nick cave tour us

Nick Cave to Embark on Rare North American Solo Tour This Fall

• By Daniel Kreps

Daniel Kreps

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Nick Cave will embark on a rare North American solo tour this fall, with Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood accompanying him on bass.

Cave’s 18-date solo jaunt kicks off Sept. 19 in Asheville and hits theaters throughout the U.S. and Canada — including stops at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre, New York City’s Beacon Theatre and Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium — before concluding with a two-night stand at Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theater on Oct. 27 and 28. Register for tickets to the solo tour now through Cave’s site .

Nick Cave – Live in North America 2023, register now for pre-sale access here: https://t.co/PgFrXaBPvI Pre-sale tickets go on sale on Monday, March 27 at 10am (local time). General on sale tickets go on sale Friday, March 31 at 10am (local time). pic.twitter.com/e5mHx8VWfv — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (@nickcave) March 23, 2023

The jaunt marks Cave’s first solo trek since his pre-Covid tour of Europe in Jan. 2020; since then, he’s either toured with his Bad Seeds or alongside longtime collaborator Warren Ellis.

Greenwood previously performed alongside Cave and Warren Ellis during that duo’s Australian tour in late 2022.

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Nick Cave Tour Dates

September 19, 2023 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium September 21, 2023 – Durham, NC @ DPAC September 23, 2023 – Washington, D.C. @ Lincoln Theatre September 25, 2023 – Cleveland, OH @ Playhouse Square  September 27, 2023 – Milwaukee, WE @ Riverside Theater September 29, 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre October 2, 2023 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre October 6, 2023 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre October 7, 2023 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre October 10, 2023 – Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre October 12, 2023 – Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier October 14, 2023 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall October 15, 2023 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Cathedral Theatre October 17, 2023 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium October 20, 2023 – Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall October 22, 2023 – Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre October 23, 2023 – Austin, TX @ ACL at The Moody October 27, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre October 28, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre

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Nick Cave announces North America solo tour

The shows kick off this september..

24th March 2023 Words: Elly Watson

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds , News

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nick Cave (@nickcaveofficial)

Tags: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds , News

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The show was very good although there were sometimes uninteresting questions being asked about ‘other’ people who of course may have been important to him but if you have Nick Cave on the stage you should try to catch as much as you can from this wonderful artist. He is brilliant, funny and - surprisingly to me - a very open person who does not have any taboos and can talk about anything. It’s amazing how easily he can find the right beautiful words to describe the most complicated emotions and states of mind.

Looking forward to going to the exhibition in Copenhagen.

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Nick’s performance was more accurately an experience. He built a relationship with the audience that was at times funny, compassionate, moving. At one point, after playing “Into My Arms,” he spoke with an audience member about the loss of a loved one that moved me to tears. I go to many concerts and there have been great ones, but rarely am I sobbing with deep emotions. He was gracious, generous, honest. Few like him.

Great artist and musician, conversation with Nick Cave , not the greatest show to be fair. I just really went for the music , he sang about 10 numbers , so at over £90 per ticket (that's what I paid ) so about £9 per song. I've been to better . Sorry wasn't worth the expense

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NICK CAVE Announces Dates For North American Solo Tour

Nick Cave has announced a North American solo tour for fall. Performing songs from his extensive catalog, Cave will make stops at the beautiful King’s Theatre in Brooklyn, Manhattan’s Beacon Theater and Los Angeles’ iconic Orpheum Theatre on a rare solo tour that includes accompaniment from Colin Greenwood on bass guitar. The coast-to-coast tour kicks off in Asheville, North Carolina on September 19th and includes two Canadian dates – at Montreal’s Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier  and Toronto’s Massey Hall.

All dates below. Register now for pre-sale access HERE . Pre-sale tickets go on sale starting on Monday, March 27 at 10am (local time). General on sale tickets go on sale Friday, March 31 at 10am (local time).

Nick Cave has been performing, writing and recording music for more than forty years. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. His body of work extends across a diverse range of creative disciplines – score composition, writing of books, novels and film scripts, and more recently ceramic art. His website and weekly e-mail, The Red Hand Files , originally created for Cave to answer questions submitted by fans, has grown from a simple exercise in connectivity to a cultural phenomenon, now with over 150,000 subscribers, and hundreds of questions submitted each week.

Cave recently published a book of extended conversations with Irish journalist Seán O’Hagan – Faith, Hope & Carnage . Created from over forty hours of intimate recordings, the book examines questions of faith, art, music, freedom, grief and love. It draws candidly on Cave’s life, from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work ethic and his dramatic transformation in recent years. The paperback edition will be published in September by Picador.

NICK CAVE LIVE IN NORTH AMERICA – SOLO TOUR DATES:

September 19, 2023 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

September 21, 2023 – Durham, NC @ DPAC

September 23, 2023 – Washington, D.C. @ Lincoln Theatre

September 25, 2023 – Cleveland, OH @ Playhouse Square

September 27, 2023 – Milwaukee, WE @ Riverside Theater

September 29, 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre

October 2, 2023 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre

October 6, 2023 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre

October 7, 2023 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre

October 10, 2023 – Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre

October 12, 2023 – Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier

October 14, 2023 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall

October 15, 2023 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Cathedral Theatre

October 17, 2023 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium

October 20, 2023 – Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall

October 22, 2023 – Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre

October 23, 2023 – Austin, TX @ ACL at The Moody

October 27, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre

October 28, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre

CONNECT WITH NICK CAVE:

Website / Instagram / Twitter / Facebook

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Nick Cave Announces Tour Featuring Radiohead Bassist Colin Greenwood

By Evan Minsker

Nick Cave has announced a tour of North America. The composer and leader of the Bad Seeds , who released the spoken word work Seven Psalms last year, will perform at venues including the Beacon Theater in New York, Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theatre, and Massey Hall in Toronto. Accompanying Cave on bass guitar at the shows will be Radiohead ’s Colin Greenwood . Find ticket information and the tour itinerary below.

Colin Greenwood’s brother, Jonny, will be performing with the Smile at Pitchfork Music Festival in July. Find tickets here .

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

09-19 Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 09-21 Durham, NC - DPAC 09-23 Washington, D.C. - Lincoln Theatre 09-25 Cleveland, OH - Playhouse Square  09-27 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater 09-29 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre 10-02 Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre 10-06 Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre 10-07 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre 10-10 Boston, MA - Wang Theatre 10-12 Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier 10-14 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall 10-15 Detroit, MI - Masonic Cathedral Theatre 10-17 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium 10-20 Atlanta, GA - Atlanta Symphony Hall 10-22 Dallas, TX - Majestic Theatre 10-23 Austin, TX - ACL at The Moody 10-27 Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre 10-28 Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre

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Nick cave confirms fall 2023 north american solo tour.

Nick Cave has announced a North American solo tour for fall performing songs from his extensive catalogue.

Nick Cave has announced a North American solo tour for fall. Performing songs from his extensive catalogue, Cave will make stops at the beautiful King’s Theatre in Brooklyn, Manhattan’s Beacon Theater and Los Angeles’ iconic Orpheum Theatre on a rare solo tour that includes accompaniment from Colin Greenwood on bass guitar. The coast-to-coast tour kicks off in Asheville, North Carolina, on September 19th and includes two Canadian dates – at Montreal’s Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier and Toronto’s Massey Hall .

All dates below. Register now for pre-sale access here . Pre-sale tickets go on sale starting on Monday, March 27 at 10 am (local time). General on sale tickets go on sale Friday, March 31 at 10 am (local time).

Cave recently published a book of extended conversations with Irish journalist Seán O’Hagan – Faith, Hope & Carnage . Created from over forty hours of intimate recordings, the book examines questions of faith, art, music, freedom, grief and love. It draws candidly on Cave’s life, from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work ethic and his dramatic transformation in recent years. The paperback edition will be published in September by Picador .

Nick Cave Live in North America – Solo Tour Dates:

September 19, 2023 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium September 21, 2023 – Durham, NC @ DPAC September 23, 2023 – Washington, D.C. @ Lincoln Theatre September 25, 2023 – Cleveland, OH @ Playhouse Square September 27, 2023 – Milwaukee, WE @ Riverside Theater September 29, 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre October 2, 2023 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre October 6, 2023 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre October 7, 2023 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre October 10, 2023 – Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre October 12, 2023 – Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier October 14, 2023 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall October 15, 2023 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Cathedral Theatre October 17, 2023 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium October 20, 2023 – Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall October 22, 2023 – Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre October 23, 2023 – Austin, TX @ ACL at The Moody October 27, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre October 28, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre

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Here Is Nick Cave’s ‘Live In North America Tour’ Setlist

In January, Nick Cave explained why he wasn’t impressed with the then-relatively new AI technology ChatGPT. Cave became aware of it after “many people” sent him songs created by ChatGPT “in the style of Nick Cave .”

“What ChatGPT is, in this instance, is replication as travesty,” Cave wrote to a fan named Mark . “ChatGPT may be able to write a speech or an essay or a sermon or an obituary but it cannot create a genuine song.”

ChatGPT also can’t stage two North America tours simultaneously, as Cave is — one for music, and one in support of the paperback edition of his 2022 book , Faith, Hope, And Carnage .

His musical North American solo tour began on Tuesday, September 19, in Asheville, North Carolina and will continue until October 28, including back-to-back shows in Brooklyn, New York on October 6 and 7 as well as back-to-back Los Angeles shows on October 27 and 28. All of Cave’s dates can be found here .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nick Cave (@nickcaveofficial)

Below is Cave’s setlist from opening night (as chronicled by attendees on setlist.fm).

1. “The Sorrowful Wife” ( Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ) 2. “Sad Waters” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 3. “Girl In Amber” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 4. “Galleon Ship” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 5. “(Are You) The One That I’ve Been Waiting For?” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 6. “Higgs Boson Blues” (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) 7. “Euthanasia” 8. “I Need You” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Cave’s first solo performance) 9. “O Children” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 10. “Waiting For You” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 11. “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 12. “Nobody’s Baby Now” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 13. “Carnage” (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis cover — Cave’s first solo performance) 14. “The Mercy Seat” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 15. “Into My Arms” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 16. “The Weeping Song” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 17. “Jubilee Street” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 18. “Push The Sky Away” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)

19. “Balcony Man” (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis cover — Cave’s first solo performance) 20. “The Ship Song” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 21. “Palaces Of Montezuma” ( Grinderman ) 22. “God Is In The House (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 23. “Give Us A Kiss (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Cave’s first solo performance) 24. “Cosmic Dancer” (T. Rex cover) 25. “Stagger Lee” (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) 26. “Man In The Moon” (Grinderman)

• Consequence

Nick Cave Announces Fall US Book Tour

In support of the paperback release of his memoir, Faith, Hope and Carnage

Nick Cave has announced a fall US book tour in support of last year’s  Faith, Hope and Carnage , which is out in paperback on September 19th.

Cave will be joined by his co-author, Sean O’Hagan, for a series of in-store signings and conversations about the memoir , which focuses on the artist’s life following the death of his 15-year-old son , Arthur, in 2015. The events will take place in New York City, Chicago, West Hollywood, Nashville, DC, and more. Find out ticket information here , and grab your copy of the book here .

The book tour will be nestled between dates from Cave’s previously announced North American solo tour , during which he’ll be accompanied by Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood on bass. See his full touring itinerary below, and grab tickets for those shows here .

In late July, Cave confirmed that he’s been in the studio finishing a new album with the Bad Seeds.  Just weeks before, he teamed up with the Miraculous Love Kids of Afghanistan for  “Breathless/Beautiful,” a song based on a poem he wrote about his wife.

Nick Cave 2023 Tour Dates: 09/19 — Asheville, NC @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 09/21 — Durham, NC @ DPAC 09/23 — Washington, DC @ Politics and Prose * 09/23 — Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre 09/25 — Cleveland, OH @ Playhouse Square 09/27 — Milwaukee, WE @ Riverside Theater 09/29 — Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre 09/30 — Chicago, IL @ Seminary Co-op * 10/02 — Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre 10/05 — New York, NY @ Strand Book Store * 10/05 — New York, NY @ 92nd Street Y # 10/06 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre 10/07 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre 10/08 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre 10/10 — Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre 10/11 — Cambridge, MA @ Harvard Book Store * 10/12 — Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier 10/14 — Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall 10/15 — Detroit, MI @ Masonic Cathedral Theatre 10/17 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium 10/18 — Nashville, TN @ Parnassus Books * 10/20 — Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall 10/22 — Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre 10/23 — Austin, TX @ ACL at The Moody 10/24 — Austin, TX @ BookPeople * 10/27 — Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre 10/28 — Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre 10/29 — Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre 10/30 — West Hollywood, CA @ Book Soup *

* = In-store book signing # = In conversation with Sean O’Hagan

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Nick Cave in Melbourne: Musician at His Most Vulnerable [Live Review]

Cave took the opportunity to “disassemble” some of his songs at the plenary in melbourne last week.

David Wolff Patrick/Redferns/Getty Images

Plenary, Melbourne

Friday, April 26th

The inimitable Nick Cave . When you think of Australia’s iconic prince of darkness, you probably think of his manic virtuosity as the frontman of the Bad Seeds and Grinderman, or as a goth-tinged, post-punk wizard hypnotising you into thinking that maybe Kylie has a great voice after all.

He’s an almost mythical persona; someone who can reach into the depths of the human soul and pull out poetry, someone who famously called journalists “fucking idiots” to a journalist’s face . (Which I always found interesting, for someone who was briefly married to one.)

It’s hard to think of Cave as vulnerable, because the character of The Very Complicated and Caustic Nick Cave has mostly done the talking. And the singing. But at the Plenary in Melbourne last week, as he sat down softly at his piano to open a 5,000-strong sold out, sit-down concert, we saw something new – something raw, open, and perhaps even extraordinary – unfold in the most ordinary of gig venues.

Has Cave changed? Or has he just evolved into someone who allows himself to expose the thorny emotion behind the genius? The next two hours would provide a window into a side of Cave I personally haven’t seen before.

Opening with “ Girl in Amber” on an empty stage, save for a piano and the occasionally discarded page of sheet music, Cave was joined only by Colin Greenwood of Radiohead, who dipped in and out quietly throughout the set. This is “not the Bad Seeds”, Cave declared early in the set, telling the audience that it was, instead, an opportunity to “disassemble” the songs. 

The audience was pretty well-behaved – perhaps owing to the sombre, seated nature of the Plenary, or perhaps due to the ageing of Cave’s fanbase, who were obediently waiting for his entry right on the stage time of 8pm – and Cave, maybe sensing the audience’s hesitation to interact, asked for some uncharacteristic call-back participation for “ Balcony Man” .

It did the trick: a few songs later, “ The Weeping Song” finally elicited a sing-along reaction from the audience, now happy to throw their voices in the ring of such an up-until-now intimate delivery of the back catalogue.

What may have been missing for casual fans were the more famous of the Bad Seeds’ crossover tracks like “ Red Right Hand” or “Where the Wild Roses Grow” , but there were definitely plenty of hits in “ The Ship Song” and “ Into My Arms” . A guttural and raw rendition of Cave’s self-described “super fucked up lullaby”, “ Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” , saw Cave as possibly the most vulnerable we’ve ever seen him. The heaviness and sadness was there, and he let us in, just for a moment, to share in his grief.

It was beyond moving – perhaps lost for those in the balcony, in the cavernous space of the Plenary – but it was Cave’s genuine emotion that filled the air; we breathed it in together, and we all moved on, just a little.

There were also deep cuts like “ Euthanasia” and “ Give Us a Kiss” – both of which Cave described as songs that the rest of the band weren’t particularly keen on in the studio. There seemed to be subtext here, that he felt the songs were important to his oeuvre. (Unfortunately, I erred on the side of the band.)

But beyond these blips were raw renditions of much-loved old songs. The most poignant of these, for me, came during the encore, when Cave dedicated an electric performance of “ Shivers” to his old Boys Next Door bandmate Rowland S. Howard. Along with a sentimental rendition of The Seekers’ “ The Carnival Is Over” , Cave earned his second standing ovation of the night, and we were ejected into the darkness to sit side by side with our battered sensibilities. 

Cave may have felt alone on that stage as he poured out his heart, but in the end, we were all together. That night, we shared it with him.

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Nick Cave shares his “great elation” at becoming a grandfather

"A child is born and the world continues wildly upon its way"

Nick Cave has expressed his “great elation” over becoming a grandfather.

• READ MORE:  Nick Cave: “There’s no metric that says virtuousness makes good art”

For the most recent entry to his Red Hand Files Q&A website, the Bad Seeds frontman responded to a post from a fan who is “expecting a baby boy next week”.

Marius, from Lockport, New York, added: “All the tests are normal but I seem to swing from terror to euphoria and back again by the minute. Mostly terror! […] No real question, I just wanted to let you know.”

Replying to the message, Cave revealed how he had “considered” the post while enjoying “a dazzling sun-filled day” in Melbourne, Australia.

“As I drank my coffee and ate my sandwich, I thought of my son, Luke, and his wife, Sasha, who had welcomed their own baby boy into the world last night, and I experienced a wave of great elation,” he wrote.

“A breeze rippled across the lawn, the birds cawed, the sun shone high in the sky, and the great gum trees seemed to burst from the ground – all for my own momentary enjoyment, for a new grandfather, sitting on a park bench, on this most happy day. A child is born and the world continues wildly upon its way.”

The singer-songwriter shared that he understood why Marius was “oscillating between terror and euphoria” because the fan and his wife were about to begin “perhaps the most substantive course of action two people can take – to bring a baby, that fragile interwork of spirit and atoms, that squalling metaphor of conjugal love, that emissary of hope and potential, that boy of joy, into what is, by any measure, a deeply troubled world”.

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Cave went on: “I thought about what a defiant and outrageous act of positive intentionality it was, of courage and faith in the human adventure itself, of resistance against cynicism, of pure, undiluted trust in things, and I felt a very real affection for you both.”

He signed off: “I send you and your wife all my love and admiration, Marius. Love, Nick.”

Cave has two sons, Luke and Earl, the latter of whom is an actor . Earl is the twin brother of the musician’s late son Arthur, who died aged 15 after falling from a cliff in 2015 . Then, in 2022, Cave’s other son Jethro Lazenby died aged 31 .

The artist has opened up about the losses numerous times; the Bad Seeds’ two most recent albums (2016’s ‘Skeleton Tree’ and 2019’s ‘Ghosteen’ ) deal with the grief he experienced after Arthur passed away.

Last September, Cave explained how “grief, like love, is a mess” . He said: “The experience of losing my two sons was a reordering of one’s essential being. Ultimately, if we are lucky, we stop focusing on our own wounds and look to the wounds of the world.”

Cave revealed earlier this year that the Bad Seeds’ upcoming album ‘Wild God’ isn’t “set through a lens of loss” .

But the singer did go on to say that his grief had made him appreciate life more: “Joy is something that leaps unexpectedly and shockingly out of an understanding of loss and suffering… That’s in no way saying we’re not affected, or we’ve somehow gotten over it, or we’ve had closure or even acceptance.”

He continued: “I think closure is a dumb thing. Even acceptance is, like: ‘Just give it a few years and life goes back to how it was.’ It doesn’t happen. You’re fundamentally changed. Your very chemistry is changed. And when you’re put back together again, you’re a different person. The world feels more meaningful.”

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are due to release their “deeply and joyously infectious” 18th full-length record on August 30 ( pre-order/pre-save here ). Co-produced by Cave and  Warren Ellis , the 10-song ‘Wild God’ has already been previewed by its title track.

Last month, the band shared an official trailer for their forthcoming album .

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will embark on a European, UK and Ireland tour  later this year in support of ‘Wild God’. When announcing the dates, Cave said: “The record just feels like it was made for the stage.” Find any remaining tickets (UK/Ireland) here .

Additionally, Cave has announced a run of European solo dates for this summer .

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• Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
• Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

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Live Review: Nick Cave @ Plenary Theatre, Melbourne

Seated behind the piano for much of the set, Cave’s typical manic theatrics had all but vanished, leaving ample room to build ambience and vulnerability.

Nick Cave (Supplied)

In a world of mimics, Nick Cave is a true original. 

No one can do what he does.

And it’s befitting that on a bleak evening in Melbourne, Cave should be the one to entertain the masses. 

From an unhinged post-punk prodigy to a moody, debonair virtuoso, Cave’s creative evolution is unparalleled. For more than 40 years, his multifarious ventures have encompassed the worlds of music, literature, and visual art.

Hailing from rural Victoria, any visit from Cave to the state acts as a homecoming of sorts, but this time was different. Performing the second of three nights at the Plenary, the notoriously dramatic Cave presented an alternative rendition of his work. Best known for fronting the Bad Seeds , The Birthday Party, and Grinderman , tonight Cave was solo, accompanied only by Radiohead ’s Colin Greenwood on bass guitar. 

Smartly dressed with his distinctive slick of black hair, the Prince of Darkness entered stage right, opening with the mystically dissonant Girl In Amber from 2016’s Skeleton Tree. Immediately, it was evident that what the Plenary lacked in ambience would be resolved by Cave’s talent for generating atmosphere.

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“We played here last night. This is a much better crowd,” he declared before clarifying a few things. “This is not the Bad Seeds. This is a different thing entirely.” He went on to reveal that the Bad Seeds plan to return next year in celebration of their upcoming 18th studio album Wild God . 

Given the show’s stripped-back format, many songs dependent on the Bad Seeds' amplitude were understandably absent. Instead, Cave pulled the most solemn songs from his extensive catalogue and presented them with simplicity and restraint. 

Seated behind the piano for much of the set, Cave’s typical manic theatrics had all but vanished, leaving ample room to build ambience and vulnerability. Unimpeded by lavish flourishes, Cave’s manipulation of the piano was agonisingly poignant. At times, he caressed the keys with a devastating delicacy while relentlessly slamming them at other times. Discarded sheet music adorned the floor around him.

Devoted to sincerity, Cave liberally shifted between dramatic crescendos and lingering diminuendos, leaving audience members spellbound in the swell of his soundscapes.  

From the existential Higgs Boson Blues to the enigmatic Jesus Of The Moon and the haunting Push The Sky Away, many of the songs on the setlist dealt with ambiguities, and it’s this lyrical command of the English language that continues to captivate audiences. 

Off of the Bad Seed’s most recent record, 2019’s meditative Ghosteen, Cave performed Galleon Ship, a song about the hopefulness of a transcendent journey towards fulfilment, and the beautiful Waiting For You, sung with such yearning Cave’s voice began to strain.

An unexpected addition was the B-side Euthanasia , a song disliked by the Bad Seeds but loved by Cave and described as “unfairly pushed into a dark corner.” 

The night’s most ferocious moment came during Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry , a vicious ode about fatherhood written as a lullaby. In contrast, the most moving moment of the night came in the closing moments of I Need You as Cave longingly repeated ‘just breathe’ long after the lights darkened.  

The unadorned nature of the show seemed to induce a pin-drop quiet crowd—that was until Balcony Man when Cave insisted on audience participation from those sitting on, you guessed it, the balcony. 

Cave’s signature song, The Mercy Seat, was as unremorseful as ever and even more disturbingly ominous as Cave sat alone at the piano without the usual escalation of the band. The Weeping Song also found deeper emotional resonance in its simplified version, as did O Children, which took on a liturgical quality. The liturgy continued later in the set during Into My Arms , a moving ballad reminiscent of a church hymn. 

The encore began with the deepest of deep cuts. Dedicated to the late Rowland S. Howard , Shivers by The Boys Next Door , an early iteration of The Birthday Party, was a humble nod to Cave’s musical heritage. The encore also included a request for the often-overlooked Sad Waters . The nautical theme continued with The Ship Song , an enchanting ballad that cuts through the gloom. The show ended with a tribute to the beloved Melbourne band The Seekers with The Carnival is Over , a song Cave treasures from his childhood. 

The brilliance of an unembellished show is that it forces the performer to revisit each song in its most essential state and allows the audience to meditate within the minimalism of it all. The experience is cathartic for all involved, and there’s no doubt that anyone who witnesses Cave at his most vulnerable will walk out with a newfound admiration for the depth of his creative soul.

Nick Cave @ Plenary Theatre, MCEC, Melbourne (Naarm) – Friday, 26 April 2024

Girl In Amber

Higgs Boson Blues

Galleon Ship

Jesus Of The Moon

Waiting For You

Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry

Balcony Man

The Mercy Seat

There Is A Kingdom

The Weeping Song

Into My Arms

Jubilee Street

Push The Sky Away

Shivers (The Boys Next Door song)

Give Us A Kiss

The Ship Song

The Carnival Is Over (The Seekers cover)

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Faith, Hope and Carnage US Paperback and Book Events

18 August 2023

Nick Cave has announced a US book tour with award-winning journalist Seán O’Hagan in support of their best selling book Faith, Hope and Carnage, out in paperback in the US on September 19.

See full list of in-store signings and events below.

NICK CAVE US BOOK TOUR

Sept 23, 11:00am Washington, D.C. @ Politics and Prose In-store signing REGISTER HERE

Sept 30, 11:30am Chicago, IL @ Seminary Co-op Bookstore In-store signing MORE DETAILS HERE

Oct 5, 11:30am New York, NY @ Strand Bookstore  In-store signing with Seán O’Hagan REGISTER HERE

Oct 5, 7:30pm New York, NY @ 92nd Street Y In conversation with Seán O’Hagan TICKETS HERE

Oct 11, 12:00pm Boston, MA @ Harvard Book Store In-store signing REGISTER HERE

Oct 18, 12:00pm Nashville, TN @ Parnassus Books In-store signing REGISTER HERE

Oct 24, 12:00pm Austin, TX @ BookPeople In-store signing REGISTER HERE

Oct 30, 6:00pm Los Angeles, CA @ Book Soup In-store signing REGISTER HERE

Culled from 40 hours of conversations between Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan, Faith, Hope and Carnage transcends the genre of rock journalism, constituting a work of art in its own right. It is a candid dialogue rich with passionate revelation, fierce intelligence, and philosophical searching about the spiritual forces behind creativity and music. In their sole public conversation in the US at 92nd Street Y, New York, hear Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan reflect on questions of faith, art, freedom, grief and love, the making of the book in the midst of the pandemic and how the following two years changed their perspectives on creativity and faith, their singular collaborative approach, Nick Cave’s decades as the frontman of The Bad Seeds, and much more.

“Extraordinarily raw . . . Cave has the soft-spoken, knowing voice of a wise man whose youthful excesses inevitably led him to a quiet life of meditation and art.” Lauretta Charlton, The New York Times Book Review

“Intensely personal . . . one of the most powerful and affecting meditations on grief and loss published in recent years.” James Cook, ArtReview

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When Smashing Pumpkins' leader Billy Corgan interviewed Nick Cave for MTV at Lollapalooza 1994, it did not go well

T he bill for 1994's Lollapalooza festival was stacked with the cream of the 'alternative' music scene, from headliners Smashing Pumpkins , Beastie Boys, L7 , A Tribe Called Quest and fast-rising Berkeley, California punks Green Day on the main stage, to the likes of The Verve , The Flaming Lips, Girls Against Boys and Luscious Jackson on the event's side stages. Not everyone on the Perry Farrell-curated roadshow that summer looks back upon the experience with joy, and when we say 'not everyone' we specifically mean Australia's own duke of darkness Nick Cave , who joined the caravan with The Bad Seeds. 

Talking to MOJO in 2005, Cave recalled, “When we did the Lollapalooza tour in America — 53 dates, I remember — grunge was happening, not one person there in long trousers, and they went for lunch while we played, then came back when we stopped (L aughs ). I found it extremely difficult, but, contractually, we couldn't pull out. It was years before we went back to America.”

It may not have helped matters that Cave was regarded as something of a curiosity by his fellow performers. While the American musicians on the tour found lots to bond over, Cave wasn't really up for faking camaraderie and bonhomie with his peers, as was painfully evident when Smashing Pumpkins mainman Billy Corgan attempted to interview him for MTV on July 7, 1994 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.

In his initial link, Corgan cheerfully informs viewers that he will soon he interviewing “my good pal” Nick Cave, but when the interview begins, it's very clear that Cave is very much not Corgan's “pal”.

The conversation begins with the fresh-faced Pumpkins leader asking, “Nick, how did you get involved with Lollapalooza?”, which received the response, “Well, my manager rang me up and told me I was going to do this.”

Corgan then follows up with the bizarre query, “No back taxes or anthing?”

“Basically we just decided that we should approach America in a different way...,” Cave begins, before glancing down at the questions on the notepad in Corgan's hand and saying, “Are these your questions?”

“These are not my questions Nick,” Corgan admits, smiling to the camera, “I take no credit for them.”

“I've already done this with MTV,” says Cave, already bored by this amateurism.

Corgan then decides to go off-piste, with some questions of his own, a decision he regrets almost instantly when, after musing upon why “English bands” struggle to break America, Cave says, “Well, a), we're not English...“ and points out that the Bad Seeds have members from Australia, Germany, England and the US.

“To all us Americans, it all looks like one country,“ says Corgan, in a badly-thought-out attempt at 'banter'. He then attempts to laugh off his mistake by saying that his mistake is one that would be made by, “your typical American teenager.“

“How old are you?“ his “good pal“ asks.

“You're not a teenager.“

By this point, one images an MTV director frantically gesturing to Corgan to wind things up, before this car crash gets any more bloody.

Watch the interview below: