It’s been nine years between Australian tours for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds so securing a barrier posi is a must. Just prior to the band’s arrival on stage, a security guard in the stage-right photography pit checks in to make sure that we know what we’re in for: Cave will grab and lean into our upstretched hands, potentially crowdsurfing and offloading his mic to chosen ones in order to do so. No complaints here.
Ten members of The Bad Seeds file on stage earlier than anticipated, in their usual sartorial finery, and take their positions. Nick Cave enters separately, earning targeted applause and adulation. To open, they launch into the shimmering, atmospheric Frogs, from this tour’s namesake album: Wild God (2024).
Cave addresses his congregation, expressing his delight to be finally back and performing for a hometown crowd. It seems like the band has been on an “odyssey” to get here, he says, before adding they were “bitten by spiders” in Brisbane. From the catwalk that borders the pit, Cave notices a child in the front row and expresses concern for their safety. He then dedicates Song Of The Lake – “a cautionary tale” – to said child.
“This is a song about a girl,” Cave teases, before adding “not that one” – acknowledging his introduction’s similarity to what usually precedes From Her To Eternity. But this song is about Bea – Jubilee Street. “I’m vibrating, I’m transforming, look at me now!” – as we all chant, a sea of skyward arms, during this one’s soaring climax we wouldn’t be at all surprised if a portal opened up above Alexandra Gardens to spirit us all away.
“Let me tell you about a girl…” – From Her To Eternity correct intro follows and we collectively lose our shit as soon as those violent piano chords kick in. Cave races from catwalk to piano stool at lightning speed, striking keys in the nick of time.
Where to begin with Warren Ellis? This wild-haired virtuoso is like no other creative genius on the planet. When introduced by Cave this evening he repeatedly addresses the crowd as “MY PEOPLE!” before kissing his hand and then hurling imaginary kisses into the crowd. Our love for this “little guy from Ballarat”, as Cave affectionately refers to his simpatico collaborator, runs deep.
“And the black rain come down/ Water water everywhere/ Where no bird can fly no fish can swim… Until The King is born! In Tupelo!” – a song about the vicious storm that Elvis survived as a wee baby, Tupelo rains down hard upon us thanks to Larry Mullins’s thunderous drumming. It’s impossible not to get swept up in the carnage. After offloading his mic to a lady down front, Cave rocks an invisible baby to visually represent lyrics (“Mama rock your l’il one slow…”).
We’re legit “…touched by the spirit/ Touched by the flame” as Conversion reaches its closing crescendo.
Written while grief-stricken following the death of his young son Arthur, Cave admits 2019’s Bright Horses “just poured out of [him]”. Amongst this standout track’s endlessly pretty melodies, Ellis’s falsetto – enhanced by the exquisite backing vocal quartet comprising Janet Ramus, T Jae Cole, Miça Townsend and Wendi Rose – sounds like angels crying. We can barely hold it together when Cave sings about “the little white shape dancing at the end of the hall”.
Joy follows: “I woke up this morning with the blues all around my head/ I felt like someone in my family was dead…” The crowd watches on in silent reverence. “We’ve all had too much sorrow, now is the time for joy.”
At one point Cave turns to admire himself on a giant screen – “Great hair!” – and we relish the opportunity to have a laugh.
To experience Red Right Hand in a live setting is stupefying. Crashes and explosive bangs reverberate before suddenly retreating to make way for that iconic, sinister, reverberating chime. What could possibly follow this slinky reign of terror, I hear you ask? The Mercy Seat, which escalates into a frenzied confessional twist, followed by White Elephant: “I’ll shoot you in the fucking face if you think of coming around here!” – Cave is now in full psycho mode, bound to haunt that aforementioned front-row child’s nightmares.
Introducing O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is), Cave explains they’ve been saving this song – a tribute to Anita Lane, who died in 2021 – for Melbourne. “She was an original member of The Bad Seeds,” he explains, “and was this kind of light that us dark, drug-addicted men would sort of circle ‘round… She was an extraordinarily talented person.” Keyboardist Carly Paradis, a new Bad Seed, supplies this song’s gorgeous whistling refrain. We learn from Cave via his latest issue of The Red Hand Files that Paradis just so happens to be “a world-class whistler – she has won trophies, cups, medals, all sorts of stuff”.
O Wow O Wow… closes out with a 2019 phone recording of Lane playfully reminiscing, which immortalises her childlike wonder and ageless speaking voice. During this section, footage of Lane frolicking graces the giant screens and her luminescent beauty is undeniable.
Cave explains that The Boys Next Door were kind of aimless before the late Rowland S. Howard joined the band “and transformed [them] into something genuinely interesting with his incredible guitar playing and his presence”. We’re reminded that Howard penned Shivers in “the bedroom at his parents’ house” when he was just 16. “This really is, I think, Melbourne’s song,” Cave declares before our mass singalong proves this is so.
We’re then treated to a golden oldie: Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry, which he basically wrote in his head while standing over newborn son Luke’s crib. As if we haven’t already had multiple opportunities to open the floodgates, The Weeping Song follows and then Janet Ramus joins Cave at the piano to take PJ Harvey’s parts in Henry Lee. Ramus brings a gutsy, soulful quality to this murder ballad.
The show has already gone overtime, but Cave insists on performing Into My Arms solo at the piano to close. In close-up on the giant screens, Cave’s expressive eyes steep every syllable with heartfelt meaning. He directs us to take the final few lines – “Into my arms, oh, Lord/ Into my arms…” – while gazing out over his flock of adoring fans.
When Cave appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert just prior to Wild God’s release, he said, “There is joy and there is happiness in a way you could never believe possible on the other side of grief.” He’s forever changed, but Cave actively chose to let the light in and immortalises cherished loved ones he’s lost along the way through song. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds live are more triumphant and biblical than ever these days. It’s life-affirming stuff.
