' and 'From Her To Eternity' building from a gentle, resonant vocal accompanied by tenderly intensifying guitar, to a frenzied cacophony of sound held tight while Cave ran wild between the front row and piano, waving his arms and kicking the air, both holding and held by the audience as he leaned out from the stage.
The Bad Seeds are the ensemble of dreams. Warren Ellis, Larry Mullins, Jim Sclavunos, George Vjestica, Carly Paradis and Colin Greenwood didn't miss a beat; building layers of sound; going quiet when needed; and responding to directions as Cave called out changes mid-song; watching the interactions and smiles, responses to cheeky asides and pure joy on their faces was as captivating as their mesmerising frontman.
A gentle meander into quieter songs 'Long Dark Night' and 'Cinnamon Horses' was followed by the rolling bass and power of 'Tupelo', telling Cave's vision of the day Elvis Presley was born amid a raging storm. Flashing lights, belting vocals from the choir, and calls of "cry, cry, cry" lifted the crowd to fever pitch.
My personal highlight, bringing tears to my eyes, was 'Bright Horses', prefaced by Cave telling us "this song is amazing. . . it poured out of me in one moment. . . so I gave myself the rest of the day off". He was right, the devastating beauty and fragility is undeniable – a truly brilliant song.
With a call of "are you ready?" (met with a resounding "yes"), the opening notes of 'Red Right Hand' pealed out across the room and Cave proceeded to prowl and growl through an undeniable favourite, with the crowd singing along in full voice, before 'The Mercy Seat' and 'White Elephant' wrapped the set and left a rapturous crowd screaming for more.
After returning to the stage, Cave thanked the crowd and launched into an encore featuring 'Wide Lovely Eyes' (which his wife had asked him to play at each show on tour), 'Papa Won't Leave You, Henry', and 'The Weeping Tree', the latter resplendent with a clap along that brought a smile to everyone's face.
A reflective Cave introduced 'Skeleton Tree', explaining the band hadn't played the song in a long time, but he had revisited it lately and was grateful to discover it didn't scare him anymore, but now held a beauty he couldn't see back then.
The poignant moment capped off a night of shared elation and devastation beautifully as he once again commended The Bad Seeds to the crowd before stepping up alone to the piano to close the night with 'Into My Arms', sung with a camera framing his face in a portrait, sharing his joy as the crowd sang along.
On arrival, I was worried I wouldn't get it, that Cave's big thoughts and ideas might be more than I could take, but the opposite is true. It was a reminder of the power of connection, of gentle poetry and impassioned treatise trying to make sense of the world and beyond. A triumph of power, passion, poetry and theatre.
