A review of the Nick Cave gig which took place at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on Friday May 9th 2008. Although we normally only review Brighton gigs, Nick Cave is a Hove resident who never seems to play in his home town. This was the next best thing.

who are nick cave and the bad seeds?

Nick Cave is one of the living legends of rock, and has played in bands The Birthday Party, Grinderman and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He’s been around a fair while; The Birthday Party formed in 1973, and The Bad Seeds have been performing since 1984.

As well as his music, Nick wrote the script and soundtrack to the film ‘The Proposition’, set in his homeland of Australia. He and fellow Bad Seed Warren Ellis also wrote the soundtrack for the film ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’. Nick appears briefly in that film playing a minstrel in a rather comical and unusual scene, given the film’s normal mood.

the music

The majority of tonight’s set was taken from the new album ‘Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!’. This was a (not unexpected) shame, as with the exception of tracks ‘We call upon the author’, the title track and ‘Today’s Lesson’ this album is not one of his best. In total there were probably only 4 or 5 of these weaker tracks but they kinda let the mood go a bit and expectations were very high.

That said, those highlights from the album were excellent - here’s We Call Upon the Author, recorded tonight.

As well as the new album a smattering of greatest hits were peppered through the set, and the two encores saw a change of pace with a couple of stand out tracks from his previous double album belted out in the first encore, and the classic ‘Into my arms’ from career highlight ‘The Boatsman’s Call’ played during the second encore.

The style tonight was simple rock and roll, as heavy as possible - they even had 2 drummers. Even ‘Into my Arms’ had an added backing track, turning it into from a slow moving ballad into more of a pop song. ‘Get Ready For Love’, previously backed by a full gospel choir, was re-imagined as a raw ragged blues number. The tracks from ‘Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!’ were all played as is - it’s a heavy album - and it seemed the other songs had been altered to suit the mood of the gig. This worked fine, although there was very little let up in pace, and the 2 hours did seem quite long. That said, there was no doubt we were in the company of some of the world’s greatest musicians and this was the place to be this week.

4/5

onstage presence and banter

When it comes to onstage presence Nick Cave is the master. His confidence knows no bounds, yet he still comes across as likeable, even when aping a sexual predator on the prowl for his next victim. He regularly interacts with the audience, often directing threatening lyrics directly at individuals, especially those who dare to speak, and apparently at one point challenging someone to a fight (all in good jest of course - he’s no Ian Brown). Without a doubt this is a character, and a superb act, although it was slightly let down when he emerged for the encore wearing his own tour t-shirt. Illusions shattered - he looked like a roadie!

Even more interesting perhaps to watch is Warren Ellis, who with his long beard and hair looks like a thin member of ZZ Top, or perhaps an old school tramp who had wandered in from a middle class village in the 80’s (you rarely seem to find traditional tramps these days). He manically plays the electric violin, often using his fingers rather than a bow, and is constantly moving all over the place like a ball of nervous energy. Superb.

In addition to the band there was the occasional patterned backdrop, a spinning “Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!” logo appeared during that number, but on the whole the stage was pretty much just the band getting on with it. There was no need for anything more.

5/5

sound quality and venue

The sound at the Hammersmith Apollo tonight was perfect, as to be expected of such a venue. The place is a perfect size too, just large enough, and the slanted floor means almost everyone gets to see. The only problem was the heat, and the tiny exits to get out at the end meant a bit of a crush. Still, they didn’t throw away people’s water and the drinks weren’t expensive so you can pretty much say it was ideal.

4/5

the audience

The audience was pretty mixed tonight, all ages and evenly spread between the sexes, I was expecting a more male turnout for some reason. I have never before seen such a well behaved yet enthusiastic crowd at a gig of this size. When people shouted out it was always with adoration, and always at the right points. The encores were rightly demanded and given, and everything was in its right place.

5/5

overall

Despite such a positive review when you break it down, my overall feeling from the night was that it was good, but not as good as I had expected. Perhaps this was because I had such high expectations, the footage I have seen of the last tour with the gospel choir looked amazing, and I preferred that album as well. I guess I should have just made more of an effort to see them then.

This is clearly one of the best live bands around, perhaps this just wasn’t the best tour to see them for the first time.

4/5

video footage

Here are a some more good quality videos from the night:

The Night of the Lotus Eaters

Today’s Lesson

more nick cave

If you’re yet to get into Nick Cave, make a start by purchasing his classic ‘The Boatsman’s Call‘ and the recent double album ‘Abattoir Blues / Lyre of Orpheus‘.

The official Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds site is annoyingly done in Flash, but if you can figure it out (click the text on the right) you will be able to listen to the new single, join the mailing list, go on the forum, watch music videos and bizzarely watch a film featuring Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds attempting a 1930’s style seance in which they invoke the spirit of Lazarus.

The myspace lets you listen to selected tracks from the new album and lets you see what gigs they are playing.

essential stuff at the end

Words by Mark Kirby, photos by Laura Wilson, videos found on youtube and all were by user Flaming Whopper.

For more gigs like this in Brighton (although this was a London one I know!) check out our page listing gigs in Brighton. For more reviews, keep coming back to the site.

If you were at this gig, please leave your comments. Even if you weren’t, feel free to comment anyway.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Gig Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.